Para athletes fear problems
“No-Go” conditions at the World Cup annoy sprint stars
7/11/2023 9:53 p.m
Starting blocks slip away, spikes break on carpets: Two top German sprinters criticize the conditions at the Para World Championships for track and field athletes. The conditions are important because the competition for the “Blade Runners” is particularly high quality and balanced.
The Paralympic champions Felix Streng and Johannes Floors expressed clear criticism of the conditions for the prosthesis sprinters before the king’s race at the Para World Championships for track and field athletes in Paris. “It’s a no-go for a World Cup that the starting blocks slip away,” Streng said after the semi-finals. And Floors added: “This can’t be an excuse, but to be honest there’s more than just the starting blocks that’s wrong here.” He also referred to “after the competition we have to walk on a carpet that destroys our spikes, although we run again tomorrow”.
The whole thing is particularly annoying because “many Diamond League races were run at the Stade Charléty,” said Floors: “That’s why I think it can be done better. In any case, I don’t know of any competition where the IAAF (Editor’s note: former name of the World Athletics Federation) would let these starting blocks go through.” In Streng’s semifinals, the start was even repeated. “Actually, it should have gone on,” said Streng, who was starting for Wetzlar: “It’s not the rule that we’re shot back because someone slips. I hope that changes by tomorrow. It’s about the medals, the athletes put a completely different pressure on the block.”
The conditions are important because the competition for the “Blade Runners” is particularly high quality and balanced. In the semifinals, Streng was third fastest with 10.76 seconds, with Floors right behind with 10.92. From gold to brass, everything is possible for both of them in the final on Wednesday. Streng had won gold in the 100 meters at the 2021 Paralympics, Floors had finished third and won his special discipline 400 meters.