WLong jumper Malaika Mihambo finished the last big test before the World Athletics Championships in fifth place. At the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on Thursday, the defending champion missed out on the possible success. Olympic champion Mihambo landed twice at 6.72 meters, but jumped off the board once and gave away more than 20 centimeters. Lorraine Ugen from Great Britain, who came third at the World Indoor Championships twice, won with 6.81 meters.
At the German Championships in Berlin, Mihambo had recently jumped 6.85 meters.
The World Championships in Eugene in the American state of Oregon begin on July 15, and the German Athletics Association will announce its line-up this Friday.
Javelin thrower Julian Weber took the excellent third place with a strong 89.08 meters, but could hardly explain the distance in view of the difficult conditions. “It was a stroke of luck, I would say,” he said on Sky TV. The German champions from Mainz were only beaten by world champion Anderson Peters from Grenada and Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra from India. Peters managed 90.31 meters, Chopra threw a personal best with 89.94 meters. Johannes Vetter is currently recovering from his shoulder problems and was also absent in Stockholm.
World Cup third Gesa Krause did not finish eighth over the 3000 meter obstacle at her season debut. The 29-year-old, who recently suffered from severe cold symptoms, ran 9:44.44 minutes. “Such a time is of course not what I want or what I’m training for,” said Krause, there was still a lack of strength. Daisy Jepkemei, running for Kazakhstan, took the win in 9:15.77 minutes. The German champion Lea Meyer was fifth with a personal best of 9:25.61 minutes, Elena Burkard was seventh with 9:40.67 minutes.
100-meter Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs from Italy canceled his start at short notice. As the organizers announced, the Italian had felt pain during training the day before. His coach Paolo Camossi explained that Jacobs had complained of gluteal discomfort. A few days before the World Cup on Thursday, they didn’t want to “take the risk”.
World record holder Armand Duplantis, on the other hand, broke the outdoor pole vault record in his home country. The Swede jumped 6.16 meters in the second attempt. At 6.20 meters, Duplantis holds the world record that he set indoors in March.
