André Höhne won the German 50km race walking championship for the first time on Sunday (9).
In Biberach, Bavaria, the 28-year-old race walker from Berlin clocked 3:56:37 for the distance. Due to ongoing fitness problems Andreas Erm did not compete at the championships. Erm had won a bronze medal at the World Championships in 2003 in Paris.
Not fully fit because of an illness during the training period André Höhne missed the national qualifying time for the European Championships in Gothenburg by 97 seconds. Michael Krause was second with 4:10:35 while Maik Berger took third place in 4:24:27.
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
