Suddenly, the athletics fans in Kassel’s Auestadion went very still and looked anxiously at the injured Malaika Mihambo on the back straight.
There the Olympic champion and two-time world champion sat on the floor, holding an ice pack to her injured thigh. According to ARD information, according to an initial diagnosis, she is said to have suffered a torn muscle fiber. The seventh German championship title with 6.93 meters, which Mihambo had put in front of the national competition in the first attempt, was irrelevant on Sunday.
Discomfort was brewing in the sky when the only German world champion of 2021 stopped her attempt at the fourth attempt six weeks before the start of the World Cup in Budapest, her face slightly distorted with pain. A little later, the competition ended prematurely for them and the good mood at the long jump pit and probably also at the top of the German association blew away. Mihambo had increased by 27 centimeters this year and ensured a German best performance for the year.
Hartmann sets the mood
A little later, Joshua Hartmann created a better mood with his German record over 200 meters. The man from Cologne stormed to the title in 20.02 seconds and would have been the first German sprinter with a time under 20 seconds if he hadn’t celebrated early.
“If I had known that, I wouldn’t have put my arm out. I don’t know how I’m going to celebrate yet, but definitely a little bit,” said Hartmann. The 24-year-old was significantly faster than the previous record holder Tobias Unger, who sprinted 20.20 seconds in 2005.
Discus thrower Christoph Harting recorded a notable success seven years after Olympic gold in Rio and finished third with 62.87 meters. Harting had recently made depression public. However, the 33-year-old from Berlin should not be considered for a World Cup start.
On the way to the World Cup, other German stars gave courage in the hot Auestadion. Double European champion Gina Lückenkemper finally wants to make it to the finals in Budapest because she is “fed up with her previous individual performance”, as the 26-year-old admitted.
But she has to run faster than she did in the superior final victory on Saturday. “It is clear to me that I have to go a step further than what I showed today, but I trust myself to do it,” said Lückenkemper. “I just texted my coach saying the run felt way too easy for 11.03 seconds.”
Another title for Lückenkemper
On Sunday, Lückenkemper and her colleagues from SCC Berlin won the national relay title. Lea Meyer, who came second at the European Championships, also became double champion, first over 5000 meters and then over her special discipline 3000 meters obstacle.
The most promising on an international scale was the 88.72 meters by javelin thrower Julian Weber, who is one of the world’s best. The 28-year-old wasn’t even completely satisfied because it wasn’t enough for the first 90-meter throw again. “Everything can become a bit more coherent, then it can go much further,” said the European champion.
The Olympic and European runner-up Kristin Pudenz convinced with 65.98 meters in the discus and is confident, after two eleventh World Championship places, to be at the front this time in Budapest. On a perfect day, pole vault champion Bo Kanda Lita Baehre could do the same.
Whether Konstanze Klosterhalfen can be expected at the high point of the season in Hungary’s capital remains another question that should concern the German association alongside Mihambos’ injury. The DLV was surprised by the short-term cancellation for Kassel due to foot problems, where the recently weak 5000-meter European champion wanted to compete over 800 meters.
