Victory with a world record for Leon Schäfer: The long jumper gave the German para-athletes their first medal at the World Championships in Paris – and it was gold right away.
The 26-year-old from Leverkusen won the prosthetic long jump with 7.25 meters and improved his own world record by one centimeter in the last jump. Berlin’s Ali Lacin was fifth with 6.29 meters.
“I’m doing amazing, I feel very good,” said the gold medal winner happily on the sports show microphone, “I’ve finally been able to call it up. I had more in it, but we’ll get that out next year. The gold tastes in very good in any case.” He “worked hard in the preparation after the cruciate ligament rupture and didn’t do things by halves,” he said, “I invested sweat, tears and pain. But I knew: I’ll win here today.”
For Schäfer it was the second world title after his triumph in Dubai in 2019. At the 2021 Paralympics in Tokyo, the athlete, who was born in Burgwedel, had to be content with silver. Schäfer was once considered a great football talent and was spotted by the DFB before his right lower leg and knee had to be amputated after suffering from bone cancer.
Schäfer under pressure after two failed attempts
Schäfer, who jumped with a black headscarf, was under a lot of pressure after two invalid attempts, but prevented the preliminary round elimination with a safety jump of 6.52 meters. With 6.95 meters he moved up to second place with the fourth jump, and then flew to victory in the last jump.
Lacin’s prostheses are not yet in place
Ali Lacin, who wanted at least fourth place and thus a Paralympic slot for the German team, was disappointed. In the end he was fifth with 6.29 meters. “I haven’t jumped any better this season either,” said the 35-year-old, who had been traveling with broken prostheses for a long time and only got the new ones last week after waiting for months: “They’re not right yet, that’s problematic. But I’m looking forward and I hope that next year it will be better and then I can be at the Paralympics.”
Menje is six hundredths short after Abistress
In the morning the singer Merle Menje finished fifth in the wheelchair race over 5000 meters and just missed out on a quota place for the Paralympics. Fourth place, which would have guaranteed Germany a starting place for the Paralympics, was only six hundredths of a second away after a gripping sprint with the Briton Eden Rainbow-Cooper.
The preparation of the 19-year-old, who will start on three more routes, was strange. In the previous week she wrote two exams, seven hours after graduation she drove to Paris. “It’s been a totally crazy week,” said the two-time European champion, “I’m glad school is over and I can concentrate on the sport.”
Heats: Reason to cheer
From a German point of view, there was also reason to celebrate in the numerous heats: Nele Moos (T38) over 100 meters and Isabelle Foerder (T35) over 200 meters both qualified directly for the final as third in the heats, and World Cup debutant Kim Vaske also sprinted ( T47) in 13.09 seconds over 100 meters to a personal best. The two youngest Germans, 16-year-old Friederike Brose (T38) and 17-year-old Jule Roß (T46), retired in ninth and 18th place in the heats.
