Long jumper Simon Batz narrowly missed out on a medal at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow, but achieved a respectable success. The 21-year-old jumped the eight-meter mark on Saturday (March 2, 2024). Meanwhile, the Dutchwoman Femke Bol set a new world record in the 400.
With 8.06 meters, Batz took fourth place. The bronze medalist and Jamaican Carey McLeod were 15 centimeters short. As expected, the Greek Olympic champion Miltiadis Tendoglou was crowned world champion. He won with 8.22 meters ahead of the Italian Mattia Furlani.
Marcel Fehr, Sportschau, February 29, 2024 3:02 p.m
For the fourth time further than eight meters
The German indoor champion Batz traveled to Scotland with the goal of reaching the final and another eight-meter jump. He passed this mark for the fourth time this year. A few weeks ago he caused a stir when he temporarily jumped to the top of Europe with 8.18 meters. But he jumped further than on Saturday in Scotland.
Batz, who was only later included in the World Cup starting field, is the best German long jumper since the former European champion Sebastian Bayer in 2009. For him, the test of strength with the international elite was a good opportunity to gain important experience for the highlights of the summer European Championships in Rome or the Olympic Games in Paris.
Bol delivers a show and a world record
400 m star Femke Bol beat her own world record in the evening and secured the gold medal with a great show. The 24-year-old Dutchwoman, outdoor world champion in the 400 m hurdles, triumphed over 400 m without obstacles in 49.17 seconds on Saturday evening, relegating her compatriot Lieke Klaver to second place by an incredible 0.99 seconds. The American Alexis Holmes took bronze (50.24).
Bol had only improved the indoor world record over two laps to 49.24 in mid-February. With the exception of the Olympics, Bol has now won gold at every major international championship.
400 meter hurdles: Warholm is beaten by Doom
In the men’s category, the Norwegian Karsten Warholm, Olympic champion and world champion in the 400 m hurdles, suffered a defeat. In 45.34 seconds, the world record holder came in second, nine hundredths slower than the Belgian Alexander Doom.
In the women’s 60 meters, Julien Alfred from the Caribbean island of St. Lucia (188,000 inhabitants) surprisingly took gold. The 21-year-old won in the world’s best time of 6.98 seconds. The American Grant Holloway (7.29) underlined his exceptional position in the men’s 60 m hurdles.
There was no German top placement in Scotland on Saturday evening. Triple jumper Max Heß from Chemnitz only reached ninth place with 16.66 meters. The victory went to Hugues Fabrice Zango from Burkina Faso with 17.53 meters.
Successful DLV start thanks to Ogunleye
On the first day of the World Indoor Championships, the eight-member DLV team was already able to celebrate their first medal. Yemisi Ogunleye won silver in the shot put and achieved a distance of over 20 meters for the first time. That’s just crazy. I didn’t even see the impact. When the referee walked there, I thought: That didn’t really happen,” she said afterwards. The World Cup ends on Sunday (March 3, 2024).
