On some days Gina Lückenkemper pulled weight plates around the canal in Bamberg, to the amusement of some passers-by. 2020 was a year of improvisation for the sprinter: from Clermont in the USA, where she wanted to get fit for the Olympics with a new trainer, she drove away the pandemic, Lückenkemper was stranded again in Germany. She trained alone with the plans from the US, went back in February of this year, got vaccinated early. She ran races again – but none of them was enough for a place on the Olympic team.
At a competition in Boston in May, the thighs caused problems after the first steps, a torn hamstring was the diagnosis, followed by a few weeks of rehab. Only on Tuesday, the last day of the nomination window, did she contest another 100 meter competition: 11.53 seconds. That was far from the Olympic standard of 11.15 seconds. On Saturday, the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) expanded the list of Tokyo starters, Lückenkemper is only there as a substitute. Fear about the Olympics, that is a feeling that this year also manifested itself in those athletes who were sure to be sure in other times.
Lückenkemper is allowed to get on the plane, but is only a tourist if none of the others who have overtaken her over 100 meters this year are injured: Alexandra Burghardt, Lisa Mayer and Tatjana Pinto. It is a setback for Lückenkemper, who has become the figurehead of track and field athletes in recent years, especially with the 10.95 seconds she conjured up on the track in London at the 2017 World Cup, the second fastest time for a German since Katrin Krabbe 1991. Many now stand in front of her in the national ranking. Also her friend Rebekka Haase, who is nominated over 200 meters, but failed over half the distance in a special way: Although she broke the norm five times this year, five times there was too much wind in the game.
Konstanze Klosterhalfen only ran one race – in February
While you can deduce where the problems are with the sprinter – similar to the shot putter David Storl and javelin thrower Thomas Röhler, who miss the games completely – Christoph Harting’s decline in performance remains mysterious. It is also only intended as a replacement for Tokyo. His surprise gold in Rio in 2016 with 68.37 meters was followed by a missed World Cup in 2017, a failure in qualifying at EM 2018 and World Cup 2019 – and now his best performance this year is only 65.40 meters, which is 28th place in the world rankings. Daniel Jasinski, Clemens Prüfer and David Wrobel passed him by. “The situation he is in at the moment is definitely not insignificant,” said national coach Annett Stein at the German championships in Braunschweig at the beginning of June and indicated problems in his private life. Harting has not given any interviews for almost two years.
Best performance 65.40 meters, 28th place in the world rankings: Christoph Harting is looking for his form.
(Photo: Chai vd Laage / imago)
It has also become quiet about running talent Konstanze Klosterhalfen: The 24-year-old has only one race in the statistics this year: At the end of February, she ran 10,000 meters for the first time in Austin, Texas – and that in 31: 01.71 minutes. That was a German record, nothing more was seen of her afterwards. Apart from photos on Instagram. Like Lückenkemper, she also went to rehabilitation in Salzburg, very close to the headquarters of her sponsor Red Bull. Back problems are currently said to keep Klosterhalfen from running.
In the past year, she had not contested a race because of an overload reaction in the pool. In 2019 she finished third in the 5000 meter World Championship after joining the now-defunct Nike Oregon Project. She is still training under Pete Julian, under the US coach, who for years was considered a confidante of the doping-banned Alberto Salazar. For Tokyo, Klosterhalfen was only nominated over the 10,000 meters. How things are going about their form remains a secret, even if the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) sends them “with very good prospects at the start” in Tokyo, according to the press release.
Mailaika Mihambo, Niklas Kaul: There are still medal candidates
Even after the nomination of the Olympic squad, questions remain unanswered. Which does not mean that there is no reason for optimism: Javelin thrower Johannes Vetter and discipline colleague Christin Hussong actually go to Tokyo with the best conditions, and world champion Malaika Mihambo has also recently improved in the long jump pit. Decathlete Niklas Kaul, the youngest world champion in history, is still working on his form, but still has a few weeks until the start on August 4th.
The same applies to heptathlete Carolin Schäfer, who last had to cancel competitions, shaken by the reaction to her corona vaccination. According to Idriss Gonschinska, Chairman of the Board of the German Athletics Association (DLV), the training performance of the World Cup runners-up in 2017 showed “a clear upward trend”; the norm had already been met in 2019. And since the competitors in the country are not standing in line in the heptathlon, Schäfer does not have to worry about her Tokyo ticket.