European indoor champion Hanna Klein and the narrowly beaten Konstanze Klosterhalfen cheered side by side with a German flag over their shoulders. With her victory in the final sprint against the favorite Klosterhalfen in a personal best time, the 29-year-old psychologist Klein became the winner of the 3000 meters. “I am overwhelmed. This is my first gold medal,” said the runner from Tübingen on Friday in Istanbul after her first international title. “I wanted to defend my chance for a medal, it’s even better that it went gold.”
Sara Gambetta with silver in the shot put and Max Hess with bronze in the triple jump made the German delegation in Turkey celebrate two more medals. Further European Championship honors for the German Athletics Association are to follow at the weekend. Long jump Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo then aims for her first indoor title.
The first highlight from the DLV point of view were the 3000 meters. Klosterhalfen, European outdoor champion over 5000 meters, had led the field early and for much of the race – until Klein started her finish on the final lap and passed the German record holder. The race was “pushing and overwhelming,” said Klein. In the end she was 0.63 seconds ahead of Klosterhalfen.
There had never been a German double success in this discipline – neither with the victory of Brigitte Kraus in 1984 or that of Ines Bibernell-Obst two years later. While Klein was now celebrating as the winner after EM bronze over 1500 meters in the hall from 2021, Klosterhalfen recorded EM silver in the hall for the third time. “A one-two is cool, even if the disappointment still weighs a bit,” said Klosterhalfen.
The 30-year-old Gambetta has repeatedly sniffed the medal ranks, this time it was time. With the season’s best distance of 18.83 meters, the athlete from Halle/Saale won silver behind Auriol Dongmo from Portugal. She hit the ball at 19.76 meters.
Hess won bronze in the Ataköy Athletics Arena after 16.57 meters like in 2017, 2019 and 2021. A centimeter was missing on silver. Victory went to Olympic champion Pedro Pichardo with a clear lead. The Portuguese ended up with the world best performance of 17.60 meters.
