Germany has taken back the European title for men’s high jump and women’s long jump with two home-crowd wins. For the long jump, German record holder Heike Drechsler was on hand to see her successor’s win.Athletes Mateusz Przybylko and Malaika Mihambo won gold medals number four and five for Germany on Saturday at the European Athletics Championships in Berlin.
Their wins brought Germany’s total medal count to 17 on the penultimate day of competition.
High jumper Przybylko from Leverkusen took Germany’s first gold medal in the discipline at the biennial event since Dietmar Mögenburg’s 1982 win in Athens.
“I can’t find any more words, I’m just exhausted, exhausted,” the 26-year-old said after his leap of 2.35 meters (7 feet 8.5 inches), a personal best. “I’ve given everything; I can hardly stand any more.”
The competition record is 2.36 meters set by Russian Andrey Silnov at the 2006 Gothenburg games.
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Legend on hand
Long jumper Mihambo brought the European title back to Germany with a 6.75-meter leap, 20 years after legend Heike Drechsler took home the gold. The two-time Olympic champion actually witnessed her successor’s victory up close in the jump pit as a referee. Drechsler’s 7.30 meters for East Germany still stands as an event record.
Germany has also won gold in women’s and men’s javelin and the men’s decathlon.
Germany has the most overall medals, but is trailing Poland by one gold.
aw/cmk (dpa, SID)
