Tobias Potye did not fly high enough, the discus sailed too short for the German women – the German quartet missed the first medal at the World Championships in Athletics and the hoped-for boost for the second half of the World Championships.
Despite a strong performance, Potye finished fifth in the high jump with 2.33 meters in Budapest, just as Kristin Pudenz finished sixth in the discus throw.
The Olympic silver medalist from Potsdam jumped 65.96 meters, Shanice Craft was seventh with 65.47 meters and Claudine Vita tenth with 63.19 meters. Surprisingly, Lalauuga Tausaga from the USA secured the title with 69.49 meters ahead of Olympic champion and teammate Valarie Allman (69.23) and last year’s winner Feng Bin from China (68.20).
“I brought what I’ve got”
In the high jump, the Italian Gianmarco Tamberi was crowned world champion for the first time with a world record of 2.36 meters ahead of the American JuVaughn Harrison who was the same height. Olympic champion Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar was third at 2.33 meters – the same height as Potye.
He struggled a bit with himself, but after the second best jump of his career he also stated on ARD: “I’m proud that I managed to jump 33 and show good jumps. I’ve definitely gained in competition experience . I brought what I’ve got.”
The discus ladies didn’t quite make it. “Today I didn’t have the necessary looseness that you need in a competition,” said Pudenz. “I would have liked to have shown more. At first it’s annoying because I came to fight for the medals and I couldn’t do that today.” In view of the distances of the best, she said: “Two times 69 meters in front, I can’t remember that there was ever such a level.” Craft was no different: “A little looseness and length was missing today,” she added on ARD.
Medal chances in javelin and decathlon
The DLV team, which started in Budapest with a weak replacement, still has further chances until Sunday, for example through the decathletes Niklas Kaul and Leo Neugebauer and javelin thrower Julian Weber. A year ago there was the worst German World Cup performance so far in Eugene, in the USA there were only gold for long jumper Malaika Mihambo and bronze for the sprint relay.
Only a few meters apart, the discus trio and Potye gave their all for the precious metal they were hoping for. The runner-up at the European Championship made a failed attempt at 2.25 meters, the 28-year-old then safely took the 2.29 meters and was thus at the front of the competition. When he crossed 2.33 meters on the second attempt, he brought back memories of July, when he had improved his personal best by a whopping four centimeters to 2.34 meters in Chorzow. 2.36 meters was then too high, because of the previous failed attempt he was denied the jump onto the podium.
Another warm competition day in Budapest
On another warm, muggy evening of over 30 degrees with almost no draft in the new World Cup stadium near the Danube, the discus initially did not fly as desired when the German hopefuls were throwing. Pudenz was the first to surpass the 65-meter mark in the third round, Craft followed suit, while Vita, third at the European Championships, missed three more attempts in tenth.
Allman already looked like the winner, but Tausaga passed by a personal best. Since the competitors also improved, Pudenz was more than two meters short of bronze after two eleventh places at the World Championships despite a better placement. The EM runners-up and Craft hugged after the competition and looked anxiously at Potye, for whom it wasn’t enough to win a medal in the end either.
