Long jumper Simon Batz narrowly missed out on Germany’s second medal at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
The man from Mannheim took fourth place on Saturday with a distance of 8.06 m. In a razor-thin decision, World Cup gold went to Olympic champion and outdoor world champion Miltiadis Tendoglou, who successfully defended his title.
The Greek achieved 8.22 m, the same distance as silver medalist Mattia Furlani from Italy, who was placed behind Tendoglou due to the weaker second-best attempt. Jamaican Carey McLeod took bronze, just one centimeter behind the leader with 8.21.
Tendoglou is a true “expert” in close decisions: In his 2021 Olympic victory in Tokyo, the now 25-year-old had already triumphed, the same distance ahead of the Cuban Juan Miguel Echevarria (both 8.41), and in his World Cup title last year in Budapest he was ahead of him with a score of 8.52 in the last attempt, just two centimeters ahead of Wayne Pinnock from Jamaica.
The small team from the German Athletics Association (DLV) won its first medal on the first day of the championships in Scotland thanks to shot putter Yemisi Ogunleye. The 25-year-old improved her best performance by an incredible 62 centimeters to 20.19 m on Friday and was crowned runner-up world champion.