In-form Polish sprinter Ewa Swoboda continued her flying start to the season with another victory over 60m, while Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo set a world-leading mark in the women’s long jump to highlight the performances at the 2022 ISTAF Indoor Düsseldorf – World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver level meeting – at the PSD Bank Dome in Germany on Sunday (20).
No record but still dominant for Swoboda
As she did in the heats earlier in the program, Swoboda blasted from the blocks to take full command of the race at the halfway point before gliding away from the field to win comfortably, running 7.10 seconds.
The 24-year-old who leads the world with a time of 7.00 seconds, got home ahead of her Polish compatriot Pia Skrzyszowska, who posted a new personal best of 7.22 for the runner-up spot, while Germany’s Tatjana Pinto improved her season’s best to 7.24 for third place.
Winning start for Visser in hurdles
European champion Nadine Visser of The Netherlands, meanwhile, dominated the women’s 60m hurdles event on debut this season, posting a winning time of 7.93 seconds to better the time of 8.03 she ran in the heats earlier in the day.
Visser, who is hoping to be ready in time to challenge the world’s best at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, next month, was imposing over the hurdles in Düsseldorf, and she certainly will be happy with the performance.
“I was not planning to start the season this late,” Visser admitted. “But I had some injury problems. It was a shame because I was in really good shape in training camp. Then I was ill and it cost me way longer than expected.”
Speaking about her performances on Sunday she noted: “My race was really good…”
Finland’s Reetta Hurske improved her time in the heats to run 8.01 secs for second place with Poland’s Klaudia Siciarz running a season’s best of 8.06 for third place.
The men’s 60m hurdles went to Milan Trajkovic of Cyprus who kept his composure after a disqualification for Paolo Dal Molin and Liam Van Der Schaaf, to win with a time of 7.61secs.
Gregor Traber of Germany collected the runner-up spot with 7.64, while the podium places were completed by Australian Nicholas Andrews, who ran the same time of 7.74 as Petr Svoboda of the Czech Republic.
Magical Mihambo left it late to set world-lead
Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo left it late, but the poster-girl delighted the home crowd with her last attempt when she stretched out to a world-leading and meeting record mark of 6.96m to seal the victory in the women’s long jump.
The German trailed two of her rivals entering the final round, but she used her experience and her class to break the heart of Lesti Diana of Hungary who had set a personal best of 6.53m with her sixth round attempt as well.
Filippa Fotopoulou of Cyprus collected third with a jump of 6.42m, achieved in the second round of the competition.
Mihambo’s winning mark on Sunday improved the ISTAF Indoor Düsseldorf meeting record of 6.75m, set by Serbian Ivana Španović in 2016. The measure also bettered the previous 2022 best of 6.85m, set earlier this month by another Serbian, Ivana Vuleta in Beograd.
Cissé continues to roll
In the men’s 60m dash, Ivory Coast sprinter Arthur Cissé blasted from the blocks and ran unchallenged on his way to posting a quick 6.56 seconds to earn the victory.
Cissé has a personal best and Ivorian indoor 60m record of 6.53 seconds, which he set in Metz on Feb. 12.
“I am very happy with the win tonight because I had empty legs,” said Cissé, who has already run 11 races since opening his campaign on Jan. 21. “The next goal is the World Championships.”
On Sunday, he crossed the finish line ahead of Frenchman Jimmy Vicaut, who clocked 6.62, with third place going to Germany’s Kevin Kranz (6.64), the same time recorded by Guyana’s national record holder Travis Collins.
Elsewhere at the 2022 ISTAF Indoor Düsseldorf on Sunday, Olympic finalist Bo Kanda Lita Baehre of Germany won the men’s pole vault competition with a personal-best clearance of 5.71m, while American two-time world champion Sam Kendricks finished fourth with a mark of 5.71m.
