The discus throwers around the strong Kristin Pudenz show the best competition so far at the German Athletics Championships.
A nearby thunderstorm and dark clouds were just beginning to clear when Germany’s best discus thrower Kristin Pudenz set a highlight in the Berlin Olympic Stadium.
When the German Athletics Championships continued after a good half-hour wait on Saturday afternoon, the Olympic silver medalist threw the disc at a strong 67.10 meters – a personal best. At the Tokyo Games, Pudenz had achieved her best distance to date with 66.78 meters.
With her fourth German title win, the 29-year-old once again confirmed that she is one of the manageable circle of German medal hopes at the World Championships in Eugene in the USA in three weeks. In a high-class competition, Shanice Craft from Halle came second with 64.64 meters, local hero Julia Harting came in third with 64.34 meters. Claudine Vita from Neubrandenburg took fourth place with 63.36 meters.
In the women’s sprint, last year’s double champion Alexandra Burghardt decided not to start over the 100 meters after warming up. Burghardt won silver in the bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics in February. Javelin thrower Johannes Vetter, long-distance runner Konstanze Klosterhalfen and steeplechase runner Gesa Krause had already canceled their starts. Javelin thrower Christin Hussong will also not be there.
After the cancellations of the top performers, pole vaulter Bo Kanda Lita Baehre also showed a strong performance at the start. The 23-year-old from Leverkusen won his fourth German championship title with a personal best of 5.90 meters. The fourth-placed in the World Cup had already come to the championships as the German best of the year and gave defending champions Oleg Zernikel and Torben Blech, who each managed 5.70 meters, no chance.
“It was a stopover. I still want a bit of progression, that it goes even further up. I’m looking forward to everything that’s to come,” said Lita Baehre, who surpassed the norm for the world championships by ten centimeters. The World Championships in Eugene will start on July 15th. For the European Championships from August 15 in Munich, 5.75 meters are required. Zernikel has also already met the standards for the international highlights of the season.
In the triple jump, Max Hess secured the national title for the sixth time since 2016. For the former European champion from Chemnitz, an internationally below-average 16.20 meters was enough. The EM standard is 16.95 meters, the World Cup standard is 17.10 meters.
International top performances were previously at the US Championships in Eugene, which also serve as a World Cup elimination. 100-meter winner Fred Kerley ran 9.77 seconds in the final after 9.76 seconds in the semifinals. Shot putter Ryan Crouser won with 23.12 meters ahead of Joe Kovacs, who got 22.87 meters. David Storl had become German champion the day before with 20.32 meters.
