News26 Feb 2006


Lobinger in top-form at German Indoor Championships, Day 2

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Tom Lobinger salutes the crowd at the German Indoors in Karlsruhe (© Bongarts/Getty Images)

Karlsruhe, GermanyTim Lobinger’s 5.80m Pole Vault was the highlight of the second and final day of the German Indoor championships in Karlsruhe’s Europahalle on Sunday (26).

In front of a crowd of 3500 spectators the Pole Vault provided a dramatic fight for the German team tickets to the World Indoor Championships in Moscow, Russia, 10 -12 March. Three jumpers would have deserved to go because of their performances in Karlsruhe. But since there are only two tickets on offer Björn Otto was the unlucky one.

Despite clearing 5.75m Otto had to be content with third place. “I am happy with my height since it is a season’s best for me. But of course it is disappointing not to have qualified for Moscow.” Otto only jumped 5.75m on his second attempt, while Fabian Schulze had cleared that height at once – this was the decisive difference. Schulze placed second and qualified for the World Indoors.

But it was Lobinger who showed a superior performance. The 33-year-old World Indoor Champion from 2003 had his first jump at 5.55m. Clearing this at once he also jumped 5.65 and 5.75m on his first attempts. That would have been good enough to have won already but Lobinger then cleared 5.80m on his second jump. He then tried to go for a new championship record of 5.91 m but failed. Danny Ecker, who did not compete and instead will concentrate on the summer season, holds this record with 5.90m.

“It is tragic that only two of us are able to go to Moscow. I know how it feels not to be among the team since it had happened to me before as well,” said Lobinger. So far he has had a strong indoor season and showed more consistency than in recent years. “It had been a very long competition because of the high number of jumpers. After three and a half hours I felt really tired. It was harder than it may have looked”, confirmed Lobinger. Otto felt similar:  “At the end I was simply tired so it was impossible to jump any higher.”

Another one who definitely will be among the German team in Moscow is Claudia Hoffmann. The 23-year-old 400 m runner already had caused a surprise on Saturday (26) when she broke the national qualifying time for Moscow in the heats. On top of that her time was a personal best of 52.05 seconds. Her outdoor best had been 52.27.

Today, she was in top form again and beat the defending champion Claudia Marx with a brave run from the front. While Hoffmann, who trained with Grit Breuer in Potsdam in 2005, clocked 52.15 Marx ran 52.37.

“It had been my aim to first break the qualifying time and then win the championship. It is not bad for me to run two races at that level. It gives me confidence”, Claudia Hoffmann said.

Jörg Wenig for the IAAF


RESULTS

26th February (2nd day)

Men:

60m: 1. Ronny Ostwald 6.63, 2. Marc Blume 6.67, 3. Marius Broening 6.69.
200m: 1. Tobias Unger 20.79, 2. Sebastian Ernst 21.07, 3. Till Helmke 21.79.
400m: 1. Ruwen Faller 46.53, 2. Florian Seitz 47.22, 3. Simon Kirch 47.23.
800m: 1. René Herms 1:48.34, 2. Moritz Waldmann 1:48.80, 3. Andreas Freimann 1:48.85.
1.500m: 1. Stefan Eberhardt 3:42.24, 2. Franek Haschke 3:42.86, 3. René Bauschinger 3:43.46.
LJ: 1. Peter Rapp 7.83, 2. Nils Winter 7.74, 3. Kofi Amoah Prah 7.71.
PV: 1. Tim Lobinger 5,80, 2. Fabian Schulze 5.75, 3. Björn Otto 5,75, 4. Lars Börgeling 5.60, 5. Richard Spiegelburg 5.60.
4x200 m: 1. TV Wattenscheid (Ernst, M. Blume, Schulte, Ostwald) 1:23.98 (national record).
4x400 m: 1. OSC Berlin (Buggel, Riester, Beyer, Seitz) 3:12,68.

Women:

60m: 1. Marion Wagner 7.30, 2. Verena Sailer 7.36, 3. Martha Koj 7.36.
200m: 1. Birgit Rockmeier 23.37, 2. Johanna Kedzierski 23.42, 3. Sandra Möller 24.05.
400m: 1. Claudia Hoffmann 52.15 (1st rd: 52.02), 2. Claudia Marx 52.37, 3. Korinna Fink 53.87.
800m: 1. Kerstin Werner 2:08.06, 2. Jana Hartmann 2:08.35, 3. Juliane Becker 2:09.68.
1500m: 1. Antje Möldner 4:29.13, 2. Denise Krebs 4:30,56, 3. Anja Reinhardt (LG Weinstadt) 4:30,83.
HJ: 1. Ariane Friedrich 1.90, 2. Kathryn Holinski 1.87, 3. Julia Hartmann 1.87.
TJ: 1. Katja Umlauft-Pobanz 13.29, 2. Frauke Thrun 13.21, 3. Annelie Schrader 13.00.
4x200 m: 1. LG Weserbergland (Tschirch, Marahrens, Giebel, Gangnus) 1:34.89.

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