Discus Olympic champion Christoph Harting has not yet found the right trick in the World Championship year.
At the 57th International Whitsun Sports Festival in Rehlingen, Saarland, the 32-year-old from SCC Berlin did not get past 57.82 meters and ended up in sixth and last place. The Jamaican Traves Smikle secured the victory with 63.97 meters.
It was the fourth competition of the season in which Harting did not get past the 60 meter mark. His best throw so far was 59.72 meters last Thursday in Eisenstadt/Austria. He won gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio with a jump of 68.37 meters. The giant discus failed to qualify for the Tokyo Games.
Discus thrower Shanice Craft from Halle celebrated a success with 60.33 meters. She was not impressed by the almost two-hour delay in the start due to a storm. European Champion Christin Hussong also won the javelin throwing competition. With 62.28 meters, the 28-year-old from Zweibrücken did not come close to the World Cup norm (64.00 meters).
High jump European champion Mateusz Przybylko from Leverkusen had to settle for sixth place and only 2.18 meters. Tobias Potye from Munich jumped in first place with 2.24 meters. The American Matt Ludwig won the pole vault with 5.70 meters ahead of Oleg Zernikel (Landau) and Bo Kanda Lita Baehre (Leverkusen). Former world champion Raphael Holzdeppe (Zweibrücken) failed because of his initial height of 5.40 meters.