The Upper Austrian threw the device at 66.51 m and surpassed the required standard of 66 m right away. In his group, which found difficult conditions due to strong winds, only Lithuanian Andrius Gudzius (66.60) shot further. The medal decision is scheduled for Tuesday (Wednesday/3:33 a.m. CEST).
In Group A, the favorites did not show any weaknesses. The Lithuanian Mykolas Alekna threw the furthest with 68.91 m, followed by the Slovenian Diamond League dominator Kristjan Ceh with 68.23, the Swedish Olympic silver medalist Simon Pettersson with 68.11 and the Australian Matthew Denny with 66.98. With 65.95, Olympic champion Daniel Stahl from Sweden also made it into the final field of twelve in Group B, as did Jamaican Fedrick Dacres (64.49). All of the favorites progressed.
“I want to concentrate on the final right now and not think long about qualifying. It’s a work process that I have to go through. That’s how it was today, I’m very happy that I made it in the first one,” said Weißhaidinger. His girlfriend Hanna was there as a spectator at Hayward Field. “Of course I’m happy about that. We are very careful with masks, but if Gregor looks away for a moment, I’ll give her a smack. Last year she wasn’t there,” said the Olympic bronze medalist in Tokyo.
“It’s a qualification to my liking,” explained coach Gregor Högler, who in the past at the European Championships, World Cup and Olympics, when Weißhaidinger had won bronze, had to tremble for a long time about promotion. “The first group was quite strong, the wind was different. Luki did quite well, we sighted on the right side because he has better pressure there. That was very accurate.”
He was prepared that he would need three attempts, explained Weißhaidinger. “It’s nice that it worked out in the first. I know what I have to do in the final.” He got along very well with the throwing circle, it was difficult that the pole vault and the shot put were in close proximity at the same time. He didn’t want to be in the ring when Ryan Crouser might be throwing a world record.
Högler had noticed that when Crouser had thrown, small balls of the material from the ball throwing field rolled towards the discus throwing ring. “It was a bit dangerous, but Lukas then wiped it away with a towel.”
Source: Nachrichten
