The weekend I traveled to the German Athletics Nationals 2024 in Braunschweig, Mönchengladbach hosted the next national top athletics event. The best German athletes in the Under 18 and Under 23 categories gathered at the Grenzlandstadion for the three day event, already starting on Friday, 5th July 2024, in the afternoon. Here is my first day report (covering field and track events.

 

This posting comes with 942 major size pictures in a dedicated event section of the sports gallery.

 

Grenzland Stadion Mönchengladbach – The Venue

Grenzlandstadion is rather centrally located in the Mönchengladbach borough of Rheydt. The stadium is known as a soccer ground, hosting the matches of Borussia Mönchengladbach’s second team as well as their 2nd Bundesliga Women’s team. It comes with a capacity of 10,000 spectators. This includes a covered seating capactiy of 2,500 on top of 7,500 uncovered grandstands. Buses 016 and 097 bring you close to the venue.

German Athletics Nationals U18/U23 2024 – Day 1 Events

5th July 2024 was the last day at school in the German state of Northrhine-Westphalia, where Mönchengladbach is located. Thus, it took me much longer than expected to get to the stadium, which made me miss the 1500 meters U23 semifinals. TSV 1845 Heilbronn’s Karl Löbe was the fastest runner of two heats (3:52.75 min), while Nele Haren (TuS Haren, 4:30.63 min) was the quickest lady.

The first day of the German Athletics Nationals U18/U23 started for me with the 4x100m relays, which were held as timed races for both age groups and sexes. The ladies started first, crowning LG Stadtwerke Munich in the Under 18 (46.80 sec) and TV Wattenscheid 09 U23 (45.03 sec) as the first German champions of the competition. On the men’s side, StG Cologne (41.65 sec) was the fastest team in the Under 18’s, while Hamburger SV had the fastest time in the elder age group with 40.30 sec. Bayer Leverkusen finished second in three of the four competitions and “just ” placed third in the female under 18 category.

 

400m Hurdles & Steeplechase Races

The next block of competitions were the 400m hurdles semifinals, which determined the competitors for the Saturday noon finals. Thereafter, the Grenzlandstadion featured the next finals in the steeplechase races. First, there were 2000m steeplechase races in the Under 18’s. After two timed races each, Jakob Rödel (SC DHfK Leipzig, 5:52.99 min) and Lera Miller (VfL Löningen, 6:40.67 min) were the next athletes going for the golden medal.

The 3000m steeplechase races started right thereafter. They were held as one final race. Benjamin Klonowski (TuS Lichterfelde, U18, 8:45.12 min) and Florian Zittel (TV Wattenscheid, U23, 8:40.71 min) were the fastest runners on the male side. On the women’s side, two young ladies dominated their races. First, Olivia Gürth (Silvesterlauf Trier, 9:51.21) was 25 seconds faster than second-placed Adia Budde (TSV Altenholz) in the Under 23 race. The gap at the finish line was almost as long for Julia Ehrle (LG farbtex Nordschwarzwald), who pushed in the U18 race from the very beginning, at her 9:39.38 min winning time.

 

 

12.5 Laps in Grenzlandstadion & Technical Disciplines

The track day closed with the Under 23 finals in the 5000m races. Lisa Merkel (LAV Stadtwerke Tübingen) dominated the U23 women’s race (15:44.36 min). On the U23 men’s side,  Benne Christian Anderson (TSV St. Peter-Ording, 14:02.13 min) won the sprint against Theodor Schucht (SCC Berlin).

The first day in Mönchengladbach went for three German championships in the technical discipline. The first competition to kick off was the Under 23 male pole vault. Hendrik Müller (Bayer Leverkusen) won the competition with 5.35 meters, the same height as Marec Metzger (TSV Gräfelfing). Soon thereafter, the Under 18 female shot put kicked off. Emily Scherf (SC Neubrandenburg) was the best athlete (15.80 m). In the same age category, Andreas Gröninger (LG Stadtwerke Munich) won the shot put with a distance of 18.78m.

 

 

German Athletics Nationals U18/U23 2024 – Day 1 Events – Gallery

In the 2024 U18/U23 German Athletics Nationals  section of my sports gallery, there is a designated major size picture gallery with 942 pictures of this match at

• 2024-07-05 German U18/UU23 Athletics Nationals Day 1

 

German Athletics Nationals U18/U23 2024 – Coverage Overview

Here is an overview of my coverage of the German Athletics Nationals U18/U23 2024:

• 2024-07-05 Day 1
• 2024-07-07 Day 2 – Track Events
• 2024-07-07 Day 2 – Field Events
• 2024-07-08 Day 3 – Track Events
• 2024-07-08 Day 3 – Field Events

 

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