Two-time European steeplechase champion Gesa Krause has won the 3000 meter title at the German indoor championships for the second time. The 31-year-old won on Saturday in Leipzig after an energetic final lap in 9:06.90 minutes.
Elena Burkard - a steeplechase specialist like Krause - came second in 9:08.39 minutes ahead of Eva Dieterich from Tübingen in 9:10.21 minutes.
"I used to always have a good last lap. That wasn't quite so easy at the beginning after the pregnancy, so it's good that it's still there. The title means a lot to me," said Krause and was very proud. For Krause, the title fights after her maternity leave are a step towards her goal of returning to the international top in the 3000 meter steeplechase. In Leipzig, she also qualified for the 1500 meter final this Sunday.
The German pole vaulters, on the other hand, disappointed. Former World Championship fifth-placer Oleg Zernikel jumped 5.45 meters to win the title. The athlete from ASV Landau was the only one to clear this height on his first attempt. The defending champions Bo Kanda Lita Baehre and Torben Blech and former champion Raphael Holzdeppe, in his final season, finished equal second.
None of the quartet then mastered their next height. Blech finished at 5.55 meters, while 5.65 meters was too high for Lita Baehre, who finished second in the European Championships last year after a long injury, Zernikel and the former world champion Holzdeppe. "We have the Olympic Games ahead of us. You can't get high at 40," said Zernikel.
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