World pole vault record holder Renaud Lavillenie of France, Serbia\u2019s World indoor long jump champion Ivana Spanovic, Germany\u2019s European sprint silver medallist Gina L\u00fcckenkemper and Berlin\u2019s Olympic discus champion Christoph Harting lead the line-up for Berlin\u2019s sixth edition of the ISTAF INDOOR on February 1 next year with the meeting continuing its tradition for innovation by a debut hosting of a men\u2019s versus women\u2019s team discus.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 7,000 tickets have already been sold and the organizers expect 12,000 spectators for the world\u2019s biggest indoor athletics meeting. The programme consists of seven events: men\u2019s and women\u2019s 60m and 60m hurdles, men\u2019s pole vault, women\u2019s long jump and the debut discus team competition featuring men against women, four on each side.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The fans are guaranteed that the ISTAF INDOOR continues its tradition for memorable presentation in the Mercedes-Benz Arena. Pyrotechnics, music and light show will highlight the athletes. It\u2019s a style which the meeting director Martin Seeber believes sets the meeting apart: \u201cThe unique format of the ISTAF INDOOR, with showbiz elements and our fantastic fans able to be so close, pushes the athletes to top class performances. Having the discus in an indoor arena is already unique. Now we want to give the fans, who will be in the thick of the action, an exciting team discus competition. I think they can expect a great evening.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Renauld Lavillenie will be a familiar face to Berlin\u2019s athletics fans. The current world indoor record holder in the men\u2019s pole vault with 6.16m not only has three world indoor titles to his credit in addition to the Olympic gold won in London in 2012, he holds the meeting record with 6.02m from 2015 and remains the only vaulter to have cleared 6 metres in this arena. But he will not be able to rest on his laurels, having finished third in last year\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Anticipation will also be sharpened among the home fans for the women\u2019s long jump where the reigning World indoor champion, Ivana Spanovic, meets Germany\u2019s European champion this year, Malaika Mihambo. Spanovic has a best of 7.24m indoors and is also Olympic bronze medallist from Rio in 2016. She won the competition here with an impressive 6.87m in 2017. But she and Mihambo finished the outdoor season with a season\u2019s best of 6.99m for joint second in the world season\u2019s list, suggesting a close competition could put the meeting record of 6.95m in danger.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Gina L\u00fcckenkemper will carry the home fans\u2019 hopes in the women\u2019s 60m. The European 100m silver medallist this year achieved her fastest ever time of 7.11 in the last indoor season. Her compatriot Pamela Dutkiewicz should be a strong contender in the women\u2019s 60m hurdles with a World championship bronze medal in 2017 and a European silver medal outdoors this year to her credit. Dutkiewicz ran 7.88 here last year. The meeting record is held by Australia\u2019s reigning World champion Sally Pearson with 7.79.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The prime innovation this year will be the team discus competition, men versus women, four on each side with each taking six throws. The best distances achieved by each athlete will be added and the total will decide the outcome, with the women throwing their usual, lighter implement. The concept has found favour with competitors on either side: Christoph Harting, the reigning Olympic champion, described it as: \u201cA cool idea. I think we men will win. We have more experience [throwing indoors]. ISTAF INDOOR is the only indoor meeting of its kind in the world and we\u2019ve already experienced it five times, the women have done it just once.\u201d One of his opponents on February 1, this year\u2019s European bronze medallist Shanice Craft, likes the idea just as much but expects a different outcome: \u201cGetting a team together and competing against the men is going to be great. No question who will be the stronger sex, us women will come out on top, we\u2019re better at holding our nerve,\u201d said the German.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Another innovation will be a Fan-Zone, where spectators can meet their track and field heroes and heroines. It\u2019s part of the event\u2019s style, as meeting director Martin Seeber confirms: \u201cISTAF INDOOR stands for elite sport, so close you can almost touch. Our aim is to continue to bring athletes and fans closer together, we want to have track and field stars and role models accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" World pole vault record holder Renaud Lavillenie of France, Serbia\u2019s World indoor long jump champion Ivana Spanovic, Germany\u2019s European sprint silver medallist Gina L\u00fcckenkemper and Berlin\u2019s Olympic discus champion Christoph Harting lead the line-up for Berlin\u2019s sixth edition of the ISTAF INDOOR on February 1 next year with the meeting continuing its tradition for innovation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151,"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-5430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-en"],"yoast_head":"\n