After his fifth place over 35 kilometers at the World Championships in Athletics, captain Christopher Linke made a speech to defend the German team. “I wouldn’t say we’re bad at the moment. Maybe the international competition is just too strong,” said Linke, considering the lack of medals in Budapest so far.
The simple look at gold, silver and bronze is too superficial for the EM second. After all, the German athletes in Hungary’s capital had “put in top performances”, according to Linke. You can therefore “not only look at whether we win a medal”, but also have to consider: “How has the world developed compared to Germany? And we missed something there.” Linke couldn’t answer exactly what was missed either: “I’m not a training scientist.”
At his appearances in Budapest, the man from Potsdam broke the German record over both 20 kilometers and 35 kilometers and, with two fifth places together with high jumper Tobias Potye, achieved the best German results so far in the title fights. He was “secretly hoping for a medal” on Thursday, a well-known leftist said. However, when the leaders increased the pace in the final five kilometers, he was no longer able to keep up.
“With amateurish means”
Like last Saturday, the Spaniard Alvaro Martin (2:24.30) secured gold over the “short distance”. Brian Pintado (Ecuador/2:24.34) won silver ahead of Masatora Kawano from Japan (2:25.12). Linke crossed the finish line in 2:25.35 hours. Karl Junghannß (Erfurt) finished ninth with a personal best of 2:28.08 minutes.
“I wouldn’t say it so blatantly that the new generation doesn’t bring it,” said Linke about the upheaval in German athletics: “Some of us have very, very, very good young athletes who come, they need time.” However, believes Linke also that there are better training conditions in other nations. “I work partly with amateurish means,” said the Olympian fifth, referring to his heat training: “In Italy, in China, in Japan there are heat chambers. I did my heat training in front of an open sauna door.”
There would be “no shortage” of his personal promotion as a sports soldier. However, Linke does not see the funds from Sporthilfe as a real motivation to do competitive sports. “Sporthilfe used to say: ‘Competitive sport should be worth it’.” But if he, as a top 8 athlete at the Olympics, gets 400 euros from German Sports Aid, he doesn’t know “whether that’s an incentive”.
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Despite promising performances again and again, Linke is still waiting for his first medal at world level. At the 2019 World Cup, he finished fourth, just 19 seconds behind bronze. He finished fifth at the 2021 Olympics, 22 seconds behind third-place finisher. He only celebrated his first important medal last year when he won silver over 35 kilometers at the European Championships at home in Munich.
Spanish victory also in the women
Maria Perez ensured the second Spanish double victory. The 27-year-old won her second gold in a championship record of 2:38:40 hours, defending champion Kimberly Garcia Leon (2:40:52/Peru) won silver in front of the Greek Antigoni Ntrismpioti (2:43:22).
Due to the early start time of 7:00 a.m., the temperatures in the Hungarian capital were initially relatively pleasant. Much of the route was in shadow. However, the high humidity and the sun, which was becoming more and more present, meant that the starters had to regularly cool down their bodies with water.
Germany has been walking without a World Cup medal for 20 years now. The last time Andreas Erm made it onto the podium at a world championship was in Paris in 2003 with bronze over the no longer held 50-kilometre distance.
