Boris Henry in action (© Getty Images)
The Pole Vault remains Germany’s strongest event in the build up to the IAAF World Championships in Paris in August. During the two day national championships in Ulm the two winners in these events produced one of the best performances of each day. While Tim Lobinger won on Saturday with 5.75 m it was Yvonne Buschbaum who beat Annika Becker on Sunday with 4.70 m.
Before Lobinger had won the event had seen a prominent failure. Lars Börgeling was out without a height. He had failed 5.50 metres three times. “Somehow I never got into this competition. Additionally I had problems with the track, which was uneven. I found this very disturbing. But I look ahead to my next competitions”, Börgeling said. Still he is lucky that due to the injuries of his colleagues this year’s national competition is not as tough as in recent years. Otherwise he might have lost his ticket for the World Championships.
“It really irritated me that Lars did not produce a valid jump – you start wondering yourself”, Tim Lobinger later explained and added. “The next surprise came when Björn Otto jumped so well. But it was no surprise to me that Richard Spiegelburg did well.” Spiegelburg took second place and Otto was third, both clearing 5.70 m. When Lobinger had won he attempted 5,91 m, but missed. “Nonetheless, I think I am able to jump this high some time during the season”, Lobinger said. The world’s number one this year had been on the starting list of the IAAF Golden League meeting in Oslo. But as the pole vault in Ulm was timed for early afternoon on Saturday it was too close to do both. It was sad for Lobinger that he could not even start jumping for the Golden League jackpot.
There was a great duel in the women’s pole vault on the next day. Finally Yvonne Buschbaum beat Annika Becker (4.65 m). “It is sad for me not to be able to defend my title. But Yvonne jumped superbly today – and she deserved to win,” Becker said. Buschbaum then tried to jump a national record, but missed 4.78 m. “I somehow knew before that I would win today. And I think I will also break the German record soon”, Buschbaum said.
It was easier for Boris Henry than for Tim Lobinger to start in the Golden League. The javelin thrower competed in Oslo, took a flight at 10 am the next morning and then drove by car from Frankfurt to Ulm. “It is no problem for me to do both. And I can’t understand that I am the only German athlete in a Golden League meeting. I think a number of German athletes are making mistakes when they are not competing internationally. Concentrating on national meetings does not help, when you need to be strong against the rest of the world in Paris,” Boris Henry said after taking second place in Oslo. On Sunday he was number one, winning with 84.92 m. “I am not satisfied with the result today, because I know that I could throw between 88 and 89 metres,” he said after Ulm. Henry, who had suffered a calf injury for ten days before this weekend, could be someone to watch in Paris if he stays free of injuries.
In the throwing events – Germany’s traditional stronghold for years – there are some more hopes in view of Paris. Astrid Kumbernuss won the shot put (19.36 m) and Franka Dietzsch took the discus title with 62.86 m. Hammer thrower Susanne Keil showed a strong series with all her three valid throws coming down beyond 70 metres. The national record holder (71.93 m) won with 71.15 m. Steffi Nerius is another strong candidate for the World Championships’ final. In Ulm she threw 64.42 m.
Finally Lars Riedel took revenge for loosing to Michael Möllenbeck two weeks ago in Dortmund, which had cost him his ticket for the European Cup in Florence. This time in Ulm Riedel was more than four metres ahead of his national rival Möllenbeck (62.51m), throwing 66.60m. “Two metres further would have been better – but we are working on it”, Lars Riedel said.
European 400 m champion Ingo Schultz won the 400 metres as expected in a time of 45.29 seconds. He clearly made progress during the last ten days, but knows that it will not be an easy task to reach the final in Paris. While Schultz is on track for Paris there was a setback for Germany’s new hope Daniela Rath. The high jumper, who was the first German since Alina Astafei back in 1996 to clear 2.00 metres a week ago in Florence, failed to clear 1.93 m. As she had passed at 1.90m, he clearance at 1.87m was not enough to win the title. Melanie Skotnik was the surprise winner with 1.90m. “I misjudged it”, Rath said.
While Heike Drechsler is not yet fit enough to compete, Irina Mikitenko had to withdraw from the 5000 m due to injury. Still both should be back in shape in time for Paris. It is a different story for Nils Schumann. It was announced on Saturday that he will not be ready for the World Championships. It is now said that the Olympic 800 metres champion will need to have an operation because of the problems with his heel. With javelin thrower Tanja Damaske and decathlete Frank Busemann both announcing their retirement in recent weeks this is not good news for German athletics.
Finally, Grit Breuer ran her first race of the season – but she was not happy with it. Being beaten by Claudia Marx (52.00) for the first time, she finished second in 52.26. “It was not my day: I again felt a pain and even thought of dropping out. I have to carefully think of what I will do next.” Breuer has suffered from problems with her Achilles tendon for a long period.
German Champions, Men:
100 m: Alexander Kosenkow 10,25
200 m: Tobias Unger 20,80
400 m: Ingo Schultz 45,29
800 m: René Herms 1:47,62
1500 m: Franek Haschke 3:49,97
5000 m: Dieter Baumann 13:41,22
110 m h: Jerome Crews 13,54
400 m h: Christian Duma 50,01
Steeplechase: Christian Knoblich 8:34,76
Long Jump: Nils Winter 7,89
High Jump: Roman Fricke 2,25
Triple Jump: Rudolf Helpling 16,78
Paule Vault: Tim Lobinger 5,75
Shot Put: Ralf Bartels 20,22
Discus: Lars Riedel 66,60
Javelin: Boris Henry 84,92
Hammer: Karsten Kobs 77,98
10.000 m Walk: Andreas Erm 40:58,79
Women:
100 m: Melanie Paschke 11,41
200 m: Gabi Rockmeier 23,01
400 m: Claudia Marx 52,00
800 m: Claudia Gesell 2:01,07
1500 m: Kathleen Friedrich 4:21,86
5000 m: Sabrina Mockenhaupt 15:51,73
100 m h: Nadine Hentschke 13,14
400 m h: Stephanie Kampf 56,03
Steeplechase: Katrin Engeleng 10:34,13
Long Jump: Bianca Kappler 6,44
High Jump: Melanie Skotnik 1,90
Pole Vault: Yvonne Buschbaum 4,70
Triple Jump: Katja Demut 13,45
Shot Put: Astrid Kumbernuss 19,36
Discus: Franka Dietzsch 62,86
Javelin: Steffi Nerius 64,42
Hammer: Susanne Keil 71,15
5000 m Walk: Melanie Seeger 20:56,19
