Some of the world’s best track and field athletes met on Friday for the Istaf Indoor in Berlin. Malaika Mihambo lived up to her role as favorite. The Filipino pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena provided a special highlight.
At the eleventh Istaf Indoor in Berlin, Malaika Mihambo impressed in the long jump on Friday. The 2021 Olympic champion jumped the furthest at the indoor meeting on Friday with 6.95 m. This meant that Mihambo successfully concluded her indoor season.
Some of the best athletes in the world of athletics competed against each other in a total of eight disciplines in the arena at Ostbahnhof in front of more than 12,000 spectators.
What you should know before the start of the Istaf Indoor in Berlin
World-class athletics in Berlin: The Istaf Indoor is the largest indoor meeting in the world and goes into its eleventh edition on Friday. Numerous highlights can be expected in the arena at Ostbahnhof – and a unique discus duel.more
Long jump
Malaika Mihambo (LG Kurpfalz), who recently jumped to her eleventh national title in a row at the indoor DM in Leipzig with 6.93 m, presented herself in strong form in her first attempt (6.78 m) and took the lead. But of her six jumps, three were ultimately invalid. With her last attempt she improved her performance again significantly by 17 centimeters and distanced the Swiss Annik Kölin and Larissa Iapichino from Italy (each 6.75 m). This means that the Heidelberg native can continue her preparation for the Olympic Games in Paris (July 26th to August 11th) with the wind at her back.
60 m
Among the male sprinters, Cameroonian Emmanuel Eseme set the fastest time of the day. The Cameroonian won in his first indoor season with 6.55 seconds ahead of the Austrian Markus Fuchs (6.60) and Reynier Mena from Cuba (6.61).
In the women’s category, the two German finalists Alexandra Burghardt (Wacker Burghausen) and Rebekka Haase (Sprintteam Wetzlar) – joint gold winners in the 100m relay at the 2022 European Championships – missed out on top placings. Burghardt ended up in fifth place, Haase in sixth place. The fastest 60m sprinters that evening were the Italian Zaynab Dosso (7.09) as well as Zoe Hobbs (New Zealand; 7.19) and Daryll Neita (Great Britain; 7.20)
60m hurdles
The Hungarian Greta Kerekes lived up to her favorite status among the women and won the 60m hurdles in 8.01 seconds. Marlene Meier (TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen) also delivered a strong performance with a personal best of 8.09 seconds and landed in fourth place.
In the men’s event, American Daniel Roberts won the 60 m hurdles in 7.52 seconds ahead of David King (Great Britain) and Job Geerds (Netherlands). Manuel Mordi from Hamburger SV took 5th place (7.70).
The reigning German indoor champion over 60 m hurdles, Tim Eikermann (TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen), had already been eliminated in fourth place in the preliminary round.
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60m para sprint
For the first time, world-class para-sprinters such as the two-time Paralympics gold winner Johannes Floors (TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen) also competed at the Berlin Istaf Indoor. The Italian double world champion Maxcel Amo Manu won the 60 m race in 7.15 seconds, ahead of the Dutchman Olivier Hendriks (7.44 s). Floors crossed the finish line in third place (7.69 s).
Pole vault
In the pole vault, Enerst John Obiena gave the competition no chance. The vice world champion from the Philippines set a new Asian record with 5.93 m. After the victory could no longer be taken away from him, he had the bar set to 6.03 m, which would have been the world’s best performance for the year. Obiena ultimately failed at this, but by then he had long since caused great enthusiasm among the spectators.
Behind the winner Obiena were Tray Oates (USA; 5.75 m) and Robert Sobera (Poland; 5.66 m).
The Leverkusen pole vaulter Torben Blech didn’t get past fourth place with a jump of 5.66 meters.
discus
The men won the extraordinary discus mode “everyone against everyone”. Four discus throwers competed there in direct duels against four discus throwers.
The men’s team with world champion Kristjan Čeh (Slovenia), Olympic champion Christoph Harting (LG Nord Berlin), Daniel Jasinski (TV Wattenscheid 01) and the German champion Henrik Janssen (SC Magdeburg) kept the upper hand against the women’s quartet with “Hallen -World record holder” Shanice Craft (SV Halle), Julia Harting (SCC Berlin), the Dutch Jorinde van Klinken – and the Olympic silver medalist Kristin Pudenz (SC Potsdam). Kristian Čeh set the meeting record with 65.72 m on Friday.
In four rounds, each victory was rewarded with two points (defeat: one point), the team with the most points won – in this case the men with 28:22.
In the three previous discus duels, the women had won twice and the men’s team had won once.
Broadcast: rbb24, February 23, 2023, 10 p.m
