News22 Feb 2009


Ecker prevails in dramatic Pole Vault battle - German indoor champs Day 1

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Danny Ecker of Germany wins the Pole Vault with 5.71m in Birmingham (© Getty Images)

Leipzig, GermanyDanny Ecker perfectly timed his way back to peak form and beat the young guns as well as his old rivals at the German Indoor Championships in Leipzig.

On day one of these championships Ecker took the Pole Vault with a 5.80m clearance. By doing so he not only made sure to qualify for the European Championships in two weeks time in Torino but also put himself right into contention when it comes to defending the continental title he won two years ago in Birmingham. A capacity crowd of 3000 spectators watched the events in the Leipzig Indoor Arena. As expected the men’s Pole Vault was the most spectacular event of the first day.

Men’s Events on Day One

With ten athletes still in contention at 5.60m pressure was mounting on the pole vaulters. Surprisingly Tobias Scherbarth, who had been regarded as one of the major favourites for the title and so far had been Germany’s joint number one this season with 5.76m, missed that height three times and was out of contention. World junior record holder Raphael Holzdeppe also missed out at 5.60m. But he is currently concentrating more on his A levels than on pole vaulting.

There was another major casualty at 5.65m: Fabian Schulze. After having missed 5.60m once he had saved his other two jumps for 5.65m. But Schulze probably misspeculated, because all the other six athletes in contention passed that height and went straight to 5.70m. So he remained the only one at 5.65m, which he failed to clear at his two attempts.

Tim Lobinger then looked as if he had snatched a ticket to Torino at the very last minute, when he became the first athlete to clear 5.70m at his second attempt. This is the national qualifying mark, which Lobinger had not achieved before the championships. But after Danny Ecker and Alexander Straub cleared 5.70m as well at their second attempts while Lars Börgeling and Björn Otto missed that height, drama continued. At his last attempt Malte Mohr caused the big surprise of the day. Having entered the competition with a personal indoor best of 5.61m (outdoors he jumped 5.76m in 2008) the 22-year-old cleared 5.70m at his final attempt and then flew over 5.75m at his first jump to take the unexpected lead. Alexander Straub had also cleared 5.75m at his second attempt while Ecker and Lobinger had passed that height.

So four jumpers were fighting for the three tickets at 5.80m. The pressure was on Lobinger since he shared third place at that point with Ecker. But Ecker had a stronger season before, so he would surely have got the third ticket in case of a tie. But there was no tie anyway. While Lobinger missed 5.80m both Danny Ecker and Alexander Straub crossed the bar at their third attempts. “It is no problem for me. I am not sure if I would have taken the ticket to Torino if I had qualified, because for me the summer season is all that matters this year,” explained Lobinger, who added: “I am quite happy that with Danny one of the experienced jumpers took this title and not one of the young guns.” Much was made in German media in the built-up concerning a possible ‘take over’ by the young athletes in the Pole Vault.

While Alexander Straub tried to snatch the win with a 5.85m jump, which he missed three times, Danny Ecker passed that height and then had two jumps at 5.90m. “But after I had won the competition it was difficult to built-up enough tension for 5.90. Additionally it was a very long competition of nearly four hours,” Ecker said and added: “And I have to save something for next time.” Asked about the competition the European Indoor Champion from Birmingham 2007 said: “I think we have seen some great performances. I feel sorry for Tobias Scherbarth, but at the same time Malte Mohr showed a sensational competition.” Both Scherbarth and Mohr are training partners of Ecker in Leverkusen.

Bayer takes Long Jump with 8.13m leap

Another jumper produced a fine result on day one: Sebastian Bayer took the Long Jump with 8.13m. He even jumped that mark twice at his fourth and sixth attempts. While Sebastian Bayer moved up to third place in the season’s world list and may well play a part in the final in Torino a second long jumper achieved an eight metre jump: Christoph Stolz took second place with 8.01m at his final attempt, with which he beat Nils Winter (7.99m) into third place. “It is my aim to jump at least 8.05 metres in Torino,” said Bayer.

Germany also finally seems to have new hope in the men’s sprint. While Christian Blum, who has improved to 6.56 seconds earlier in the season, had to withdraw due to a slight injury, Stefan Schwab impressed in the 60m final. He improved to 6.59 seconds in a dominating manner, leaving Alexander Kosenkow (6.69) and Julian Reus (6.75) well behind.

In the 400 m Simon Kirch stormed to a national season’s best of 46.83 seconds to qualify for Sunday’s final. With that Kirch achieved the national qualifying time for the European Indoor Championships in two weeks time. Ralf Bartels took the Shot Put with 20.08m from Marco Schmidt (19.63).

Race Walker André Höhne had set a first highlight early on day one. The Berlin based athlete took the 5000m Race Walk with a world lead of 18:51.01 minutes. He had a huge advantage to second placed Christopher Linke (19:40.28) and Hagen Pohle (20:05.29). “I knew about my good form and it was my desire to achieve a sub-19 minute time,” said Höhne, who started indoors for the first time this season. “It was a hard race because I was all on my own. But I was mentally prepared for this sort of race.”

Women’s Events on Day One

Women’s events did not quite produce the same quality results as the men’s on day one. The best performances came in the Shot Put, where Denise Hinrichs took the title with a personal best of 19.25m. She had a great series of 18.85m, 19.07m, 18.89m, 19.25m, 19.17m and 18.95m. Petra Lammert was second with 19.00m while Sophie Kleeberg (16.63) took third. “This is more than I had hoped for. It was my aim to improve my personal best of 18.81m, which I achieved with every single throw. Now I want to reach the final at the European Indoors,” said Hinrichs.

Verena Sailer showed a fine race in the 60m final. She improved her season’s best to 7.25 seconds, leaving Marion Wagner (7.33) and Anja Wurm (7.39) well behind. “I was not relaxed enough in the final to go sub-7.20, which was my aim. But I will get there and it might then be enough to reach the final in Torino,” said Sailer.

As in the men’s event the women’s Race Walk final produced a fine result as well. It was Sabine Zimmer who dominated the 3000m event and clocked a world lead of 12:15.70 minutes. Zimmer had an even bigger winning margin than André Höhne in the men’s event. Nicole Best took second with 13:37.89 while Christin Elß was third (13:39.18). “My coach told me to win and achieve a time of slightly below 13 minutes. So it was not planned to go that fast. But I felt fine and hold on to the faster pace,” said Sabine Zimmer.

Jörg Wenig for the IAAF

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