Jumps festival in Berlin on Sunday | 16.08.2012
Berlin Fliegt is a four nation jumps contest that take place in Pariser Pltaz, on the eastern side of the Brandenburg Gate.
The competition is between male and female long jumpers and pole vaulters from Germany, USA, Russia and France.
One of the greatest female long jumpers of modern times, Britney Reese, will compete against Russia’s Darya Klishina, who missed the Olympics.
“After missing out on the Olympics, I am looking forward to once again measuring myself against the rest of the world,” said Klishina.
11 of the 12 participants for Berlin Fliegt were competing at the Games which finished last Sunday.
Amongst the well known names is Will Claye who was a double medallist in the long jump and triple jump. Claye finds himself up against Germany’s Sebstian Bayer who will be looking for some measure of retribution. Bayer only finished two centimetres behind Claye in fight for medals, but finished fifth.
The pole vault features Olympic silver medallist, Bjorn Otto, who will be up against former world champion, Brad Walker of the USA and Dmitriy Starodubtsev of Russia. France’s European champion in the heptathlon, Anoinette Nana Djimou, will contest the long jump.
Makau signs up for Frankfurt
World marathon record holder Patrick Makau will run the BMW Frankfurt Marathon on 28th October. Organisers of Germany’s oldest city marathon, which will celebrate its 31st edition, have confirmed the most significant signing in the history of their event.
The 27 year-old Kenyan established the present record of 2:03:38 in Berlin a year ago. After surprisingly being omitted from Olympic selection Patrick Makau opted for the German IAAF Gold Label Road Race that has established itself among the world’s top marathons in recent years.
Wilson Kipsang’s current course record was the fifth in a row set at the BMW Frankfurt Marathon. Since 2007 the mark has improved from 2:07:58 to 2:03:42, showing the enormous development of the elite race.
Ukhov and Grabarz for Eberstadt
Olympic high jump champion Ivan Ukhov has confirmed his participation at the Eberstadt high jump meeting on Saturday. European champions Robbie Grabarz with Aleksandr Shustov will also compete. The women’s competition on Sunday will feature Olympic medallist, Svetlana Shkolina, against European champion Ruth Beitia and 2008 Olympic winner, Tia Hellebaut. Germany’s top high jumper Ariane Friedrich has already ended her season.
