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Promising results on middle distances at German indoors

2005-02-21

There were some promising results on middle distance events on the second day of the German Indoor Championships. Wolfram Müller showed a convincing race in the 1,500 metres. Neither his opponents nor the referees could stop him from winning in 3:44,47 minutes. Müller took the lead right from the start but since there was a problem with the clock at the finish he could not see any split time until after the 1,000 metre mark. Additionally for some time the referees indicated him the wrong number of laps remaining. “I had to shout to the referee during my race. They then corrected it”, Müller explained.

Müller had beaten the national qualifying time for the European Indoor Championships by running 3:39,47 minutes already before the national championships. Looking ahead to Madrid Müller thinks he will be in with a chance. “I am number five in Europe at present. Obviously it will not be possible to beat Ivan Heshko, but behind him it is all wide open”, Müller said.

There is another chance of a good middle distance result for a German runner in Madrid: Claudia Gesell is the new German indoor champion. The 27 year-old from Bayer Leverkusen won the 800 metres in Sindelfingen with 2:01,72 minutes. She once again beat the national qualifying time for Madrid.

„I really wanted to win this race because apart from one race as a youngster I have won all my national finals“, Claudia Gesell said. “Before the championships I was not sure whether I should run in Madrid or not. But having beaten 2:02 minutes I just decided that I will go. And if I start I want to reach the final.” Suffering from health problems last season which ruined her Olympic performance (Gesell could not qualify for the second round) she hopes for a better year.

It does not look as good in the other two middle distance events. René Herms defended his 800 m title after a slow tactical race in 1:53,05 minutes. “It was only about winning for me today”, he said. Nico Motchebon was second with 1:53,31. “It is quite amazing that I am still getting second place although I only train five times a week”, Motchebon said.

The women’s 1,500 metres were won by Antje Möldner in 4:16,20 minutes. She beat Carmen Rüdiger (4:16,49) while Sabrina Mockenhaupt, who had won the 3,000 metres a day earlier, was third (4:16,70).