Cuxhaven, Germany – A good sprint hurdles and a surprise in the men’s Javelin Throw produced the highlights of the Cuxhaven Meeting on Wednesday evening (22 July). But the best result had come a day earlier, when the Shot Put competitions took place separately in the town and Germany’s European champion Ralf Bartels won with 21.11m.

Cuxhaven is situated on Germany's North Sea coast.
 
Bartels had a great series on Tuesday. After starting with 20.77 he continued with 21.11, 20.92, 20.84, 20.46 and 20.67. No other competitor achieved a better result than Bartels’ weakest throw. Peter Sack took second with 20.46m while Andy Dittmar was third (19.41).

Nadine Kleinert took the women’s event on Tuesday witth 19.62 m, beating Denise Hinrichs (18.69).
 
There was a fine winning time in the 110m Hurdles on Wednesday, when Erik Mitchum (USA) won in 13.30 secs. In a slight tail wind of 0.5 Ryan Brathwaite (Barbados) was second in 13.37, while Gregory Sedoc (Netherlands/13.53) and Kai Kelley (USA/13.56) placed third and fourth.
 
There were two races at 100m Hurdles – and both produced times below 13 seconds: Angela Whyte (Canada) took the first one when there was no wind in 12.93 while Yvette Lewis (USA) was the winner in the second one with 12.85 (+0.1 wind).
 
Abdelaati Iguider (Marocco) won the 1500m in 3:36.2, Fabian Schulze took the Pole Vault with 5.70m from Richard Spiegelburg (5.60), Thomas Hunter (USA) became a double winner, taking both the 100 m (10.24/+0.1 wind) and the 200 m (20.36/+ 0.2).
 
Three 800m runners finished inside 2:02 minutes in the women’s race, 2005 World champion Zulia Calatayud (Cuba) won with 2:01.38 from Marian Burnett (Guyana/2:01.87) and Rosibel Garcia (Columbia/2:01.90).
 
But the surprise of the day came in the men’s Javelin Throw, which was won by Tino Häber. He had not achieved a result beyond 80 metres this season before he started in Cuxhaven. In round five he threw 80.18 m and then improved to a personal best of 83.46 m. This could still open a door for him regarding the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Berlin, Germany (15 – 23 Aug). But he will probably have to throw beyond the 80m mark again before the final nomination on 2 August. Petr Frydrych (Czech Republic/81.37) and Mark Frank (79.74) took second and third places in Cuxhaven.
 
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF