The pole vaulter Bo Kanda Lita Baehre came out of the stadium rather withdrawn and dissatisfied. “I have to work technically more precisely. With 5.75 meters I can’t get involved in the front,” said the 23-year-old World Cup fourth on Friday (local time). For him, qualifying for the medal fight at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene on Monday night (2:25 a.m. CEST/ARD) was anything but a rush of heights: “With this performance, it will be difficult to get a good placement.”
The man from Leverkusen had managed the necessary 5.75 meters as the penultimate jumper in the third and last attempt. “But I won’t let that get me down and I won’t go into the final with a negative attitude,” said Lita Baehre, who had to change batons several times due to a strong tailwind and experienced this “as a little crime thriller”. The fact that he managed to reach the necessary height with the stick, with which he set a personal best of 5.90 meters at the German Championships in Berlin, proved that it wasn’t a question of the material.
Getting through was also a question of good nerves for Oleg Zernikel. The Olympic ninth from Landau also crossed 5.75 meters and was happy to be fit “to the point”. “I’ve learned to keep calm,” said the meditation devotee. Torben Blech from Leverkusen failed because of the initial height of 5.30 meters. World record holder Armand Duplantis flies towards the first outdoor world championship title after Olympic victory, European Championships and indoor World Championships gold. The height of 5.75 meters was not a big obstacle for the Swedish World Cup runner-up in 2019 and serial six-meter jumper.
The questions about the misery of the German World Cup team and the possible lack of buoyancy for it annoyed Lita Baehre. “I have nothing to do with how the others are doing,” he said angrily, adding, “I think it’s really sad that it’s being picked on.”
Apart from the pole vault, there were more downs than ups for the German athletes. The women’s 4×100 meter relay, led by Gina Lückenkemper, sprinted into the final on Sunday night (4.30 a.m. CEST/ZDF). On the other hand, two mistakes during the change of baton slowed down the men’s quartet, who, at 38.83 seconds, had too little speed for the final battle. After the German record of 37.99 seconds set at the beginning of June, there was even a faint hope of a rush to the medals.
In the javelin throw final, Annika Marie Fuchs from Potsdam did not get past twelfth and last place with only 56.46 meters. As in 2019, Kelsey-Lee Barber from Australia won the world title with 66.91 meters. Over 800 meters, Majtie Kolberg finished sixth in 2:01.36 minutes and Christina Hering finished eighth in 2:01.57 minutes. “I can’t understand it at all, it shouldn’t have happened that everyone ran away from me, because it wasn’t bombastic fast either,” said Hering.
The German Athletics Association remained without a medal on the eighth of ten days of competition and only placed in the top eight – and is now hoping for a conciliatory World Cup final thanks to a few aces. There shouldn’t be a big happy ending after the overall not glorious performances like at the Olympic Games with only three medals. “The Olympic success in Tokyo was not good and has already fallen short of expectations. In this respect, the sporting performance at the World Cup is no surprise,” explained Urs Granacher, chairman of the potential analysis committee. The PotAS uses many criteria to calculate the potential of top associations and sports.
