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Cindy Roleder and Renaud Lavillenie lead Fabian Dürr Telephone: 0721 782045-261 the field of top starters at the E-mail: [email protected]

INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe 2020 Karlsruhe, 3 December 2019 Record sales: Only 380 of the approximately 5,000 tickets are still available two months after the launch of the presale ticket period

An athlete who is well acquainted with the arena in the Messehalle Karlsruhe has committed herself to the 36th edition of the INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe. When the 60-metre hurdles return on 31 January, , reigning joint indoor European champion, is likely to be in the mix in the battle for victory at the INDOOR MEETING and the Indoor Tour. "I'm familiar with the Meeting, and the atmosphere has never been anything but positive. It's an event that I highlight on my calendar every year. The first thing I do is see when the INDOOR MEETING is taking place, and then I focus my training towards it", said Cindy Roleder, who attended the press conference for the INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe as a guest of the main sponsor INIT. With one World Championship silver, one European Championship gold, two European open-air bronze, one gold and one silver at the European Athletics Indoor Championships, and seven German Championship titles, Roleder, a member of SV Halle, has been the most successful German athlete of the last ten years. Cindy Roleder has already featured at the INDOOR MEETING in the Messehalle Karlsruhe, competing at the event between 2015 and 2019 – with these appearances being quite fruitful for her. In 2015, her debut appearance at the event, she won in 8.03 seconds. "I remember my victory in 2015 particularly well, as it came against the world record holder . She was the first to congratulate me on my victory and she was my biggest role model. Performing the lap of honour with her is something I'll never forget", continued Roleder. In her previous appearance last year (7.98 seconds) she was defeated on the day by one hundredth of a second, losing out to the Dutch athlete . Her personal indoor best is currently 7.84 seconds, while her open-air record stands at 12.59 seconds. That personal best time was well out of reach for her at the World Championships in in September 2019. Only making it to the semi-finals, she had to throw in the towel in her quest to make it to the final due to a technical error at the first hurdle, which gave her a semi-final time of 12.86 seconds and left her in fourth. However, at that point, a time of 12.65 seconds was needed to progress to the final. A time that, up until then, had never had to be run before in a final qualifier at an international championship. In addition to the indoor season, Roleder's focus in 2020 will also be on the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Sports director Alain Blondel unveiled a secret exclusively during the press conference. Mr. Pole Vault himself will be returning to the comfort of his sofa on 31 January 2020. This is because Olympic gold medallist and European champion Renaud Lavillenie will also be making an appearance at the INDOOR MEETING at the end of January. "I'm extremely happy that Renaud is coming back to Karlsruhe. He loves Fabian Dürr vaulting in Karlsruhe, which was the decisive factor in his decision to return. Telephone: 0721 782045-261 E-mail: [email protected] And maybe it will be as exciting as it was in 2018, when he was narrowly defeated by Raphael Holzdeppe", said Alain Blondel. Karlsruhe, 3 December 2019 Many are likely to also remember February 2016, when Lavillenie set a meeting record by leaping 5.91 meters in the Messehalle. Lavillenie's personal indoor best in 2019 is 5.82 meters, which he jumped at the meeting in Tignes, France. After a long injury lay-off due to meniscus problems, he was not able to perform at his best at the World Championships last September in Doha, which meant he was knocked out early in the qualifying rounds. But now he is fit again and is setting his sights on both indoor competition and Tokyo. Karlsruhe will be hosting its first indoor meeting on 31 January, but more are to follow as part of the World Athletics Indoor Tour. Karlsruhe can therefore look forward to a real crowd favourite.

In 2020, the World Athletics Indoor Tour will comprise seven meetings. In addition to Karlsruhe, the meetings in Boston, USA (25 January), Dusseldorf, GER (4 February), Torun, POL (8 February) and , ESP (21 February) will once again form part of the programme, as they have done in previous years. After being held in Birmingham last year, the Müller Indoor Grand Prix will return to , GBR in 2020 (15 February). Making its first appearance in the IAAF World Indoor Tour calendar this year is the Meeting international in Liévin, FRA (19 February), one of the most important indoor meetings in France. In addition to the $20,000 prize money that is promised to the tour winner of each respective discipline, a further incentive is provided by the fact that the winners will also secure a wildcard for the upcoming 2020 World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.

On 31 January, athletics fans in Karlsruhe can look forward to seeing the 60- metre hurdles, the 400 metres, the 1,500 metres, the high jump and the long jump as part of the tour, with the and the 3,000 metres also featuring as additional disciplines. The male athletes will be competing in the , 3,000 metres, the pole vault and the long jump as part of the tour.

Anyone who still hasn't grabbed themselves a ticket for the 36th edition of the INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe should do so quickly. 380 of the approximately 5,000 tickets are currently still on sale. "Karlsruhe is crazy for athletics. We were almost sold out of tickets just two months after the launch of the presale ticket period. We see tickets being bought far and wide, with people from across Germany and neighbouring countries being interested in the event, "said Martin Wacker, managing director of the event organiser, Karlsruhe

Marketing and Event GmbH. Tickets are available at the tourist information office in the Schaufenster Karlsruhe, Kaiserstraße 72-74, 76133 Karlsruhe. You can also get tickets by phoning the ticket hotline (0721 25000) or by going online to www.ticketmaster.de.

IAAF World Indoor Tour 2020 stages: Fabian Dürr 25/01/2020: NewBalance Indoor Grand Prix (Boston, USA) Telephone: 0721 782045-261 E-mail: [email protected] 31/01/2020: INDOOR MEETING (Karlsruhe, GER)

04/02/2020: PSD Bank Meeting (Dusseldorf, GER) Karlsruhe, 3 December 2019 08/02/2020: ORLEN Copernicus Cup (Torun, POL) 15/02/2020: Müller Indoor Grand Prix (Glasgow, GBR) 19/02/2020: Meeting international (Liévin, FRA) 21/02/2020: Madrid Indoor Meeting (Madrid, ESP)

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