Christopher Linke missed out on the World Championships medal he had dreamed of, but delivered a strong race over 35 km in high temperatures. As in the 20 km distance, he finished fifth in German record time at the World Championships in Athletics in Budapest on Thursday (08/24/2023).
“It was one of the toughest races I’ve had in my life so far,” said the 34-year-old from Potsdam in an interview with Sportschau after crossing the finish line on Heroes’ Square, where he had just missed the possible coronation with a bronze medal by just 23 seconds . “The last seven or eight kilometers were absolutely borderline, the last four kilometers hurt so, so, so, so much. I just hoped that nobody would come up to me from behind.”
Even if it didn’t end with a place on the winner’s podium, Linke was completely satisfied with what he had achieved: “I did my best and can’t blame myself. That was a successful World Cup for me.” In 2:25:35 hours he improved the German record he held himself (2:27:05) by 90 seconds. At around 25 degrees Celsius at the start time of 7 a.m., Linke wore a cooling scarf around his neck during the race, which he changed regularly. Last year’s silver medalist at the European Championships was unimpressed by the high pace of the race and was able to keep up with the top walkers until a few kilometers before the end.
Junghannß with a personal best – Dohmann gives up
Erfurt’s Karl Junghannß also presented himself in strong form over the 35 km, he also ran a personal best of 2:27:08 hours and finished ninth. “I had big plans and it started really well. Maybe it was a small mistake to go up front at the beginning. I was insecure and lost my rhythm a bit,” added the 27-year-old the race record. He missed a top eight placement by just five seconds, but he wasn’t annoyed about that: “Ninth place in the world, personal best time significantly improved – I’m very, very happy with that.”
For Carl Dohmann from Baden-Baden, on the other hand, the race came to an early end, he gave up exhausted after about 26 kilometers. “I was in very good shape and had a lot planned, but it didn’t work at all today. I had problems with the humidity, but it was a total failure that can’t be explained,” said the 33-year-old walker in the sports show -Interview totally disappointed in himself.
The Spaniard Alvaro Martin (2:24:30 hours) secured the World Championship title over 35 km – as he did over 20 km. Brian Daniel Pintado of Ecuador (2:24:34) took silver, with Japan’s Masatora Kawano (2:25:12) third.
Dittrich far behind
In the women’s race, Bianca Maria Dittrich from Freiburg was unable to keep up with the leading group at her World Championship premiere. The 30-year-old German champion finished far behind in 3:03:05 in 29th place.
Gold went to Maria Perez from Spain in a world championship record time of 2:38:40 hours, she thus secured double gold in Budapest after the success over 20 km like her compatriot Martin. The silver medal was won by Peru’s Kimberly Garcia Leon (2:40:52) ahead of Antigoni Ntrismpioti of Greece (2:43:22).
Bianca Maria Dittrich was at a World Cup for the first time.
Left already over 20 km with a German record
Linke had already made people sit up and take notice at the beginning of the World Championships: the man from Potsdam ran over 20 km in a German record time of 1:18:12 hours in fifth place. DLV walker Saskia Feige, on the other hand, had nothing to celebrate a day later: The Leipzig native finished almost eight minutes behind the winner Perez.