Tim Lobinger of Germany in action during the Men's Pole Vault Final (© Getty Images)
A 5.80 m clearance by Tim Lobinger in the Pole Vault, a 20.88m Shot Put by Peter Sack and an 800m victory for Abubaker Kaki (Sudan) with 1:46.06 minutes were the highlights of the 5th Sparkassen Athletics Meeting in Leipzig on Sunday (17).
But there was some confusion at the end of the Pole Vault, when Lobinger had already celebrated having cleared 5.86m, as the jump was later declared invalid, anfd that somewhat marred this event.
Repositioning the bar
Six days before what is expected to be a nail biting Pole Vault final at the German Championships Lobinger moved into the pole position. He took the Pole Vault at the Leipzig meeting with a 5.80m clearance on his third attempt. Fabian Schulze was second with 5.60m while Malte Mohr placed third with the same height.
But confusion arose when Lobinger went for a world lead of 5.86, which he did clear, and the 35-year-old duly celebrated as the new world indoor season leader, as quite some time after the vault it is assumed that the head judge turned the clearance into a fault. As Meeting Director Achim Krebs later explained Lobinger was said to have used his hand to avoid a possible fall of the bar. That had been a smaller issue already when he had cleared 5.80m, but judges decided that there was nothing wrong.
Kaki sets second fastets time of the winter
In the 800m, runners from Sudan dominated the race in front of more than 2,000 spectators. Pacemaker Abdala Abdulgadir Mohamed guided Abubaker Kaki through 400m in a quick 50.5 seconds. 18 year-old Kaki finally clocked 1:46.06, which is the second fastest time in the year. He had surprised in November last year, when he improved to 1:43.90 minutes outdoors.
Nils Schumann, the Olympic 800m champion from 2000, improved his season’s best to 1:48.92 minutes. Looking stronger in the final part of the race than last year Schumann said: “I lacked a bit of self confidence otherwise I could have run faster. I am capable of running faster. And my main goal this year is to qualify for the Olympics.”
Sack improves in front of home crowd
With three weeks to go to Valencia, Peter Sack took the opportunity to improve his season’s mark in front of a home crowd. The athlete from Leipzig won the Shot Put with 20.88m, with which he is leading the European rankings.
Worldwide the 28-year-old is now number four behind three Americans. Does this mean some expectations regarding the World Championships? “My main aim is first to get to the final, because I never made that before. Then we will see,” said Sack says. “Today spectators were really great. I was forced to do very well. Originally it was my aim to throw beyond 21 metres. I did not quite achieve this, but I am happy with what I did.”
Sack had a fine series of: 20.76 – 20.50 – 20.12 – 20.88 – x – 20.67. Garrett Johnson (USA/20.35) and Thomasz Majewski (Poland/20.07) placed second and third.
While Chris Brown of the Bahamas took the 400m in 46.66 seconds from California Molefe of Botswana (47.31) there was a surprise in the 60m Hurdles final: Germany’s Willi Mathiszik edged out pre-race favourite Maurice Wignall of Jamaica by one hundredth of a second. Mathiszik clocked 7.65, which is exactly the qualifying standard for Valencia. Wignall had clocked the fastest time of the day though, because of his 7.64 in the first round.
Nigerian sprint double
In the women’s events, the sprints produced the best results. Nigeria’S Ene Franka Idoku took the 60m with a meeting record of 7.19 seconds while her compatriot Christy Ekpukhon (Nigeria) showed a fine performance in the 400m. Running from the front she clocked 52.27. Lacena Golding-Clarke of Jamaica won the 60m Hurdles with 7.94 secs. Germany’s Julia Hartmann was the winner in the High Jump with 1.89 m, indicating that she may still be able to achieve the qualifying standard for Valencia of 1.92m.
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
