| Stop meeting
The 24th International Athletics Championships took place in Dessau on Wednesday, finally with spectators in the stands again. The highlights were provided by javelin thrower Julian Weber and long jumper Malaika Mihambo and also an Olympic champion from Poland.
She has already won three times in a row in Dessau, on Wednesday Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo (LG Kurpfalz) continued her winning streak at the Paul-Greifzu Stadium. Although she came far below the meeting record, she set herself in 2019 (7.05 m), with 6.49 meters in the last attempt she still left the competition behind. While some technical flaws crept into the first two attempts, she was simply tired towards the end of the competition.
“The competition was too fast for me. I am one of the athletes with the longest run, and I also run very fast. If I do not get enough breaks, then unfortunately it does not go any further and you could see that today, She explained after the competition. Nevertheless, the 28-year-old also takes something positive from Dessau. After all, she won an international title in every year she had won here.
A good warning for the two highlights of the World Cup and European Championships at home in Munich? “I would not mind it,” she says with a wink, adding, “I will do my best in both competitions and then hopefully leave the field satisfied.” Second place went to Merle Homeier (LG Göttingen; 6.29 meters) ahead of the Pole Karolina Mlodawska (6.26 meters).
Julian Weber wins before Olympic champion
While still waving happily to the audience during the athletes’ presentation, the winner of the previous two years, Johannes Vetter (LG Offenburg), unfortunately had to end his competition due to an injury after the throw-in. “I just have too many small construction sites at the moment, which makes free throws impossible,” he explained afterwards. “I thought I could do it today, but unfortunately I did not.”
Nevertheless, there was German victory in the internationally strong field. After his good start to the season (86.09 m) at the Diamond League meeting in Doha (Qatar), Julian Weber (USC Mainz) also showed consistent long throws in Dessau and won by 85.02 m ahead of the 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad) and Tobago, 84.69m) and Olympic silver medalist Jakub Vadlejch (Czech Republic; 83.93m).
Satisfied, he said: “It was a lot of fun and the atmosphere was great. There could probably have been a little more today, but I’m convinced we’ll go a lot further this year.” Now he is looking forward to the upcoming competitions and also has a clear goal in mind: “The 90 meters are finally here due!”
Oleg Zernikel with constant jumps
While it is the 90 meters that are considered the magic mark in javelin throw, it is heights over six meters in pole vault. German champion Oleg Zernikel (ASV Landau) also has his eyes set on them. In Dessau it was not enough. With a jump of 5.70 meters in the first attempt, he won the meeting ahead of Bo Kanda Lita Baehre (TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen) and Richartz Nate (USA; 5.60 m). Torben Blech, who was also from Leverkusen, finished fourth (5.60 m).
“It was a bit lame in the beginning, but then I got better and better at it, and it worked well. Therefore, I tried myself with a new personal record in the last attempt. But it was only the second competition this year, so the most important thing is to be consistent, ”said Zernikel. The season is long enough to tackle the heights. And Lita Baehre also remains confident: “I struggled a bit today. Especially in the beginning there were no good jumps. In the end I can not be completely satisfied, but I tried the best anyway”.
Meeting record from the Olympic champion
Yupun Abeykoon Mudiyanselage (Sri Lanka) had the fastest legs on Wednesday. After his victories in 2020 and 2021, he was the first to cross the finish line over 100 meters again this year and improved to 10.06 seconds. Second and third place went to Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala Omurwa (10.14 sec) and Joris van Gool (10.28 sec) from the Netherlands. Germany’s fastest sprinter from 2021, Julian Wagner (LC Top Team Thüringen), was unfortunately unable to qualify for the final after a jump start in the preliminary heat.
There was a new competition record over 400 meters for women. Here, the Polish Tokyo Olympic champion with 4×400 meters mixed relay Natalia Kaczmarek ran fastest on the stadium lap and won in 51.23 seconds ahead of her compatriot Justina Swiety-Ersetic (51.96 sec) and Luna Thiel (VfL Eintracht Hannover). In the men’s category, the Mexican Luis Aviles (45.96 sec) won ahead of Christian Iguacel (Belgium) and the German champion Manuel Sanders (LG Olympia Dortmund; 46.38 sec).
Late in the evening, the German U23 champion Majtie Kolberg (LG Kreis Ahrweiler) showed a brave race, which especially at first brought an impressively high speed to the track over 800 meters. However, it could be felt in the last 200 meters – she finished second in 2: 01.98 minutes. The multiple German (indoor) champion Christina Hering (LG Stadtwerke München; 2: 01.57 min), who started in Dessau for the eighth time in a row, wins once again. The Dutchman Tony van Diepen won the men’s race (1: 45.30 min), the best German was the German indoor champion Christoph Kessler (LG Region Karlsruhe) in sixth place in 1: 46.60 minutes.
You can find the complete results in our results section …