Gregory Sedoc wins the 60m Hurdles in Birmingham - Spain's Jackson Quiñónez gets bronze (l) (© Getty Images)
A meeting record in the 60m Hurdles by Gregory Sedoc (Netherlands), a world season lead in the 1500m by Ethiopia’s Deresse Mekonnen and a fine win in the Pole Vault by Germany’s Fabian Schulze were the highlights of the Leipzig Indoor Meeting, in Leipzig, Germany on Sunday (1).
In the men’s sprint Hurdles final it was Gregory Sedoc, the reigning European Indoor champion, who produced a meeting record of 7.56 seconds by winning well in front of the two local guys Eric Balnuweit (7.69) and Alexander John (7.73). Thomas Blaschek, who also comes from Leipzig and trains with Balnuweit and John, could not yet compete because of an injury setback before the start of the indoor season. Sedoc had done well already in the first round, when he clocked 7.58 seconds.
In the Pole Vault Fabian Schulze did very well, clearing 5.70m in the arena, which will also stage the national championships in three weeks time. He won the competition from his fellow-countrymen Tobias Scherbarth (5.60m) and Björn Otto, who took third place with the same height. Schulze then went for 5.82m, but missed this three times. Tim Lobinger had to be content with seventh place and 5.40m. He could not manage 5.50m on Sunday.
The 1500 m produced another highlight. It was Deresse Mekonnen, the reigning World Indoor champion, who achieved a world season lead. The Ethiopian won with 3:39.12 minutes, followed by Germany’s Wolfram Müller (3:40.10) and Kenya’s Ndiwa Remmy Limo (3:41.74). For the spectators and Müller himself the second place was worth as much as a win, since he broke the national qualifying standard for the European Indoor Championships in Turin which take place in a month’s time.
The Shot Put was won by Ralf Bartels (Germany) with 19.72m while local hero Peter Sack had to be content with second place and 19.28m on this occasion. Andy Dittmar of Germany took third place with 19.02m. Bartels showed good consistency with his three valid throws all between 19.62 and 19.72m.
While the men’s 60m final was won by Chinedu Oriala (Nigeria) with 6.63 seconds from Patrick van Luijk (Netherlands / 6.69) and Tobias Unger (Germany / 6.71) the women’s sprint winner was Britain’s Emma Ania with 7.32 seconds. Stephanie Durst (USA/7.39) and Agneszka Ligieza (Poland/7.46) took the next places.
The women’s events were weaker than those of the men in Leipzig. In the 800m Dana Satrova (Czech Republic) ran 2:02.20. Here Agnieszka Sowinska (Poland / 2:04.15) and Lenka Masna (Czech Republic / 2:04.71) took second and third.
Danielle Carruthers (USA) took the 60m Hurdles with 8.06 secs from Lucie Skrobakova (Czech Republic / 8.13).
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
