The indoor track and field world championships begin on Friday. Germany only sends a mini team to Glasgow. But that should be a positive surprise.
Without the big stars, but with hopeful athletes primarily from the second row, the German Athletics Association will be at the start at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, which will be held from March 1st to 3rd. The most important questions about the World Cup.
Where will the World Indoor Championships be held?
The venue for the 19th World Indoor Athletics Championships is the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland. The sports complex, which is also used for basketball and tennis, can accommodate 5,000 visitors for the athletics competitions. After Birmingham in 2003 and 2018, the World Indoor Championships will be held in the United Kingdom for the third time.
Who are the German starters?
The German Athletics Association is only sending a mini squad of seven starters to Glasgow. The team includes high jumper Christina Honsel (Wattenscheid), sprinter Aleksandar Askovic (Munich), triple jumper Max Heß (Chemnitz), long jumper Mikaelle Assani (Baden-Baden) and shot putters Alina Kenzel (Stuttgart) and Yemisi Ogunleye (Mannheim).
High jumper Tobias Potye, who was considered to have a good chance of winning a medal, had to cancel his start at short notice due to illness. The Munich native, vice-European champion at the home European Championships in 2022, recently mastered 2.30 m indoors for the first time at the competition in Banská Bystrica (Slovakia).
Why is the DLV only sending a mini squad to Glasgow?
Only seven German starters in Glasgow: The main reason for this is that many top German athletes are already preparing for the big outdoor events and an indoor event no longer fits into the training plan. The highlights of the season are the European Championships in Rome in June and the Olympic Games in Paris in July/August.
How are they standing? Medal chances of the Germans?
In the shadow of Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo, who also skipped Glasgow, the young Mikaelle Assani is moving into the spotlight and wants to jump into the spotlight at the World Indoor Championships. With 6.91 m, set at the German championships in Leipzig, Assani is currently in fourth place on the world annual best list. In Glasgow she is listed second on the registration list.
Assani doesn’t have to hide. The end of their development is still far from being reached. She wants to “stabilize her width and scratch the seven-meter mark. That’s a big goal,” she told SWR: “If I continue like this, I can also compete for medals.”
Recent results have been promising. With her DM distance, which put her just behind Mihambo (6.93), she broke the Olympic standard. At the ISTAF Indoors in Berlin she confirmed this result with distances of 6.65 m and 6.69 m. “That gives me a good feeling for the World Indoor Championships,” said Assani.
Triple jumper Max Heß at the German Championships in Leipzig
Triple jumper Max Heß is the most experienced in the German team. The 27-year-old from Chemnitz won the silver medal at the 2016 World Indoor Championships in Portland and gold at the European Indoor Championships in Amsterdam in the same year. If Hess has a good day, he could repeat the feat from eight years ago.
For shot putter Yemisi Ogunleye it is the first start at an indoor world championships. Last year she achieved the standard for the Outdoor World Championships in Budapest and set a personal best of 19.44 meters. She wants to build on that and cause a surprise. She is ranked fourth on the registration list.
Who are the stars in Glasgow?
Not all international stars do as the Germans do and are there in Glasgow. 20 defending champions from the recent 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade (Serbia) have registered, and seven gold medal winners from the Tokyo Olympics are also taking part.
Big track and field stars like Femke Bol (Netherlands), Karsten Warholm (Norway; both 400 m), Grant Holloway (USA; hurdles) and Armand Duplantis (Sweden; pole vault) are there and could form the basis for one at the World Indoor Championships provide a good basis for the rest of the season.