| International meeting of runners
Two meeting records – including one for “eternity” -, a best German U18 time, qualification for the U20 World Cup in the sprint relay and two fabulous times over 300 meters and 2,000 meters obstacle: The 31st Meeting International des Coureurs de Thallos didn’t skimp on Sunday’s highlights. Around 1,500 spectators in the Schönbuch stadium and many more in the live broadcast had a promising start to an intensive athletics season.
Malaika Mihambos is three times right: LG Kurpfalz Olympic long jump champion bettered Marion Wagner’s (USC Mainz) 11-year-old stadium record in the 80-meter sprint by eight hundredths of a second to 9.35 on Sunday at the international meeting of riders in Pliezhausen seconds.
Second, Malaika Mihambo made the double victory perfect: she clearly beat Holly Okuku (GSV Eintracht Baunatal, 17.55 sec) and Alica Schmidt (SCC Berlin, 17.69 sec) over 150 meters in 17.28 seconds.
Thirdly, it was still “overtime”: for three quarters of an hour, she patiently answered numerous requests for autographs from many athletics enthusiasts.
1000m meeting record – sixth at the Olympics with a fabulous time
The hope of a meeting record has even come true once again: Tokyo’s sixth Olympic 800m-place finisher Habitam Alemu (Ethiopia) clocked 2:34.11 minutes on the track at Schönbuch Stadium and bettered the 13-year-old record Czech Lenka Masna by nearly four seconds.
But not only was the time saved one of the fastest in the history of the international riders’ meeting. Because: in the wake of the 24-year-old Ethiopian, Katharina Trost (LG Stadtwerke München) – a year after missing the meeting record by 15 hundredths of a second – ran in 2:39.02 minutes and Majtie Kolberg (LG Kreis Ahrweiler, 2:39.42 mins) and Swiss 800 meters champion and fifth at the Torun 2021 European Championships Lore Hoffmann (2:39.77 mins) in places four through six in the all-time top six of the meeting.
Kallabis on Phenomenal Obstacles
Jolanda Kallabis (FT 1844 Freiburg) contributed Germany’s best U18 performance – in 6:23.82 minutes she raced solo to a more than sovereign victory over the 2,000 meter obstacle course, beating her own record from close range five seconds.
She then said: “It was a bit of a shame that I had to run it all alone up there and I was hoping someone would run with me because it’s mentally tough when you set your own pace all the time. Of course, I am very happy with the weather.
The 17-year-old adds: “Now I will run all the middle distance and get as many European Championship qualifications as possible.” By this we mean the highlight of the season, the U18 European Championships in Jerusalem (Israel): “I will probably run the 2,000 meter obstacle there, depending on how the other courses go. Then the Germans and then we’ll see…” the 17-year-old looks to the future.
France, Spain, Portugal in the top six of the riders’ meeting
Frenchman Mehdi Belhadj also entered the list of winners of the meeting of runners in the 2,000 meter steeplechase. In 5:30.82 minutes, the 26-year-old set the fourth fastest time ever at Schönbuch Stadium. He was followed by Niklas Buchholz (LSC Höchstadt/Aisch; 5:34.11 min), Velten Schneider (VfL Sindelfingen; 5:36.83 min) and Jens Mergenthaler (SV Winnenden; 5:37.81 min).
Spain also had reason to celebrate a little later: Samuel García won the 300 meters in 32.65 seconds, just ahead of Portugal’s Joao Coelho (32.66 seconds) and entered with this time in fourth place on Pliezhausen’s best charts. On arrival he said: “I will come back next year and then I will have the record”. Olympic semi-finalists Joshua Abuaku (LG Eintracht Frankfurt, 33.01 sec) and Constantin Preis (VfL Sindelfingen, 33.15 sec) came third and fourth.
For the multiple winner of Pliezhausen, Christina Hering (LG Stadtwerke Munich) remained behind
U20 European Champion Audrey Werro (Switzerland) only came second this time. Hering, 27, was beaten by Werro, who was nine years younger, by five hundredths. Their winning time was 1:26.70 minutes.
3,000 meters: a difficult “excursion” for Christoph Kessler
“Because unfortunately I still had some problems after Corona and my speed is not really there yet, I decided to switch to the next longer distance,” said middle distance specialist Christoph Kessler ( LG Region Karlsruhe), German indoor champion in the 800 m. meters, after his successful 3000 meter “excursion”. The 27-year-old continues: “It was really a tough race, but it was also fun, at least in the end and I’m happy that I could celebrate my start to the season again here at Pliezhausen.”
In victory for Simas Bertasius (8:03.29 min) – Lithuania’s record holder in the 1,500 meters and the mile – Karlsruher’s 8:09.80 minutes meant fifth place for Kessler behind Niels Laos (Netherlands, 8:04.17 min) , Mohamedamine El Bouajaji (France, 8:05.14 min) and Kevin Kamenschak – the 18-year-old Austrian achieved the standard for the U20 World Cup in Santiago de Cali (Colombia) in 8:07.31 minutes.
Both U20 national teams also qualified for it, clearly beating the required standard of 46.70 seconds in 44.34 (DLV 1) and 45.22 seconds (DLV 2) respectively.
You can find the complete results in our results section…