Ed Gordon for the IAAF
2 June 2001 - Jena, Germany - It’s not often that Heike Drechsler is absent from an international meeting in her hometown of Jena.The only time in memory was in 1995, when the local organizers removed the women’s long jump from the list of events, allegedly to protest Drechsler’s decision to switch from her longtime Jena club to nearby Chemnitz. This time, the reason was not political, but physical.
After taking only three attempts with a short run one week ago in Ingolstadt—after which there was no definite injury report—Drechsler now seems to regard her tender hamstring as an official “problem”, and felt that a weekend of rest was in the best interest of an eventual run at another world title in August.
Further absence woes plagued the meeting as discus star Lars Riedel continued to battle a knee injury.
If that weren’t enough, a cold rainy weather front lingered for a third day over central Europe.
So much for the bad news. The good news is that some athletes were able to overcome the elements and produce outstanding performances before a heavily-bundled audience.
Grit Breuer took another big step in her comeback after back surgery last year forced her out of action following the German Championships. Running with Olympic silver medallist Lorraine Graham on her immediate outside, the German let Graham set the tempo for the first 200 meters.
At the top of the final curve, Breuer made a move and pulled even with the Jamaican as the pair entered the final straight. Digging hard for the finish, the German gained an advantage with about sixty metres remaining and carried that lead into the tape for a 50.88 clocking.
“That was my kind of race,” said Breuer, moments after the finish. “I’m glad Lorraine didn’t go out too fast. I wanted to have an easy first 200.”
She continued, “But I’m a real fighter, and I wanted to win this one badly.”
Graham’s second-place time was 51.06, well ahead of Florence Ekpo-Umoh’s 51.86 for third.
The men’s 400 also produced remarkable results in spite of the frigid conditions.
Leonard Byrd of the US charged past front-running Ingo Schulz of Germany on the final straight to post his best time of the year with 44.90.
The lanky German had set the pace from a lane outside of Byrd, but after 300 metres, the American took over for the win. Davian Clarke of Jamaica also joined in the final chase for a second-place 44.98, as Schulz’s 45.27 represented a German seasonal best.
The men’s javelin was won by Germany’s Peter Blank with a throw of 85.05. The 39-year-old high-jumper-turned-javelinist reached that mark on his second attempt before fouling on his third throw. Then he decided he’d had enough of the weather.
Raymond Hecht followed Blank’s winning throw in the second round with an 84.08 for second place.
The women’s pole vault was conducted under the handicap of a strong crosswind, but that didn’t appear to daunt Caroline Hingst. The German cleared a personal-best 4.40 to win, and then ended the competition with three unsuccessful tries at a would-be German record of 4.51.
Canadian Brad Snyder was no match for the rest of the shot put field, as his 20.53 opening-round effort held up through the competition as the winner. German Ralf Bartels tossed 19.80 for second place.
Entering the final round of the men’s discus with a best of 64.84, Robert Fazekas of Hungary held on for the victory despite the attempt of German Andreas Seelig to score a late win with a 64.57 throw.
Big names Frantz Kruger of South Africa, the Olympic silver medallist, and world-record holder Juergen Schult finished fourth and sixth with 63.32 and 60.55, respectively.
Schult, recently named German national discus coach, will completely retire at the end of this season. Reportedly, he is competing this year “just for fun” and not training as seriously as before. Still, he had a very consistent series with all throws between 58 and 60 metres.
Ivonne Teichmann of Germany threatened the two-minute mark in the women’s 800, but came up marginally short with her 2:00.20 clocking, well ahead of last year’s winner, Zulia Calatayud, in 2:01.25. The Cuban appeared ready to shrink Teichmann’s lead and possibly steal a win, but her effort fizzled over the last fifty metres.
The German might well have had a sub-2:00 had she not stayed with the pacemaker for the full 600 metres that she did.
Results
Men
100 metres: Race 1 (called "B")(-2.4): 1.
Otto 10.70. 2. H Blume 10.71; 3. Gatzka 10.96; 4. Broening
11.13; 5. Weissbach 11.31.
Race 2 (called "A")(-1.4): 1. Mitchell (USA) 10.46; 2. de Souza (BRA) 10.47; 3. Bredwood (JAM) 10.49; 4. Nagel (RSA) 10.50; 5. M Blume 10.65; 6. Kosenkow 10.67; 7. Ostwald 10.70; 8. Mayola (CUB) 10.71.
400 metres: Race 1 (called "B"): 1. Scheer 47.04; 2. Riester 47.39; 3. Breitenstein 47.80; 4. Giessler 48.34; 5. Giertzuch 48.68; 6. Volkmann 49.39.
Race 2 (called "A"): 1. Byrd (USA) 44.90; 2. Clarke (JAM) 44.98; 3. Schulz 45.27; 4. Jer. Davis (USA) 45.76; 5. Malherbe (RSA) 46.49; 6. A Botha (RSA) 46.73; 7. Figura 47.00; 8. Hagen (NED) 47.48.
1000 metres: 1. Mulaudzi (RSA) 2:19.77; 2. Bourrouag 2:19.93; 3. Yiampoy (KEN) 2:20.43; 4. Kaveshnikov (RUS) 2:21.63; 5. Mwangi (KEN) 2:23.01; 6. Owor (UGA) 2:23.21; 7. Benfares (FRA) 2:23.37; 8. Allem (FRA) 2:23.39; 9. Niyonizigiye (BDI) 2:23.96; 10. Abicht 2:24.16; 11. Karonei (KEN) 2:24.95; 12. Handle (AUT) 2:26.39. Pace: Eplinius
110 Hurdles: Race 1 (called "B")(-0.7): 1. Unfried (AUT) 14.11; 2. Siebert 14.27; 3. Haendschke and Dyett 14.39; 5. Schroers 14.75; 6. Burkhardt 14.79; 7. Teske 14.98. Balcers (BRA) did not start.
Race 2 (called "A")(-1.7): 1. Pechonkin (RUS) 13.66; 2. Phillips (USA) 13.70; 3. Jackson (GBR) 13.73; 4. Schwarthoff 13.74; 5. Crews 13.78; 6. Edorh 14.04; 7. Blaschek 14.19. Did not finish: Yum. Hernandez (CUB).
Heat 1 (-0.9): 1. Phillips 13.69;
2. Pechonkin 13.83; 3. Edorh 13.87; 4. Yum. Hernandez 13.99;
5. Dyett 14.44; 6. Schroers 14.81; 7. Teske 14.83.
Heat 2 (-0.7): 1. Schwarthoff 13.86; 2. Blaschek 13.99;
3. Balcers 14.37; 4. Burkhardt 14.55. Heat 3
(-0.8): 1. Jackson 13.68; 2. Crews 13.78; 3. Unfried
14.36; 4. Siebert 14.37; 5. Haendschke 14.86. Did not
finish: Fenner.
400 Hurdles: Race 1 (called "B"): 1. Duma 50.59; 2. Siemer 50.81; 3. Riekmann 52.44; 4. Reinberg 52.60; 5. Wickert 53.10; 6. Bohn 53.29; 7. Nehring 53.81; 8. Paul 55.74.
Race 2 (called "A"): 1. Weakly (JAM) 49.28; 2. Thomas (USA) 49.48; 3. Borsumato (GBR) 49.74; 4. Morgan (JAM) 50.34; 5. Zellner (USA) 50.62; 6. Boenisch 51.19. Did not finish: Harnden (ZIM).
Long jump: 1. Toure (FRA) 8.05w (2.6) [no wind-legal jump]; 2. Moudrik (MAR) 8.02 (1.6); 3. Beckford (JAM) 7.99 (1.3); 4. Bigdeli 7.99w (2.4) [7.87 (0.5)]; 5. Meliz (CUB) 7.94w (2.2) [7.56 (0.7)]; 6. Prah 7.85 (1.1); 7. Hagspiel (AUT) 7.73 (1.4); 8. Schmidt 7.55w (2.5) [7.38 (1.5)]; 9. Krause 7.51 (1.9).
Shot put: 1. Snyder (CAN) 20.53 [20.53 - 20.28 - x - x - x - x]; 2. Bartels 19.80; 3. Buder 19.40; 4. Bock 18.66; 5. Dittmar 18.47; 6. Toth (USA) 18.45; 7. Pankuch (SVK) 17.82; 8. Sack 17.22.
Discus: 1. Fazekas (HUN) 64.84; 2. Seelig 64.57; 3. Moellenbeck 63.49; 4. Kruger (RSA) 63.32; 5. Kovago (HUN) 62.51; 6. Lischka 61.89; 7. Schult 60.55; 8. Elizalde (CUB) 58.71; 9. Schmidt 57.78; 10. Hemmings (CUB) 56.45.
Javelin: 1. Blank 85.05 [80.99 - 85.05 - x - p - p - p]; 2. Hecht 84.08; 3. Esenwein 81.74; 4. Hoegler (AUT) 80.13; 5. Lange 78.83; 6. Gonzalez (CUB) 77.21; 7. Voynov (UKR) 73.09; 8. Varnik (EST) 68.46.
Women
100 metres: Race 1 (called "B")(-0.8): 1. Habel 11.69; 2. S Moeller 11.98; 3. Koop 12.00; 4. Tschirch 12.08; 5. Fink 12.11; 6. Gotthardt 12.16; 7. Wilts 12.26; 8. Wakan 12.27.
Race 2 (called "A")(-1.0): 1. White (USA) 11.58; 2. G Rockmeier 11.61; 3. Wagner 11.62; 4. Schielke 11.62; 5. Adusei (CAN) 11.62; 6. Paschke 11.66; 7. Wolf 12.13; 8. Moropane (RSA) 12.48.
400 metres: Race 1 (called "B"): 1. Marx 51.82; 2. Feller 52.92; 3. Kette 52.94; 4. Grenot (CUB) 54.47; 5. Hartmann 55.45.
Race 2 (called "A"): 1. Breuer 50.88; 2. Graham (JAM) 51.06; 3. Ekpo-Umoh 51.86; 4. Ruicu (ROM) 52.38; 5. Darsha (SRI) 53.45. 6. B Rockmeier 53.48; 7. Diaz (CUB) 54.03.
800 metres: 1. Teichmann 2:00.20; 2. Calatayud (CUB) 2:01.25; 3. Mendes (BRA) 2:02.21; 4. Jensen (DEN) 2:03.47; 5. Knippel 2:08.19; 6. Hoffmann 2:10.92. Pace: Jongmans (NED). Did not finish: Birungi (UGA).
100 Hurdles: Race 1 (called
"B")(-3.3): 1. Manning (USA) 13.87; 2.
Steigauf 14.18; 3. Schulze 15.11.
Race 2 (called "A")(-1.9): 1. Golding (JAM)
13.32; 2. Tejeda (CUB) 13.60; 3. Williamson (USA) 13.61; 4. Rakotozafy
(MAD) 13.81; 5. Rehwagen 13.86. Did not finish: Carson
(USA)--was off-balance after several hurdles, and appeared to have twisted an ankle.
Heat 1 (0.0): 1. Rakotozafy 13.39; 2. Carson 13.40; 3. Tejeda 13.66; 4. Steigauf 13.85; 5. Schulze 14.97. Heat 2 (0.0): 1. Golding 13.42; 2. Williamson 13.52; 3. Rehwagen 13.81; 4. Manning 14.37. Disqualified: Komoll.
400 Hurdles: 1. Parris (JAM) 55.74; 2. Meissner 56.23; 3. Pernia (CUB) 56.41; 4. Kampf 57.71; 5. Zamboni (SUI) 58.48; 6. Erber 1:01.89; 7. Delaune (FRA) 1:01.89; 8. Seddig 1:04.97.
Pole vault: 1. Hingst 4.40 [4.00/2 - 4.20 - 4.30/2 - 4.40/2 - 4.51/xxx]; 2. Becker 4.20; 3. Molnar (HUN) and Adams 4.20; 5. Buschbaum 4.20; 6. de Wilt (NED) 4.10; 7. Pyrek (POL) 4.00. No height: Gerryts (RSA) at 3.80.
Long jump: 1. Edwards (BAH) 6.57 (1.7); 2. Miklos (ROM) 6.39 (1.5); 3. Ajkler (HUN) 6.36w (3.0) [6.25 (1.6)]; 4. Pershina 6.35w (2.8) [6.24 (1.5)]; 5. Albert 6.24 (2.0); 6. Cuza (CUB) 6.21 (0.5); 7. Bader-Bille 5.46 (1.1).
4x100 relay: 1. Germany U20 I [Schorr - Kaufmann - Groetzinger - Habel] 45.16; 2. Germany U23 I [Tschirch - Koop - S Moeller - Fink] 3. Germany U23 II [Wakan - Wilts - Gotthardt - Wolf] 45.99. Did not finish: Germany U20 II. Disqualified: Germany I [Paschke - Schileke - G Rockmeier - Wagner] (time was 43.53).
