Ralf Bartels competing in Düsseldorf (© Marisa Reich)
Düsseldorf, GermanyThe men’s Pole Vault was one of the highlights of the new Düsseldorf indoor meeting held on Friday evening (17). In front of a capacity crowd of 1500 spectators the 21-year-old German Fabian Schulze was the only one to clear 5.75m, while of the five others to jump 5.70m, Lars Börgeling placed second and Romain Mesnil of France took third.
Next week’s German Indoor championships in Karlsruhe will be decisive concerning the national team tickets for the 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships which take place in Moscow, Russia, next month (10 – 12 March). Four German pole vaulters – Schulze, Börgeling, Björn Otto and Tim Lobinger – have already achieved the qualifying standard of 5.70m, and again in Düsseldorf these four cleared that height, and of course there are only two squad berths available.
“I felt strong today. And when I did not jump 5.70m on my first attempt I gambled and went for 5.75m instead”, Fabian Schulze said. That worked fine for him. He cleared 5.75 m at once. “But I will not gamble in Karlsruhe since it will be important to be inside the first two.”
It was the first time this season that Danny Ecker had competed. But he left the arena without a height, having missed 5.30m three times. “I do not yet feel fully fit,” confirmed Ecker, “and I did not come here with high expectations anyway. But I am of course not happy with this. I have just started with jumps in training four weeks ago.” Injuries had sidelined him once again. “I will not compete at next week’s German championships and instead will concentrate on training for the summer”, Ecker added.
Bartels blasts shot to 20.84m
Ralf Bartels won the Shot Put, improving his season leading German indoor mark by four centimetres. He put 20.84m on his third attempt and had an advantage of 60 centimetres over the second placed Tomasz Majewski of Poland (20.24). These two were the only ones to throw beyond the 20m mark.
“I felt fine already during my warm-up,” said Bartels. “My next aim is to achieve a result of 21 metres. It would of course be perfect to achieve that in Moscow – it might be enough for a medal. After next week’s German Indoor championships I will compete at the European Indoor Cup.”
Susanna Kallur edges out Jones
Another German athlete who hopes to do well in Moscow is Thomas Blaschek. He won the 60m Hurdles final with a 7.59 second run. This was a season’s best for Blaschek who just beat Anwar Moore (USA) who finished with 7.61. Austria’s Elmar Lichtenegger was third with 7.67.
It was the 60m Hurdles final that was the highlight of the women’s events. In a very close contest Sweden’s Susanna Kallur just edged out Lolo Jones (USA). While Kallur clocked 7.88, the American was just 0.01 seconds behind. There was a third athlete who ran sub 8.00 seconds: Nadine Faustin-Parker (Haiti) clocked 7.99 for a national record.
“The track is a fast one. I was just 0.02 seconds slower than my season’s best. And I am very happy with that. For Moscow my aim is just to run as fast as possible,” confirmed Kallur.
Jamal falls short of target
In the 1500m, Maryam Yusuf Jamal (Bahrain) intended to better her world lead of 4:01.82 but the pacemaking was too unsteady and did not last long enough. The first pacemaker Renata Plis of Poland was too slow at the 400m mark (65.36 seconds). Then some fierce pace was injected by Anna Jakubczak (Poland) - finished fifth – who took up the lead but soon after half way Maryam Yusuf Jamal was on her own. She slowed and finally finished in 4:05.37. The gap to the second placed Krisztina Papp of Hungary (4:15.75) was more than ten seconds by the end.
Local government assistance for new indoor fixture
At a time when again and again German indoor meetings are cancelled for financial reasons Düsseldorf is a welcome addition to the German indoor season. And organisers hope to develop their new event into a true top class meeting in near future. It is the government of the city that is said to have put a substantial amount of money into the event. Düsseldorf’s indoor arena, which is nextdoor to the football stadium, was upgraded in 2004. It had once been built for warm-up and training purposes back in 1977 when Düsseldorf hosted the World Cup. Further improvement is needed to develop the event, especially concerning press and spectators’ facilities, but Düsseldorf seems to have a bright future.
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
Results
(German unless stated)
Men:
60 m: 1 Matic Osovnikar (SLO) 6.62, 2 Dariusz Kuc (POL) 6.65, 3 Morne Nagel (RSA) 6.68 (heat: 6.65), 4 Ronny Ostwald 6.72 (heat: 6.64)
200 m: 1 Tobias Unger 20.89, 2 Dominic Demeritte (BAH) 21.36, 3. Kai Doskoczynski 22.62. B-Race: Johan Wissman SWE 21.04.
800 m: 1 Joseph Mutua (KEN) 1:48.48, 2 Grzegorz Krzosek (POL) 1:48.69, 3 Kevin Hautcoeur (FRA) 1:48.69, 4 David Takacs (HUN) 1:48.90.
3000 m: 1 Jan Fitschen 7:47.21, 2 Isaak Kirputo Sang (KEN) 7:49.69, 3 Vincent Le Dauphin (FRA) 7:52.96, 4 Günther Weidlinger (AUT) 7:53.48, 5 Christian Belz (SUI) 7:55.00, 6 Shadrack Lagat (KEN) 8:01.00.
60 m h: 1 Thomas Blaschek 7.59, 2 Anwar Moore (USA) 7.61, 3 Elmar Lichtenegger (AUT) 7.67, 4 Mike Fenner 7.68, 5 Marcel van der Westen (NED) 7.73, 6 Marcio de Souza (BRA) 7.78.
PV: 1 Fabian Schulze 5.75, 2 Lars Börgeling 5.70, 3 Romain Mesnil FRA 5.70, 4 Aleksandr Averbukh 5.70, 5 Björn Otto 5.70, 6 Tim Lobinger 5.70, 7 Gerome Clavier FRA 5.60, 8 Alhaji Jeng SWE 5.50
SP: 1 Ralf Bartels 20.84, 2 Tomasz Majewski (POL) 20.24, 3. Mikulas Konopka (SVK) 19.71, 4. Peter Sack 19.70, 5. Detlef Bock 19.59
Women:
60 m: 1 LaVerne Jones (ISV) 7.29, 2 Marion Wagner 7.32, 3 Katja Wakan 7.42, 4 Vida Anim 7.50.
200 m: 1 Birgit Rockmeier (Race 2) 23.61, 2 Monika Bejnar (POL/1) 23.69, 3. Johanna Kedzierski (1) 23.80, 4. Sandra Möller (2) 24.31.
1.500 m: 1 Maryam Yusuf Jamal (BRN) 4:05.37, 2. Krisztina Papp (HUN) 4:15.75, 3. Livia Toth (HUN) 4:16.01
60 m h: 1 Susanna Kallur (SWE) 7.88, 2 Lolo Jones (USA) 7.89, 3 Nadine Faustin-Parker (HAI) 7.99, 4 Andrea Bliss (JAM) 8.08, 5 Judith Ritz 8.22.
LJ: 1 Claudia Tonn 6.58, 2 Anastasiya Juravleva (UZB) 6.42, 3 Denisa Scerbova (CZE) 6.30.
