4th International Athletics PSD Bank Meeting Duesseldorf 2009 - Three new World best times / Begale: “Fantastic sports festival” / Germany’s Tobias Scherbarth wins the men’s pole vault
With a total of three season’s World best times the fourth edition of the “International Athletics PSD Bank Meeting Duesseldorf 2009” followed the tradition of the past events.
Men´s pole vault winner: Tobias Scherbarth (Leverkusen)
A sell-out crowd of 2,000 spectators at the arena at Sportpark Duesseldorf saw the first new World best time of the evening of two-time European indoor champion David Gillick of Ireland. He clocked 46.18 seconds in the 400m event, thus being nine hundredths of a second faster than Austria’s Clemens Zeller in Vienna two days ago.
James Kwalia of Qatar achieved the next new World best time, clocking 13:25.69 minutes in the 5000m event. Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas equalized a World best time in the 60m, clocking 7.17 seconds. And Poland’s Sylwia Ejdys missed the best time by just two tenths of a second – she clocked 4:07.92 minutes in the women’s 1500m.
In a thrilling men’s triple jump, 2007 World runner-up Jadel Gregorio of Brazil came first with a 17.04m mark – compared to Bulgaria’s Momchil Karailiev (17.04 / 16.73) he had the better second leap (16.87) “I’m really surprised by the great support of the Duesseldorf audience”, Gregorio praised the Duesseldorf athletics fans.
World indoor champion Lolo Jones (USA) however, failed to repeat last year’s success in the women’s 60m hurdles. The 2008 World indoor champion already took a false step in the heats and in the final she clipped a hurdle and fell. Her compatriot Yvette Lewis won the event, clocking 8.06 seconds. Yargelis Savigne of Cuba achieved her third victory in Duesseldorf with a mark of 14.62 metres in the women’s triple jump.
In the men’s pole vault, Germany’s young talent Tobias Scherbarth cleared 5.70 meters and - similar to Stuttgart - he thus duped the entire German pole vault elite.
„We have experienced a great sports festival with fantastic performances.
This was the best possible publicity for the sports city Duesseldorf. This is why we are already looking forward to the fifth edition of the PSD Bank Meeting 2010”, explained Christina Begale, General Manager of sportAgentur Duesseldorf.
