Julian Reus after winning the German indoor 60m title (© Getty Images)
Julian Reus claimed the outright German indoor 60m record in front of a capacity crowd in Leipzig on the first day of the German Indoor Championships on Saturday (27).
Reus had been on the cusp of claiming sole ownership of this record all winter. On his home track in Erfurt at the end of January, he matched the long-standing mark of 6.53 set by the East German Sven Matthes in 1988 before matching that time last weekend in Chemnitz.
But Reus found that missing fraction of a second in what looks set to be his last race of the indoor season. After running 6.62 in the heat and 6.58 in the semi-final, Reus stormed to victory in the final as expected, shaving 0.01 off the German record.
But the performance of the first day went to Tatjana Pinto in the women’s equivalent.
Pinto warmed up by winning an international race in Ghent a fortnight ago in a solid albeit unspectacular time of 7.30, but this was by no means a sign of what was to come this afternoon.
Pinto was the second fastest in the heats with a PB of 7.19 to Rebekka Haase’s 7.17 but the 23-year-old established herself as the forerunner for the title in the semi-final with a further improvement to 7.12 while Haase matched the time set in the heat.
In the final, Pinto got another blistering start and streaked away to win the title in 7.07, the fastest time by a German sprinter since Katrin Krabbe in 1991. She also moves to equal third on the 2016 world list and equal fourth on the German indoor all-time list alongside Marlies Gohr.
Haase, the treble European under-23 champion last summer, finished second in 7.20. The final produced good results all round and the resurgence in German sprinting can be illustrated by the fact that even the eighth-place finisher clocked 7.35.
Surprise world 100m hurdles silver medallist Cindy Roleder backed up this form by winning the 60m hurdles title in a championship record of 7.88, the fastest time by a non-US hurdler in 2016.
Despite her prowess as a hurdler, Roleder hasn’t completely given up on combined events and intends to compete in Gotzis at the end of May.
There were also quick times in the men’s 60m hurdles final with Erik Balnuweit winning in 7.61 ahead of Alexander John in 7.64.
With David Storl and Christina Schwanitz absent, new champions were crowned in the shot put. Tobias Damm won the men’s event with 20.00 while Lena Urbaniak won the women’s final with a PB of 18.32m ahead of discus specialist Anna Ruh, who also set a PB of 17.68m.
Silke Spiegelburg returned from a bout of flu to win the pole vault with a season’s best of 4.56m on her third attempt before three tries at 4.66m. Martina Strutz was second with 4.51m.
Elsewhere, Jenny Elbe won the triple jump with an indoor PB of 14.15m while Alyn Camara won the long jump with a season’s best of 7.82m.
Steven Mills for the IAAF
