For the German men’s sprint relay over 4×100 meters, the World Championships in Athletics ended on Friday evening after a mistake in the heat. The subsequent apology from the unlucky Joshua Hartmann was not well received by TV expert Frank Busemann.
“It was a strange interview, you have to say, how prepared and read,” said the former decathlete on Saturday morning on “ARD”.
Hartmann was supposed to run in third position in the semi-finals of the DLV season. However, the 24-year-old was unable to grab the baton handed to him by Lucas Ansah-Peprah at the beginning of the corner. That’s why the German quartet didn’t even get to the finish line.
Hartmann then took full responsibility for the end of the season. “I made the mistake of starting way too late. I’ll be solely responsible. Yes. That happens,” he said.
For Busemann, the monotonous presentation of the apology was the main reason for criticism.
The Olympic silver medalist from Atlanta in 1996 also blamed his colleague Ansah-Peprah for the sporting failure.
Lucky women’s relay at the World Championships in Athletics
“He runs a little close from behind, he should have run offset. There are a lot of little things that come together. Of course you get nervous. You have a certain process, suddenly your hand isn’t where it usually is, you start to row. And if you’re nervous, you act differently,” analyzed the “ARD” expert.
Even in the women’s relay, not all changes went smoothly afterwards. The time of 42.78 seconds was not enough to get ahead either.
However, since starting runner Louise Wieland was handicapped during the first change and thus lost valuable time, the DLV then lodged a protest. The German season around Gina Lückenkemper can now start as the ninth team in the final.
Busemann blamed the fact that the trained automatisms did not work in Budapest on the pressure situation that prevails at a World Cup. “Training and running at some galas is different than at world championships when it comes to your life. Everything has to fit to the centimeter.”