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The German track and field athletes have experienced a historic debacle in the USA. A DLV team has never been so bad in world title fights. After this traumatic World Cup, a relentless analysis is required.
Dreams are foam. The gleaming gold of the only German superstar Malaika Mihambo has at best embellished the disastrous World Cup record. Unfortunately, the four bronze medals for the women’s sprint quartet only count once in the final count. The bottom line is a sport-historical debacle. Only twice precious metal. A German World Cup team has never been so bad.
By the way, not only in terms of medals. The athletes of the German Athletics Association also achieved the weakest result in history in the final rankings, which are important for sports promotion. Only seven places in the top eight – a devastating record.
The Germans left behind and mostly had no chance at world level. Too many of the 78 World Cup participants only gained experience instead of points for the national ranking. mass instead of class. It doesn’t seem to bother everyone. High jump European champion Mateusz Przybylko had what he considered a plausible explanation for the penultimate place in the final. It’s not that bad – the World Cup is just an intermediate stage on the way to the home European Championships in Munich. Understandable from an athlete’s point of view.
Home EM in Munich degenerated into an alibi
In three weeks time they will be cheered on by local fans, family and friends in the Olympic Stadium and they will also be more visible in the media than in the night shadow overseas. But the emotional highlight of Munich has degenerated into an alibi in Eugene. The absolute will to win, which the athletes of the USA exemplified in an impressive manner at their first home World Championships, was completely lacking in the Germans. Jointly responsible for this is the leadership of the association, which allowed its athletes to get away with the Munich alibi and caused negative headlines in the American province with contradictory statements.
After this traumatic World Cup, a relentless analysis is required. Why have so few managed to pull off their top performance? Is it because of the lax attitude, the wrong training control – or simply lacking the level of performance? Why can’t the successful youngsters assert themselves internationally?
Dreams are foam. German athletics must finally wake up. Should the European Championships at home in Munich also become a sporting nightmare, the core Olympic sport in Germany threatens to disappear from the scene.