Four Olympic champions, five World champions and six European gold medallists will be in action at the fifth edition of the ISTAF INDOOR meeting in Berlin on Friday evening. Renaud Lavillenie of France and Brazil\u2019s Thiago Braz da Silva, winners of the 2012 and 2016 Olympic titles respectively, will meet in the pole vault, while Tianna Bartoletta of the USA has set her sights just as high with a double start: the Olympic long jump and sprint relay champion will run the 60m as well as competing in her specialist field event. Special safety nets will be installed for the discus competition which closes the meeting and this promises to be another highlight with the presence of Berlin\u2019s very own Olympic champion from the 2012 London Games, Robert Harting.<\/p>\n
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More than 12.000 tickets for the biggest indoor athletics meeting in the world have already been sold. The schedule comprises seven events: men\u2019s and women\u2019s 60m and 60m hurdles, women\u2019s long jump, men\u2019s pole vault and men\u2019s discus. The indoor arena does not have a 200m oval track, hence the absence of other running events.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSpectators can look forward to seven top quality events with the ISTAF INDOOR once again offering the prospect of thrilling sport. I\u2019m especially delighted that, in addition to athletes of the highest international class, we\u2019ll also have many young German athletes who are producing such strong performances at present and should put the established stars under pressure. For them \u2013 and for all the other European athletes \u2013 the ISTAF INDOOR will be the first significant test on the road to the European Championships in Berlin in August,\u201d said the meeting director Martin Seeber.<\/p>\n
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EVENTS I STARS I FAVOURITES The men\u2019s pole vault has the strongest strength in depth of this year\u2019s ISTAF INDOOR with two Olympic champions, Renaud Lavillenie<\/strong> from France, the 2012 gold medallist, Thiago Braz da Silva<\/strong> from Brazil, the 2016 winner and last year\u2019s event winner Piotr Lisek<\/strong> from Poland. Lavillenie is the current world record holder with 6.16m and also the ISTAF INDOOR meeting record holder, having cleared 6.02m in Berlin two years ago. Lavillenie leads the current world rankings with 5.86m with Lisek second on 5.78m. The strong line-up also includes Germany\u2019s Raphael Holzdeppe<\/strong>, the 2013 World champion and Shawn Barber<\/strong> of Canada, winner of the world title in 2015. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 60 m hurdles (Women) \/ Start of the heats: 06:20 pm<\/strong><\/p>\n Two strong German contenders will be in action in the 60m hurdles in the shape of Pamela Dutkiewicz<\/strong>, the World Championship bronze medallist in London last year and Cindy Roleder<\/strong> who is making a comeback after a long absence because of injury. Their opponents include Alina Talay<\/strong> of Belarus, twice winner of the European Indoor title and Christina Manning<\/strong> from the USA. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Long jump (Women) \/ Start: 06:35 pm<\/strong><\/p>\n Tianna Bartoletta<\/strong> plans a double bill at the ISTAF INDOOR by competing in the long jump as well as the sprint. She has already jumped 7.17m outdoors \u2013 that was at the Olympic Games in Rio \u2013 her indoor best is some way short of that mark with 6.80m. Bartoletta\u2019s opponents on Friday will include the German long jumpers Sosthene Moguenara<\/strong> and Alexandra Wester<\/strong>. The latter holds the current meeting record with her leap of 6.95m in 2016.\u00a0Meeting record: Alexandra Wester, Germany (6,95 m, 2016)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 60 m (Men) \/ Start of the heats: 06:50 pm<\/strong><\/p>\n The only man to have achieved three victories at the ISTAF INDOOR is Kim Collins<\/strong> from the Caribbean islands of St. Kitts and Nevis. Last year he had to settle for second place so the big question is: can the 41-year-old meeting record holder (6.50 in 2015) and crowd favourite win for the fourth time? The 2003 World champion at 100m takes on rivals who include China\u2019s record holder Su Bingtian<\/strong>, whose best is also 6.50. Other sprinters to watch should be Julian Reus<\/strong> of Germany and Churandy Martina<\/strong> from the Netherlands. <\/p>\n 60 m (Women) \/ Start of the heats: 07:10 pm<\/strong><\/p>\n Germany\u2019s fastest sprinters: Gina L\u00fcckenkemper<\/strong>, Lisa Mayer<\/strong> and Tatjana Pinto<\/strong> will be able to test their form against each other in the 60m. They\u2019ll have top calibre international competition as well in the shape of the double Olympic champion Tianna Bartoletta<\/strong> from the USA, sprint relay and long jump gold medallist in Rio and Marie Jos\u00e9e Ta Lou<\/strong> of the Ivory Coast who came away from the 2017 World Championships with silver medals in both 100m and 200m. \u201cThe great atmosphere at the ISTAF INDOOR will make it a fantastic experience as ever. The fans will see fast times,\u201c said Gina L\u00fcckenkemper<\/strong>, who improved her best last year for the 100m outdoors to 10.95. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 60 m hurdles (Men) \/ Start: 06:30 pm<\/strong><\/p>\n The favourites for the 60m hurdles are the current European Indoor champion Andrew Pozzi<\/strong> of Britain and last year\u2019s event winner Bal\u00e1zs Baji<\/strong> of Hungary. The latter won the bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships in London. Discus Throw (Men) \/ Start: 09:05 pm<\/strong><\/p>\n The discus will showcase the skills of the local hero Robert Harting<\/strong>. His brother Christoph, surprise winner of the Olympic title in Rio in 2016, has had to withdraw because of jaw surgery and consequent loss of training. Robert Harting begins his final year of competition with the ISTAF INDOOR in Berlin on Friday. Among his rivals will his compatriot Martin Wierig<\/strong>, the meeting record holder with 64.82m in 2014 and Austria\u2019s Lukas Wei\u00dfhaidinger<\/strong>. Four Olympic champions, five World champions and six European gold medallists will be in action at the fifth edition of the ISTAF INDOOR meeting in Berlin on Friday evening. Renaud Lavillenie of France and Brazil\u2019s Thiago Braz da Silva, winners of the 2012 and 2016 Olympic titles respectively, will meet in the pole vault, while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-en"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nPole Vault (Men) \/ Start: 06:05 pm<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMeeting record: Renaud Lavillenie, France (6,02 m, 2015)<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Meeting record: Sally Pearson, Australia (7,79 Sec ., 2014)<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMeeting record: Kim Collins, St. Kitts and Nevis (6,50 Sec., 2015)<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMeeting record: Dafne Schippers, Netherlands (7,00 Sec., 2016)<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMeeting record: Dimitri Bascou, France (7,41 Sec ., 2016)<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMeeting record: Martin Wierig, Germany (64,82 m, 2014)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"