The disillusionment among German athletes has probably been great since the beginning of the week. Nobody wants to admit it, but the nomination of the starting fields for the highlight of the season by the world association on Monday shows what the numerous medal wins at the European Championships last month in Birmingham are worth compared to the performances with the world's best. When the elite meet in Budapest on three evenings from Friday for their first World Athletics Ultimate Championships, only five German athletes will compete in each of the 13 individual Olympic disciplines for both genders - and only men.
The fact that not a single German woman will be seen as a soloist is also due to the discretion of the organizer, whose aim is to only present the competitions that, from his point of view, are the most attractive and promise the most drama. “The rhythm of the competitions, the pace, the staging in collaboration with the television broadcasters should give athletics new impetus,” says Sebastian Coe, President of the world association, in an interview with WELT and adds: “I want to inspire new target groups who are perhaps not naturally athletics fans, and at the same time not offend traditional fans like me.”
According to Coe, the disciplines were by no means chosen arbitrarily. “We know this through our market research,” says the 69-year-old Brit, who would like to anchor his new premium event in the competition calendar every two years in the future. “We talk to fans both digitally and in person, analyzing their reactions to our championships and even measuring pulse rates and other physiological responses during the broadcast.”
The female shot putters are among those eliminated by the market analysis. They won't be seen in action, which is particularly bitter for Yemisi Mabry. The Rhinelander would have automatically qualified for the Ultimate Championships, like all the Olympic champions in Paris, last year's world champions in Tokyo and the winners of the Diamond League series. The remaining starting places - up to 16 in the sprint and middle distances, eight in the jumping and throwing disciplines - were awarded via the world rankings.
As the current runner-up in the long jump ranking, there was no way around Malaika Mihambo at the meeting of the superstars. In contrast to the shot put, their discipline is held. However, the most successful of her guild in the past decade had to end her season early due to a thigh injury, which is even more sad considering the attractive prize money.
The world association is paying out more money than ever before for a championship – a total of ten million US dollars. None of the 381 nominees from 65 countries will return home without additional income. The minimum salary is $2,000. The 26 winners of the individual disciplines receive 150,000 US dollars, the runners-up receive 75,000 US dollars, and the third place winners receive 40,000 US dollars. In the two mixed relays, the prize money for places one to three is $80,000, $40,000 and $24,000.
“These are of course bonuses that trigger an additional motivational boost,” admits Julian Weber. In addition to the two-time European javelin throwing champion, Robert Farken over 1,500 meters, the 400-meter hurdlers Emil Agyekum and Owe Fischer-Breiholz and hammer thrower Merlin Hummel represent the German colors as individual fighters. Weber has the best chance of crowning the competition year as “champion of champions”.
On Sunday it applies to the 32-year-old from Mainz, who has been training at SC Potsdam under Burkhard Looks for six years. The sports soldier is still missing a significant triumph beyond the European continent. So far he has tried in vain to secure a podium place at the Olympic Games or world title fights.
Bad luck seems to be sticking to his spear: fourth place at the Summer Games in Tokyo 2021. At that time he was 14 centimeters short of bronze. Fourth place at the 2022 World Cup in Eugene/USA and fourth place again at the World Cup a year later in Budapest. At the Summer Games in Paris, the muscle-bound giant came sixth, and twelve months ago at the World Championships in Tokyo he only finished fifth as the favorite.
It is long overdue, says Weber, that he overcomes the trauma of being unsuccessful at major global events. It's not the mental thing that's the problem, but the physical thing. Tendinopathy kept him from continuous training, and the painful Achilles tendon disease simply wouldn't get better. There were also back and shoulder problems. He always has some kind of malaise, but he is always able to push through it.
He recently demonstrated what Weber is capable of even in seemingly hopeless situations with his second European Championship victory. When no one believed he could win the title anymore, he went for the big throw in his last attempt and hurled the 800-gram device to 90.40 meters. Nobody had ever thrown that far in the history of these championships.
With this distance, he ranks second in this year's world best list behind Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage from Sri Lanka. The 23-year-old Asian stands at 92.62 meters. "Rumesh," Weber acknowledges, "has developed tremendously. But that doesn't mean that he has already won the championships." Especially since the competition is not held under the known rules, with six attempts for each thrower. In Budapest, all eight qualifiers only have two attempts, after which the top six remain in the competition, with only the four leaders allowed to compete for the fourth and final attempt. Weber is “very excited about the entertaining format” and describes his ambitions for the final appearance with the words: “I’m keen on a happy ending.”
