The departure of Tim Lobinger plays an important role at the German Indoor Athletics Championships, the pole vaulter was a formative figure. In the sprints over 60 meters, time measurement problems and false starts cause trouble, things are much smoother for Cindy Roleder
Gina Lückenkemper has been crowned German indoor champion over 60 meters. The 100-meter European champion from SCC Berlin won an exciting final in 7.17 seconds in the title fights in Dortmund ahead of her relay colleagues Lisa Mayer (Sprintteam Wetzlar/7.21) and Alexandra Burghardt (SV Wacker Burghausen/7.22) . At first there was a lot of confusion in the hall because a target time of 7.05 seconds was displayed on the screen – this would have been only one hundredth above the 35-year-old German record. Lückenkemper let out a cheering cry before the time was finally corrected significantly upwards.
“Someone should explain that to me again, how you can correct more than a tenth upwards. I find it really crass and a bit questionable to go up that high,” said Lückenkemper. She would not have “completely ruled out” such a time. 7.17 seconds are “okay, but I would have preferred to run 7.05 seconds,” added the 26-year-old with a laugh. Long jump Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo proved her strong sprint qualities in fifth place in 7.37 seconds. In her flagship discipline, the world champion will fight for gold on the second day of competition on Sunday (1 p.m./live stream at sportschau.de).
A drama took place in the men’s decision: the co-favorites Julian Wagner (LC Top Team Thüringen) and Owen Ansah (Hamburger SV) were disqualified after an alleged false start. They immediately protested and started with reservations – surprisingly, Aleksandar Askovic (LG Stadtwerke München) crossed the finish line first in 6.56 seconds ahead of Ansah and Wagner. After a few minutes of waiting, Robin Ganter (MTG Mannheim/6.65) and Philipp Corucle (VfB Stuttgart/6.66) were in second and third place in the official result list, originally the two were behind the ultimately disqualified Ansah (6.57 ) and Wagner (6.58) finished fourth and fifth.
Meanwhile, Konstanze Klosterhalfen celebrated her 26th birthday with a gold medal in the 3,000 meters. The 5000 meter European champion won in a strong 8:34.89 minutes and was only around two seconds above her German record. Silver was secured by Hanna Klein (LAV Tübingen/8:36.83), bronze by Lea Meyer (TSV Bayer Leverkusen/8:50.83), Vice European Champion. “It was a very nice birthday,” said Klosterhalfen, enthusing about a “totally nice experience and a great atmosphere” in front of the 3,000 spectators in the Helmut-Körnig-Halle.
The former European hurdles champion Cindy Roleder, on the other hand, ended her career with a sense of achievement. “Germany’s fastest mom”, as the 33-year-old from SV Halle called herself after the birth of her child, competed in her last races over 60 meters hurdles. In the final she finished third in 8.15 seconds. “I wanted to win another medal. I succeeded, now I can end my career,” she said. Monika Zapalska (TV Wattenscheid) secured the title in 8.10 seconds ahead of Marlene Meier (Leverkusen/8.17).
German athletics also commemorated Tim Lobinger, who died on Thursday, in a special way at the pole vault final. At the beginning of the athletes’ presentation, Torben Blech held up a DLV jersey with Lobinger’s start number and also presented a baton of the first German 6-meter jumper. The approximately 3000 spectators applauded for a long time. The indoor world champion of 2003 was the first German pole vaulter to cross the magic mark. As athlete spokesman, he was committed to the athletes in the DLV. The former exceptional jumper had been battling cancer for years.
After the subsequent competition, Blech and Bo Kanda Lita Baehre shared the gold medal. The two Leverkusen riders triumphed with the same height of 5.72 meters, for Blech it was the third German title in a row. Vice European Champion Lita Baehre also won for the third time under the roof of the hall after 2019 and 2020. Bronze went to ex-world champion Raphael Holzdeppe (LAZ Zweibrücken/5.52). Blech then spoke of a “moving moment” when commemorating Lobinger: “He was a role model for me, I watched a lot of Tim’s videos.” Lita Baehre described Lobinger’s death as a “shock for the pole vault scene in Germany”.
