The three German World Cup starters over 5,000 m were eliminated in the preliminary heat. Javelin thrower Annika Marie Fuchs reached the final. The sixth day of competition in Eugene at a glance.
Javelin throw women’s qualification: fox in the final
The German runner-up Annika Marie Fuchs has reached the javelin final. With her best throw of 59.36 m, the Potsdam native fell well short of the required qualification distance of 62.50 m, but still made it into the top twelve for the final on Saturday (3:20 a.m. CEST) in ninth place.
The athletes struggled with the tailwind at Hayward Field in the prelims. Only three starters exceeded the required qualification distance, including Olympic champion Liu Shiying (China), who achieved the best distance of the day with 64.32 m.
5,000 m women: Vorlauf-Aus for Klosterhalfen
She fought, she tormented herself, but on the last three laps over 5,000 m “it just didn’t work anymore”. For Konstanze Klosterhalfen, the dream of taking part in the final near her adopted home of Portland has burst. The 2019 World Championship third was in third place for a long time, but then collapsed in the heat from Eugene and finished eighth in her heat, completely exhausted.
“That was the toughest lap I’ve ever run,” admitted “Koko”, who burst into tears in the Sportschau interview. For the first time in her career she thought about giving up. In the end, Klosterhalfen finished 19th overall in 15:17.78 minutes. Almost 17 seconds were missing to progress. In mid-June in Oslo she ran 14:37.94 minutes. After that, however, she was slowed down by a corona infection – possibly also the reason for the problems in her World Cup race.
Benfares suffers heat exhaustion
Alina Reh, fourth at the European Championships, performed well in tenth place (15:13.92) in the second heat, but was also eliminated. Sara Benfares from Rehlingen, 18th in the same race (16:34.23), collapsed at the finish and had to seek medical treatment. The German Athletics Association announced a little later that she suffered a heat collapse due to the extremely high temperatures, and that she is doing well again given the circumstances.
World Champion Kerley does not compete in relay races due to injury
For 100m world champion Fred Kerley, the world championships ended early. So the 4×100 m relay takes place without him. As the US news agency AP reported, citing his agent, Kerley suffered a thigh muscle injury in the 200m semifinals. But even without the 27-year-old, the USA have one of the nominally strongest teams for the season.