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Unger breaks national 200m record at German Indoors Championships
Monday 21 February 2005
Sindelfingen, Germany - Tobias Unger ran a lap of honour in the wrong direction but apart from that everything at present is running smoothly for the 25 year-old sprinter. He became the man of the German Indoor Championships when he broke the 21 year-old national 200m record on Sunday (20 Feb).
Sprint double
Tobias Unger (GER)
(AFP/Getty Images)
Under having won the 60m title just 30 minutes earlier in the day took the 200m title in style. Coming out of the blocks very quick he had soon left his opponents behind by a clear margin and finished in 20.56. That meant that he had broken the German indoor record by one hundredth of a second. It was Ralf Lübke back in 1984, who had set that record in Stuttgart, just a couple of miles away from Sindelfingen.
“It was my aim to break the record – and it is a great feeling to be able to call myself a German record holder. I am happy. And that would not even change if someone would come tomorrow and break it”, said Unger.
He also said that winning the 60m just half an hour earlier was a great boost for his record run. “I knew that the 60 metres would be a close race.” Unger won with a personal best of 6,60 seconds, beating the national qualifying standard for the European Championships at this distance. In a very close race Marc Blume came second (6.61) and Tim Goebel, who had started a comeback this season, was third in 6.62.
Limited indoor training opportunities
Tobias Unger’s 200m indoor time becomes even more valuable if you take into account that he is hardly able to train indoors. “This season I had three indoor training sessions to get used to the tight bends.” It had been even more difficult this winter because there is quite a lot of snow in the southwest of Germany. Unger lives near Stuttgart. If it snows it means that Unger and his coach Michael Corucle have to clear the track before they can start training. “It depends on what we do how much snow we have to clear”, Unger explained.
Next year they might well have to clear a whole lap since Unger confirms: “Yes I will give it a try at the 400 metres in the summer. But I will do this at the end of the season because I do not want to take any risk before the World Championships.”
Ecker a Madrid medal bet too
While Tobias Unger looks a promising medal bet for Madrid Danny Ecker could be able to reach peak form at the right time. Ecker, who had vaulted six metres indoors back in 2001, won the title with 5.75 m. He was the only one to clear that height. And he managed it with what was just his third jump in competition. He had started at 5.40 and jumped 5.60 and 5.75 in his first attempt as well.
Youngster Fabian Schulze was second and should have earned a place in the German team for Madrid as well as third placed Tim Lobinger. Both cleared 5.70 m in their first attempts. Other prominent names of German pole vaulting missed qualifying for Madrid: Björn Otto (5.70), Richard Spiegelburg (5.60) and Lars Börgeling (5.50) took the next few places.
“It was a fine competition for me. I am in great shape and if I should be able to fix some technical things I should be able to jump something like 5.85 metres”, Danny Ecker said after failing 5.80 m three times. “Of course I will go to Madrid aiming to win, but I know there are a couple of other vaulters to be watched – two Ukrainians for example or Tim Lobinger.”
Carolin Hingst produced another fine result in the women’s Pole Vault. After improving her personal indoor best to 4.60 m a week earlier in Donetsk she won the title with 4.55 m. She jumped this height in her first attempt and then, as in Donetsk, failed at 5.70 m. This would have been a German record. The national record of 4.68m remains with Annika Becker who had chosen to do the Long Jump this season. She was third in Sindelfingen with 6.40 m and missed qualifying for Madrid while Kathrin van Bühren won the event with 6.49 m.
Good hurdling
Thomas Blaschek won the men’s 60m Hurdles with 7.64 but the women’s event was even better. Kirsten Bolm clocked a fast 7,93 seconds which was close to the world leading time of 7,90. Nadine Hentschke took second place in 8.02. “It is a superb time for me because once again I had been hampered by injuries and could not train properly for the indoor season”, said Bolm. “I hope to be able to train well in the next few months and then I am really looking forward to the summer.”
Kumbernuss returns to the top for the last time?
Astrid Kumbernuss regained her indoor title, which she had last won two years ago. The shot putter achieved 18.93m which put her into number one spot of this year’s top lists. Youngster Petra Lammert was second with 18.58, while Olympic silver medallist Nadine Kleinert had to be content with fourth place (18.11 m). “It is the last time I will compete at these indoor championships and I am happy with the result. As for the European indoors I have not yet decided if I will compete. It will depend on my state of health”, Astrid Kumbernuss said.
And finally Tobias Unger revealed why he was running his lap of honour in the wrong direction: “It was because I wanted to see my girlfriend first!”
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
Results,
Men:
60 m: 1. Tobias Unger 6.60, 2. Marc Blume 6.61, 3. Tim Goebel 6.62.
200 m: 1. Tobias Unger 20.56 (nat. rec.), 2. Sebastian Ernst 20.98, 3. Alexander Kosenkow 21.22
400 m: 1. Sebastian Gatzka 46.90, 2. Florian Seitz 46.96, 3. Ruwen Faller 47.37.
B Race: Henning Kuschewitz 47.36
800 m: 1. Rene Herms 1:53.05, 2. Nico Motchebon 1:53.31, 3. Toni Mohr 1:53.64
1500 m: 1. Wolfram Müller 3:44.47, 2. Stefan Eberhardt 3:44.91, 3. Jonas Stiefel 3:46.56
3000 m: 1. Jan Fitschen 7:55.99, 2. Filmon Ghirmai 8:08.48, 3. Sebastian Hallmann 8:09.03
60 m hurdles: 1. Thomas Blaschek 7.64, 2. Claude Edorh 7.70, 3. Jan Schindzielorz 7.72
5000 m Walk: 1. Jan Albrecht 19:09.60, 2. André Höhne 19:32.19, 3. Michael Krause 20:06.94
Long Jump: 1. Nils Winter 8.02, 2. Andreas Pohle 7.80, 3. Peter Rapp 7.79
Triple Jump: 1. Andreas Pohle 16.41, 2. Charles Friedek 16.17, 3. Hrvoje Verzi 15.98
High Jump: 1. Matthias Haverney 2.22, 2. Daniel Schäfer 2.18, 3. Eike Onnen 2.18
Pole Vault: 1. Daniel Ecker 5.75, 2. Fabian Schulze 5.70, 3. Tim Lobinger 5.70
Shot Put: 1. Andy Dittmar 20.14, 2. Peter Sack 19.77, 3. Detlef Bock 19.69
Women:
60 m: 1. Marion Wagner 7.27, 2. Nadine Hentschke 7.29, 3. Franziska Bertenbreiter 7.41
200 m: 1. Birgit Rockmeier 23.45, 2. Grit Breuer 23.68, 3. Marion Wagner 23.92.
B Race: Johanna Kedzierski 23.87
400 m: 1. Claudia Marx 52.46, 2. Claudia Hoffmann 53.04, 3. Nadine Balkow 54.94
800 m: 1. Claudia Gesell 2:01.72, 2. Monika Gradzki 2:02.19, 3. Janina Goldfuß 2:05.32
1500 m: 1. Antje Möldner 4:16.20, 2. Carmen Rüdiger 4:16.49, 3. Sabrina Mockenhaupt 4:16.70
3000 m: 1. Sabrina Mockenhaupt 9:29.59, 2. Andreina Byrd 9:36.58, 3. Katherina Schley 10:04.99
60 m hurdles: 1. Kirsten Bolm 7.93, 2. Nadine Hentschke 8.02, 3. Judith Ritz 8.15.
3000 m Walk: 1. Sabine Zimmer 12:04.86, 2. Melanie Seeger 12:27.16, 3. Maja Landmann 13:20.55
Long Jump: 1. Kathrin van Bühren 6.49, 2. Bianca Kappler 6.48, 3. Annika Becker 6.40
Triple Jump: 1. Silvia Otto 13.75, 2. Katja Demut 13.67, 3. Sandra Busch 13.21
High Jump: 1. Daniela Rath 1.87, 2. Anett Jambor 1.84, 3. Julia Hartmann 1.84
Pole Vault: 1. Carolin Hingst 4.55, 2. Martina Strutz 4.40, 3. Sabine Schulte 4.20
Shot Put: 1. Astrid Kumbernuss 18.93, 2. Petra Lammert 18.58, 3. Nadine Beckel 18.22