Robert Harting of Germany celebrates after taking second place during the Men's Discus Throw Final (© Bongarts/Getty Images)
3 August 2009Robert Harting produced the best result of the day in Wattenscheid on Sunday at the final major German meeting before the start of the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, Germany (15 – 23 August).
The discus thrower from Berlin, who had won a surprising silver medal two years ago at the global championships in Osaka, achieved 68.10m to take his event in Wattenscheid on Sunday (2).
Thirteen days before the start of the championships in his hometown Harting achieved a season’s best with his very first throw. After his 68.10m in round one he continued with 67.31m, 67.24m and 65.50m followed by two faults. Australia’s Ben Harradine was second with 61.14m.
“We had a lot of interruptions during our competition and additionally it was difficult to getting used to the wetter ring,” Harting said, explaining why he could not match his opening mark in the following rounds. There was a slight rain during the meeting.
Friedrich preps with 1.99m clearance
Ariane Friedrich cleared 1.99m at her third attempt to beat Russia’s Irina Gordeyeva (1.97m). Two more German women with medal ambitions in Berlin won in Wattenscheid on Sunday: While Nadine Kleinert took the Shot Put with a fine 19.71m from Christina Schwanitz (18.56m) Christina Obergföll had to be content with 60.33m in the Javelin Throw. Steffi Nerius had withdrawn from the competition due to minor injury.
Ralf Bartels once again was the winner of the Shot Put with 20.59m. This time he had an advantage of 20 centimetres over runner-up Justin Anlezark of Australia.
Kim Collins (St. Kitts & Nevis) took the 100m in 10.08, just edging out Mark Jelks (USA/10.09) and Francis Obikwelu (Portugal/10.10). But there was a tail wind of 2.3 m/s. This denied Germany’s fourth placer finisher Martin Keller recording a personal best of 10.15. Collins also won the 200m in 20.45, this time with a slight head wind of 0.2.
Germany’s sprint relay team is well prepared for Berlin. Tobias Unger, Marius Broening, Alexander Kosenkow and Martin Keller clocked 38.40 seconds to win the 4x100m.
There were Kenyan winners and runners up in the 1500m and 3000 m races: Bethwell Birgen took the middle distance race in 3:35.88 from Churchill Kipsang (3:36.86) while Sammy Mutahi ran a meeting record of 7:42.08 in the 3000 m. Here Remmy Limo was second in 7:42.42.
Czech Petr Svoboda was the winner in a close 110m Hurdles final. He clocked 13.44 while Germany’s Helge Schwarzer was second in 13.47. US runners Jeff Porter (13.49) and Kai Kelley (13.52) were third and fourth, but both had clocked faster times in the first round races: Porter had run 13.48 while Kelley achieved 13.40.
While Raul Spank was the winner of the High Jump with 2.28m. Britain’s Steve Lewis took the Pole Vault with 5.72m from Danny Ecker (5.62m).
Sailer defeats Simpson
The women’s 100m saw a home win for Verena Sailer. But her 11.11 seconds will not be listed as a personal best due to the tailwind of 2.6 m/s. Still it was a great race for Sailer, who managed to beat Jamaica’s Sherone Simpson (11.12). Vida Anim (Ghana) was third in 11.36.
“I hope I will be selected for the individual races in Berlin as well now,” said Sailer.
In another very close race Yvette Lewis (USA) took the 100m Hurdles with 12.87. She was just one hundredth of a second ahead of Germany’s Carolin Nytra. World Indoor Champion Lolo Jones (USA) had problems at the final hurdle and took third with 13.23.
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
