Bayer Sport - Nachrichten

September 7, 2008

Stahl and Nerius continue to shine

Bayer just misses out on DecaNation win

Over the weekend, TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen athletes suffered a narrow defeat, a win with an impressive display and a result for morale. Sebastian Bayer (picture) just missed out on success by a mere three centimeters at the DecaNation in Paris. Linda Stahl confirmed her excellent form with the second best attempt of her career to win in Rhede. Steffi Nerius may have been beaten in Jablonec (Czech Republic) but she still has the upper hand in her feud with national rival Christina Obergföll (Offenburg).

Bayer who represented Germany at the Olympics recorded an attempt of 7.80 metres in Paris on Saturday. Salim Sdiri from France, however, managed to jump three centimetres further to take victory. The TSV Bayer 04 athletes contributed five points to Germany total of 85 points which helped Germany finish second behind the USA (89.5 points).

On the previous day Bayer rounded off the Golden League series by finishing fifth in Brussels with an attempt of 7.79 metres. Silke Spiegelburg also finished fifth in the women’s pole vault in the Belgian capital. Spiegelburg, who finished seventh at the Olympics, cleared 4.40 metres with ease before failing to clear 4.56 metres. Victory once again went to Olympic gold medalist Jelena Isinbajewa (4.72m) from Russia.

In Rhede Linda Stahl confirmed her form. Stahl set a new personal record of 66.06 metres in Leverkusen in Juli and registered the second best attempt of her career (64.04m) to produce the outstanding performance of the 39th edition of the meet in Rhede. The 22-year-old, who only started to shine after missing out on a tickets for the Olympics, also cemented her place as the country’s number three.

The two leading German athletes in the javelin faced international competition in Jablonec on Friday. While Olympic silver medalist Maria Abakumowa (Russia/64.95m) got her revenge on Babora Spotakova (Czech Republic/64.69m) for beating her at the Olympics, Nerius kept her German rival at bay. The TSV Bayer 04 athlete finished third with an attempt of 62.99 metres. Obergföll finished fourth, 21 centimetres behind Nerius.

Elsewhere, Melanie Kraus finished third in the Kö-Run in Düssedorf. The Leverkusen athlete needed 33:17 minutes for the ten kilometers and was only beaten by Kenyans Pauline Njery (33:03 min) and Alice Mogire (33:11 min).