Co-favorite Konstanze Klosterhalfen is fighting for gold over the 3000 meters at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul. At the start of the title fights in the Ataköy Athletics Arena, the 26-year-old runs into the final as the winner of her heat. Majtie Kolberg had a strong showing in the 800 meter heat.
Konstanze Klosterhalfen strongly underpinned her title ambitions at the start of the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul. The European outdoor champion over 5000 meters reached the final over 3000 meters with a start-finish victory in the preliminary heat in 8:53.50 minutes. In the meantime, the 26-year-old from Leverkusen was up to ten meters ahead of her rivals. Klosterhalfen had won silver at the 2019 Indoor European Championships over 3000 meters as well as over 1500 meters two years earlier. "I enjoyed the run," she said happily. Hanna Klein from Tübingen also won her race in 8:59.28 minutes and advanced to the final on Friday (6:15 p.m.).
After all the training camps in South Africa and Kenya, Klosterhalfen recently enjoyed the time "at home". With her family in the Rhineland, the running ace once again gathered strength for the European Championships. "We'll see how far things can go in Istanbul," said Klosterhalfen. "It's a new situation again and I'm looking forward to the challenge." With a time of 8:34.89 minutes from the German championships, Klosterhalfen is number one on the entry list over 3000 meters. Maybe even her German record of 8:32.47 minutes will fall in Istanbul. "I know that there is still something in it," she had said in advance.
Klosterhalfen is one of the few great German hopes in Istanbul. The long jump Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo and the pole vaulters Bo Kanda Lita Baehre and Torben Blech will also be among the favorites in the medal races in the title fights, which will last until Sunday.
Majtie Kolberg had a strong showing in the 800 meter heat. With a personal best of 2:01.94 minutes, the 22-year-old middle-distance runner reached the semifinals. Kolberg had already reached the semi-finals at the World Championships in Eugene and the European Championships in Munich. High jump whiz Christina Honsel also easily made it into the finals with a jump of 1.91 meters.
Triple jumper Max Hess has his sights set on another European Championship medal. With 16.67 meters, the Chemnitz native achieved the second-best qualifying distance. Olympic champion Pedro Pichardo should hardly be able to surpass the 26-year-old European Championship third in the hall from 2021, 2019 and 2017. The Portuguese presented 17.48 meters. Sara Gambetta fought her way into the shot put final with 18.33 meters and Julia Ritter (18.05).
