Spear-ace aver Julian Weber underlined his top form three weeks before the World Athletics World Cup in Tokyo and celebrated a confident victory at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels. Kunkenschwürz Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye remained under her possibilities, discus thrower Henrik Janssen solved the ticket for Zurich.
In the end, a dissolved Julian Weber grabbed a black, red and gold flag and was celebrated on a round of honor. Rightly so! The Mainz presented itself in top form in Brussels. With 89.65 meters, the 31-year-old clearly left the competition behind and referred London Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad and Tobago/86.30) and the Olympic third Anderson Peters (Grenada/85.17).
“With a World Cup medal, a big dream would come true.”
After recently weaker achievements, the ex-European champion, who had given up his diamond League start in Poland the previous week, was already an exclamation mark with 87.01 meters in the first attempt. After two screwed trials, his best throw of the day followed in the fourth round.
Weber: “I can and want to throw that”
“I’m really happy that I won today. I can and want to throw that,” said Weger. “I focused very much on my technology to be in top form for the World Cup. A medal would come true.”
At the Diamond League final on August 27th and 28th in the legendary Letzigrund in Zurich, the victory will only go through the European champion of 2022 in this constitution. There, the respective winners of the 14 disciplines each receive $ 30,000. Overall, a record amount of $ 9.24 million in prize money will be distributed this year.
World Cup medal in Tokyo
Weber’s appearance in Brussels was also promising with a view to the World Cup (13th to 21st September). With its 91.06 meters from May, the German is still number one in the world. In Tokyo, the sports soldier hopes for his first medal on the very big stage after “only” fourth place at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and the World Championships 2022 and 2023. He had finished sixth in the summer games in Paris.
Ogunleye only fourth
Yemisi Ogunleye, on the other hand, had to accept a damper on the way to the highlight of the season. At 18.99 meters, the Mannheim native only came to fourth place. She was neither able to build on her season best of 19.67 meters nor to the upward trend of the previous week when she had become second at the City event in Poland with 19.50 m. The 27-year-old will have to improve in order to be able to intervene in the medal fight in Tokyo.
World champion Chase Jackson (USA) won the competition with 20.90 meters and remained only five centimeters below her own world year best.
Janssen solves Zurich ticket
Discus thrower Henrik Janssen also struggled in Brussels. At 65.80 meters, the Magdeburger did not get out of sixth place and did not establish its strong appearances at the DM in Dresden (68.41) or his meeting in Thum (67.15). However, the placement for Janssen was enough to qualify for the Diamond League final in Zurich.
Henrik Janssen at the Diamond League Brussels.
In Brussels, the victory went to Jamaica’s Ralford Mullings, who, with 69.66 meters, also left World Record holder Mykolas Alekna (Lithuania/68.82) behind.
• Christina Honsel, high jump
• Lea Meyer, 3000 m obstacle
• Malaika Mihambo, long jump
• Mohamed Abdilaahi, 5000 m
• Max Hess, triple jump
• Julian Weber, javelin throw
• Henrik Janssen, discus throw
• Robert Farken, 1500 m
Jefferson-Wooden unobstructed over 100 meters
Over the 100 meters, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden again made it clear that World Cup gold in Tokyo will only go over her. The American dominated a prominent race in strong 10.76 seconds and, among other things, left the Olympic second of Paris, Sha’carri Richardson (USA, second in 11.08 seconds), and the 39-year-old sprint legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Jamaica, fourth in 11.17 seconds).
Obstacle runner Bebendorf convinces again
Obstacle runner Karl Bebendorf underlined fifth place and a time of 8: 11.72 minutes. The Dresdner got a real thrust again this year and improved its best time by six seconds to 8: 08.21 minutes. The big goal of the 29-year-old is the World Cup final.
Thanks to a strong finish, the victory in Brussels surprisingly went to the Luxembourg Ruben Querinjean, which caught the Ethiopian whales on the last meters and set up a national record with 8: 09.47 minutes.