“After rain comes the loveliest rainbow, I’ve heard.” Discus thrower Lukas Weißhaidinger expressed optimism after the disappointment at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene. With 63.98 meters and tenth place, the man from the Innviertel region clearly missed the hoped-for precious metal, which the Slovenian season dominator Kristjan Ceh (71.13 m) and the Lithuanians Mykolas Alekna (69.27) and Andrius Gudzius (67.55) won.
Weißhaidinger has already won bronze at European Championships, World Championships and the Olympics. “We said before that we wanted a different colour. What can happen if you take a risk happened,” said coach Gregor Högler. “The business is tough. We consistently assume responsibility, we don’t need to sugarcoat that.”
The opponents at the European Championships in Munich in a few weeks will be the same, Weißhaidinger also knows. But: “I know what I’m capable of. I would have liked to show that. But the next competition will come, and I’ll be able to show it again.” A small consolation for Weißhaidinger: Olympic champion Daniel Stahl also finished fourth empty-handed.
Haven’t been nervous
According to the tactics Weißhaidinger risked a lot, wanted to shock the competition – the plan didn’t work out. With 61.72 meters he got off to a bad start, the 63.98 in the second round was only enough for tenth place, which meant that elimination had to be prevented in the third attempt. But the disc only landed at 62.45 meters.
It had nothing to do with being nervous. “I have three medals hanging at home. I can’t imagine that I had to deal with nervousness. I just couldn’t get into the competition.”
Warholm broke in
The men’s 400-meter hurdles ended with a surprise last night. The Norwegian world record holder, world champion and Olympic champion Karsten Warholm, who was recently ill, collapsed on the home stretch and only finished seventh. Gold went to the Brazilian Alison dos Santos in a world championship record time of 46.29 seconds.
The 1500 meters were surprisingly the prey of the Brit Jake Wightman, who ran the year’s best time of 3:29.23 minutes ahead of the Norwegian Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:29.47) and the Spaniard Mohamed Katir (3:29.90). Wightman set the second-best time at a World Championships after Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj’s 3:27.65 in 1999.
Athletics World Championships in Eugene: women, high jump: 1. Patterson (Aus) 2.02 m; Men, 1500 m: 1. Wightman (Gb) 3:29.23 min.; 400 m hurdles: 1. Dos Santos (Bra) 46.29 sec; Discus throw: 1st Ceh (Slo) 71.13 m, 2nd Alekna (Ltu) 69.27, 3rd Gudzius (Ltu) 67.55; furthermore: 10. Weißhaidinger (Austria) 63.98.
Source: Nachrichten
