As expected, Susanne Gogl-Walli missed out on a medal in the 400 m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, but sold herself dearly with a new ÖLV record. In her first final at a world championship on Saturday, the Upper Austrian ran to sixth place with a time of 51.37 seconds, improving her own record by six hundredths of a second.
The gold medal went to Dutchwoman Femke Bol, who set a world record in 49.17. Gogl-Walli was more than a second shy of the podium. Lieke Klaver (50.16) ensured a Dutch double victory, the American Alexis Holmes (50.24) took bronze with a new personal best.
Gogl-Walli started on the inside in the six-man final on lane one and kept up well with her five competitors, who were rated much higher. On Friday, thanks to a competitor’s disqualification, she made it to the final in third place in her semifinal. In the preliminary run, the 27-year-old had improved her own ÖLV record from the previous year of 51.43 by a whopping three tenths of a second.
In the morning, sprinter Magdalena Lindner was eliminated from her World Indoor Championships debut over 60 m in fifth place in her heat. In 7.46 seconds, the 23-year-old from Lower Austria clearly missed making it into the semi-finals.
