What could be more expression of a home game than arriving by S-Bahn? Julian Weber, European javelin champion, came to the International Stadium Festival Berlin (Istaf), the largest German athletics festival, on Sunday by local transport. 35,000 spectators awaited him in the Olympic Stadium.
The javelin thrower found it “bombastic” and threw 84.09 meters despite a painful knee. That was almost five and a half meters below his personal best, but clinched him the win. Again he had to borrow the spears to throw; his own disappeared on the way from the training camp in Erding to the world championships in Budapest.
Neither this nor the fact that on the final day of the World Championship fights the German athletes’ last hope of a medal weighed heavily on him did Weber excuse his fourth-place finish.
Special home game
The best track and field athletes in Germany made it clear with victories and best performances at the Istaf that they do not feel affected by the discussion about a supposed disgrace in Budapest. “Of course there were no medals, but top performers were certainly missing. But basically, the performance at the World Cup wasn’t bad,” judged hurdler Joshua Abuaku: “It’s a long way, especially for us, who are catching up to the top.”
Berlin was a special home game for Abuaku. When Usain Bolt set the 100-meter world record of 9.58 seconds at the 2009 World Championships in the Olympic Stadium, he was just 13 years old and he was in the audience with his mother at the finish line.
“The fact that I’m allowed to run at the front here is a lifelong dream that’s coming true,” he said fourteen years later with youthful enthusiasm. With his victory over 400 meters hurdles in 48.12 seconds, he improved his best time in Berlin for the third time this season; with her he would have finished sixth instead of eighth in the World Cup finals. “I’m now among the best in the world,” Abuaku said happily: “I want to build on that next year.”
Javelin thrower Julian Weber is satisfied with his performance. : Image: EPA
Jean Paul Bredau has also set himself the same goal. With the 4×400 meter relay in 3:00.67 minutes, he missed the final in Budapest, although the team was faster than any German team in this millennium. At the Istaf Bredau won over 400 meters; he ran the distance in 44.96 seconds – the first time by a German runner under 45 seconds since the European champion and World Cup runner-up Ingo Schultz in 2002.
Bredau also finished ahead of his relay mates: Manuel Sanders was second with 45.05 seconds and Marc Koch fourth with 46.18 seconds – both bettering their personal best times.
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“I think the German team did well; everyone was in their personal best,” commented 400m sprinter Alica Schmidt after running seven hundredths of a second over the 52 seconds – also a best. With Bredau and Sanders in the mixed relay, she finished seventh in Budapest: “But you have to ask yourself why Germany can’t keep up with the world’s best.”
