European Athletics (EAA) – News – Germany’s Krause gets European junior 3000m steeplechase record

German steeplechaser Gesa Felicitas Krause said after winning at the 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships in the Estonian capital Tallinn last month that she just wanted to run faster than the 9:51.08 she recorded there, and knew that she could.

In the past three weeks she has fulfilled her ambition and prediction, three times running German junior records for the 3000m steeplechase.

Her latest feat was setting the European junior record of 9:32.74 when finishing an outstanding ninth at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea on Tuesday

Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal had owned the previous record since 9:33.17 in 2007 and Krause’s new mark moves her to eighth of the world junior all-time list for the event.

Krause had given notice that she was in great form and set to threaten the Norwegian’s standard when she firstly made a big improvement and clocked 9:35.97 at the Samsung Diamond League meeting in London on 6 August. She improved fractionally her best time and national record to 9:35.83 in her heat in Daegu on Saturday.

However, that was a prelude to her outstanding and tactically astute effort in the final.

“After the heat, I planned to show one more time what I was capable of. Of course, I flirted with the possibility that I could have run even a little bit faster because the start of the race was so quick,” said Krause.

“However, at the beginning it was very, very difficult. The first kilometre was the most difficult. I did not think I was in that good shape to be able to follow such a fast pace. At the halfway point, I saw that it was still a very brisk pace and so I decided at that point just to run my own race.

“I'm glad I did because I otherwise I probably would not have got as good a result. Many people might say what I did was a matter of experience, but I haven’t run in that many high class races. Rather, I think it was good self-judgment.

“This was also my first outing in such a championship race. I must say, I think I’ve done great. Now, I want to look to the future and next year’s Olympics,” she added.

European Athletics (EAA) – News