Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen took her career to a new level in Karlsruhe on Friday night with stunning - and solo - performance over 5000m.
Klosterhalfen, who won a silver medal behind Laura Muir over 1500m at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Belgrade, smashed Kathrin Ullrich’s 28-year-old German U23 5000m record with a European-leading time of 14:51.38 at the Karlsruhe Laufnacht.
How good a performance it was is shown in those European outdoor lists ahead of double European track champion Yasemin Can from Türkiye, who is second with 14:53.50 from the Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku.
Klosterhalfen really is a runner on a crest of wave. In December, she won the U20 race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Chia for the second time and now she has her sights on the European Athletics U23 Championships in Bydgoszcz and the World Championships in London, having made such a seamless transition into the senior ranks.
Her win in Karlsruhe was the second best of all-time by a German behind Irina Mikitenko’s 14:42.03 and comfortably inside the World Championships qualifying standard of 15:22 along with Hanna Klein, second in a personal best of 15:17.14 to secure the world mark.
Klosterhalfen's next race will be over 1500m in the Rome Diamond League on 8 June.
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On Sunday, teammate Max Hess, the European triple jump champion who is also 20, began his season with 17.02m for victory in Garbsen while Alexandra Wester went out to 6.79m in the long jump.
In Flieden on the same day, European indoor 60m hurdles bronze medallist Pamela Dutkiewicz clocked a lifetime best of 12.84 in the 100m hurdles despite running into a 1.9 m/s headwind.
Fajdek hammering home the message
Germany was also the setting for another of the weekend’s top performances with Poland’s two-time world champion Pawel Fajdek extending his week-long men’s hammer world lead of 81.51m to 82.31m at the Hallesche Werfertage.
And in achieving this win in Halle, Fajdek comfortably beat Tajikistan’s Olympic champion Dilshod Nazarov (77.11m) with Great Britain’s Nick Miller (76.81m) in third.
Fajdek’s teammate Anita Wlodarczyk stamped her mark all over the women’s event with the top five throws of the competition - the best being 76.32m - to defeat China’s Wang Zheng (72.78m).
World and European champion Pawel Fajdek improved his world-lead in the hammer to 82.31m in Halle this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/1LUJF0o65c
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) May 20, 2017
In the men’s discus, Sweden’s Daniel Stahl maintained his fine early season form with 68.07m to beat Lithuania’s Andrius Gudzius (66.70m) and Austria’s Lukas Weisshaidinger (66.52m), with Poland’s world champion Piotr Malachowski in fourth (65.41m).
Germany’s Nadine Muller earned a good win over Cuba’s world champion Denia Caballero in the women’s discus, throwing 65.76m against her rival’s 65.59m. Another world champion from Beijing who was beaten was Katharina Molitor – by her German javelin teammate Christin Hussong with 61.91m against 60.27m.
In the U20 competitions, the highlight was a national age group records for world U18 champion Hlib Piskunov from Ukraine who won the hammer with 81.32m.
Ojiaku setting a new standard
There is a new name at the top of the European long jump rankings after Italian Kevin Ojiaku cleared 8.20m in Turin on Sunday.
An athlete with an overall best of 7.93m before this event - and that was indoors - Ojiaku first reached a marginally wind-aided 8.12m in the fourth round before his brilliant legal effort in the fifth.
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In Lodz on Saturday, Polish high jumper Kamila Licwinko equalled the world-lead with 1.94m at the Polish University Championship while at the Loughborough International Athletics match on Sunday, European indoor 60m hurdles champion Andrew Pozzi ran 13.32 and 13.35 to win two 110m hurdles events.
The night before, with Sebastian Coe and Paula Radcliffe watching on, Beth Potter ran the World Championships qualifying time of 32:04.63 at the British 10,000m World Trials in Highgate, in north London.