Dennis Leyckes of Germany in Athens Olympics Decathlon (© Getty Images)
event favourite Roman Sebrle of Czech Republic had to withdraw from the DLV-Mehrkampf-Meeting in Ratingen because of problems with his Achilles-tendon.
“I have to take care about the World Championships in August”, the Decathlon World record holder and Olympic Champion said. “I want to be in a good health in Helsinki”.
Sebrle’s withdrawal was the only negative aspect of an otherwise interesting ninth edition of the combined events meeting in Ratingen, part of the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge and the World Championships selection meeting for German all-round athletes.
Germans look for Helsinki qualifier
The competition is expected to be very interesting with 14 men and 14 women scheduled to compete in Ratingen. The German decathletes will fight for the tickets for Helsinki and the German Federation (DLV) has requested athletes to achieve 8050 points for them to be selected for Finland.
Before Ratingen only one athlete managed the qualification: the Under-23 European champion, Andre Niclaus who collected in Götzis already 8074 points.
“But I know that I have strong national competitors”, the 23-year-old decathlete from Berlin said.
Beside him there are a few other athletes who have good chances to jump over the hurdle of 8050 points in Ratingen, even if the long time tradition seems to be over in decathlon in Germany. But the change of generation has started already and there are a lot of young talented athletes, who have a promising future.
For example former World Junior Champion, Dennis Leyckes from Uerdingen/Dormagen, who made a best mark of 8174 points last year in Ratingen. In Götzis four weeks ago, he was injured and gave up after the shot put, but now he wants to qualify for Helsinki.
Another young athlete who has good chances to make it to Helsinki is Lars Albert from Elm, a small club in the Saarland. In Götzis he had an injury at his ankle, so he couldn’t give his best, but now fully recovered he wants to give all his best. Another athlete with good chances is Stefan Drews from Leverkusen.
Beside the young German crew, the third of the Indoor European Championships in the heptathlon, Roland Schwarzl from Austria will be in Ratingen. He wants to show his good performance and try to get a new best mark.
“The competition could be very tight at the end”, the event manager of the DLV, Siegfried Schonert declared.
Women's event
In the women’s event it will be very exciting too. The winner of last year, Kylie Wheeler from Australia, who has a best mark of 6296 points in the Heptathlon is looking forward to fight against Tatjana Gordejewa from Russia (6336) and Larissa Netsopuruk from Estonia (6331) and the girls from Germany.
“I know, that it will be quite difficult to defend the victory from last year”, the heptathlete said at a press conference two days before the start in Ratingen.
The long jump European Indoor Champion – normally an excellent heptathlete, Naide Gomez from Portugal couldn’t confirm her participation in Ratingen due to injured. She will not compete the whole season.
One of the favourite is Sonja Kesselschläger from Neubrandenburg. She collected already 6221 points in Götzis and hopes that she can beat her German colleagues again.
“I know that it will not be easy, to be in front of the others at the end”, the number six of the Olympic Games in Athens said two days ago. And it is indeed expected that more than three athletes reach the qualification standard of 6100 points.
“But I am in a good shape and especially in the javelin, which always was my weakest event, I improved a lot.”
Beside Sonja Kesselschläger, Lilli Schwarzkopf from Paderborn (6146), who would have excellent chances to qualify for Helsinki, will not appear in Ratingen. She will concentrate on the Under 23 European Championships in Erfurt, where she is one of the favourites to win the gold medal.
The biggest expectation is on 21-year-old Christine Schulz of Leverkusen who improved by 494 points since last year and reached 6199 points in May.
“If she confirms the 6000 point Mark it will be very good for her”, Klaus Baarck, the German National Coach for the women said.
Beside these young women, Olympians Karin Ertl (Quelle Fürth-München-Würzburg) and Claudia Tonn (Paderborn) also want to be part of the Helsinki team.
Jennifer Oeser, the Under 23 European Champion, who was injured, will see, what performance she can achieve.
“I am sure that six girls are able to reach the qualification for Helsinki”, said Klaus Baarck, who hopes that the heptathletes will push up each other to good results.
Ursula Kaiser for the IAAF
