Yannis Fischer surprisingly won the gold medal at the Para World Championships in track and field. Meanwhile, Felix Streng and Johannes Floors are annoyed about the conditions.
The 1.27 meter tall shot putter won the class of the smallest short stature with 11.43 meters. At last year’s Paralympics in Tokyo, the 21-year-old from Singen finished sixth.
Fischer overwhelmed: “Completely surreal”
“It’s kind of completely surreal. I still can’t believe it,” said Fischer after his success a year before the Paralympics in the French capital: “11.43 meters is absolutely violent. I never thought I’d have such a blatant can retrieve distance.” The fact that he was allowed to lead the German team to the stadium in Paris as the flag bearer at the World Cup was “a great honour”: “It was super nice and gave me a bit of motivation again.”
Fischer trains at VfB Stuttgart together with Paralympic champion Niko Kappel, who cheered for him loudly on Tuesday and on Wednesday morning will compete in the class for the taller, shorter players up to 1.45 meters tall. 14 hours before Fischer, long jumper Léon Schäfer had won the first gold medal for the DBS.
Streng and Floors are annoyed: “No-Go for a World Cup”
Before the king’s race at the Para World Championships, Paralympic winners Felix Streng and Johannes Floors expressed clear criticism of the conditions for prosthetic sprinters.
“It’s a no-go for a World Cup that the starting blocks slip away,” Streng said after the semi-finals. And Floors added: “This can’t be an excuse, but to be honest there’s more than just the starting blocks that’s wrong here.” He also referred to “after the competition we have to walk on a carpet that destroys our spikes, although we run again tomorrow.”
In the semifinals, Streng was third fastest with 10.76 seconds, with Floors right behind with 10.92. From gold to brass, everything is possible for both of them in the final on Wednesday.
success for Herrmann
Javelin thrower Frances Herrmann from Cottbus won a silver medal. At 17.74 meters, the 34-year-old was only clearly beaten by the outstanding Chinese Lijuan Zou (20.74). Herrmann finished fourth at the 2019 World Cup in Dubai – but at the time she was five months pregnant.
“I wasn’t sitting in the chair all alone,” said Herrmann. “You could tell that something was in the way. Now I was able to throw freely and I’m glad that I have my medal again.” In all, she has now won eleven at major events. The gold medal is still missing with seven silver and four bronze medals.