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Home , Ana Peleteiro, Anzhelika Sidorova, Katerina Stefanidi, Nadine Visser

+++ PRESS RELEASE INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe 2019 +++

Fabian Dürr Telephone: 0721 782045-261 The INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe shines Email: [email protected] with world-class performances Karlsruhe, 4 February 2019 World record performance of the year, a national record, and a Meeting record go to high-jumper Naoto Tobe / Sold out athletics arena

Spectators experienced astonishing performances last Saturday with three world record performances of the year, three national records, and a Meeting record in the completely sold out Karlsruhe athletics arena in Hall 3 of the Karlsruhe Trade Fair Centre at the INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe. Visitors also got to see top-class German athletes. A total of seven DLV athletes mastered the standard set for the upcoming European Indoor Championships scheduled to take place in this coming March. As part of the IAAF World Indoor Tour, the INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe once again showed itself at its best this year. Naoto Tobe, an athlete from Japan, was the person who sealed the deal and impressed everyone at the Meeting. Leaping over 2.35 metres in the high-jump not only earned the talented athlete the best performance and the national record, but he also set a new Meeting record that had not been broken since 1994. Wu Yung from took second place (2.31 metres), which meant that another Asian athlete cracked the 2.30 metre mark. The 60-metre women’s sprint was so fast that it was over in mere seconds. In the forerun, Polish athlete Ewa Swoboda made a time of 7.08 seconds, a world record performance of the year. Even though she couldn’t beat this outstanding result in the final, her time of 7.10 seconds was enough to lead her to victory ahead of Europe's sprint queen from the (7.19 seconds). In the women’s hurdles, the title went to Nadine Visser from the Netherlands, who significantly surpassed her own time from the forerun to beat (7.98 seconds) by a hair with her impressive time of 7.97 seconds. The women's proved that there is a first time for everything; never before have three winners stood on the podium together at the INDOOR MEETING. The three athletes, from Canada, (ANA), and Olympic Champion, World Champion, and European Champion from , shared the title with an impressive 4.71-metre jump. “I am happy to have won here and, of course, to share my victory with the other two winners. The atmosphere here in Karlsruhe is really fantastic,” Olympic Champion Katerina Stefanidi said enthusiastically after the competition. For the first time in INDOOR MEETING history, eight women jumped over 4.63 metres. One of these women was , who returned to the competition after a long period of injury and made a strong comeback by jumping the European Championship standard height straight away at her first competition of 2019.

The gold didn’t go to the expected winner, namely Juan Miguel Echevarria; with a distance of 8.08 metres, Cuba's super talent and 2018 World Indoor Champion gave a first-class performance, but surprisingly, it was the Swede Thobias Nilsson Montler who took home the long-jump title. He also achieved a distance of 8.08 metres, he secured his victory with his sound second attempt (8.04 metres). In the women’s , Ana Peleteiro, the bronze medallist of the 2018 European Championships in , took the victory at the Fabian Dürr INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe. With a distance of 14.51 metres, she secured her Telephone: 0721 782045-261 win ahead of the reigning World and Indoor World Champion Yulimar Rojas from Email: [email protected] Venezuela. The medium and long-distance races at the INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe were Karlsruhe, 4 February 2019 also close and hard-fought. Three-time World Indoor and European Champion Pavel Maslák from the earned the overall victory with a time of 46.78 seconds, while the Swede Andreas Kramer achieved his personal best time for the 800 metres with a time of 1:46.52 minutes and took the title. The men’s 1,500 metres turned out to be a purely Kenyan affair. With 3:38.23 minutes, Vincent Kibet had a lead of 0.46 seconds in the final sprint ahead of compatriot Bethwell Birgen. The last race of the evening proved to be an absolutely thrilling competition and kept spectators on the edge of their seats. Cheered on by Mexican waves, the women began the 15 stadium laps, totalling 3,000 metres. German runner Alina Reh took the lead early on, but at the very end British Melissa Courtney crossed the line first in a world record performance of the year of 8:43.36 minutes. Alina Reh didn’t let that get her down and still had a successful race: “The last lap just isn’t my thing, I'm a long-distance runner at heart. It was such a pleasure to compete here in Karlsruhe, the vibe was great and, as Germans from the region, we maybe got a little more applause,” said Reh after the race.

Martin Wacker, Managing Director of Karlsruhe Marketing und Event GmbH, was very positive about the 35th INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe: “It was fantastic to see how people got involved in the competition again. The INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe has an incredible status and has proved itself again this year as a national athletics attraction.” Sports Director Alain Blondel completely agreed: “We experienced an absolute athletics extravaganza yet again. The athletes performed at a peak level and the audience was great. The INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe is one of the most international sporting events in Baden-Württemberg, and we are extremely proud of that.”

The IAAF World Indoor Tour continues on 6 February in Torun (), before heading to Madrid (8 February), (16 February), and coming to an end at the Tour Final in Düsseldorf on 20 February.

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