A long-distance hunter and his quest for reverse thrust

LINZ. He is relaxed, says Lukas Weißhaidinger with a view to the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, which begin for him on Saturday. It goes without saying that the discus thrower also wants to show his best throw of 2023 at the high point of the year. If the 31-year-old succeeds, that would be remarkable, as he surpassed the 70-meter mark for the first time this year – by exactly 68 centimeters. After bronze at the European Championships, World Championships and Olympics, the Taufkirchner had spoken quite offensively in the past about climbing up the podium by one or two steps in the future, but his announcements before the upcoming world title fights in Hungary have become a little more cautious. This is probably due to the previous year, when he came home from the World Championships in Eugene with a tenth place and from the European Championships in Munich with a ninth place.

“everything is kinda oasch”

In retrospect, Weißhaidinger speaks of “negative vibes” that originated in running after his first 70-meter throw for so long. Although he had already promoted the discus in spring 2022, he transgressed. When the Swede Simon Pettersson celebrated his “70s” on Instagram shortly before the World Cup in the USA, anger mixed with Weißhaidinger’s mood. “I said to myself, that doesn’t exist. I’ve actually already made it. That can’t be true.”

And as is the case with the antithesis to Rudi Nierlich’s all-encompassing sporting wisdom “If it’s easy, then easy it is,” suddenly Weißhaidinger didn’t work anymore. “Suddenly a suitcase doesn’t arrive, all of a sudden you might buckle. Everything is kind of oasch all of a sudden. Of course, as an athlete you try to pull yourself out. But then you’re standing there in Eugene and in Munich, and then that weighs on you On the shoulder.”

Bigger crowd

But now everything is different, promise Weißhaidinger and his trainer Gregor Högler. On the one hand, because you have learned the lesson and gained a little more space in the throwing circle by means of an improved leg position. On the other hand, because the first “70s” has finally happened. “I think a lot has come of it this year,” says Austria’s discus record holder. “It was difficult and painful, but in the end it was perhaps a healthy mistake for us to concentrate again,” adds Högler, who is looking ahead to the Summer Games in Paris in a year’s time.

Not least because of the outstanding Daniel Stahl (Swe) and Kristjan Ceh (Slo), Weißhaidinger is not going into his fifth World Cup as a favorite. As number four on the entry list, Högler sees him “in the extended circle of medals”, although the scramble for the three podium places has also increased because of the only 20-year-old European champion Mykolas Alekna (Ltu).

The level is higher than ever. Högler: “The fact that we can still get involved shows that we haven’t leaned back. We’ve also caught up. We invested in the 70s at the beginning of the year and have now deliberately taken them out. I know what makes him good.”