The weather may have been unpredictable, but Germany&rsquo;s leading Olympic medal hopes turned in a consistent series of classy performances at their national championships in Kassel over the weekend (18-19).
It was unsurprisingly that it was the throwing events which served up the best contests inside the Auestadion, with team selectors for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and upcoming European Championships left, in their own words, selectors with a &ldquo;luxury problem&rdquo;.
On Saturday, the men&rsquo;s javelin certainly promised headaches for the selectors, with German throwers occupying three spots in the global top 10, topped by Thomas Rohler&rsquo;s world-leading mark of 89.30m.
With an opening effort of 83.71m, Rohler virtually ensured victory, but behind him the podium spaces were hotly contested.&nbsp;After two rounds, four athletes had gone beyond the 80-metre mark, with Andreas Hofmann leading the pursuit.
However Rohler, the 2014 IAAF Diamond Race winner, didn&rsquo;t leave anything to chance and hurled his implement an impressive 86.81m in the second round, the longest throw of the day.&nbsp;
It proved vital as Julian Weber, who had entered the competition with a personal best of 82.69m, improved to 83.73m to move into second. Andreas Hoffman&rsquo;s best of 81.98m secured him bronze.
&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t easy today, but that is the javelin,&rdquo; said Rohler. &ldquo;I think my experience in competitions helped a lot and I threw every attempt differently. You&rsquo;ve got to dip into various options and discuss things with your coach. Of course 90 metres is my main motivation right now.&rdquo;
<h3>Harting brothers dominate the discus</h3>
On Sunday the 'luxury problem' continued in the men&rsquo;s discus and the women&rsquo;s javelin.
Every German title in the men&rsquo;s discus since 2007 has been won by a Harting &ndash; eight of them by three-time world champion Robert, one by his younger brother Christoph, who led the field based on season&rsquo;s bests.
As the crowds gathered in the stadium corner near&nbsp;the discus cage, the throwers, of which five had already surpassed the Olympic A standard, began their quest for the three available spots on the Olympic team.
Robert Harting, gradually returning from his injury woes of the past 18 months, was out to regain the crown his younger brother had inherited in his absence last year, and the reigning Olmypic champion improved&nbsp;with every round to take the lead.
It wasn&rsquo;t until the final round that brother Christoph, currently ranked second in the world, challenged Robert with a 66.41m throw. However the&nbsp;elder Harting, who was the final thrower in the field, took a deep breath before hurling the discus to 68.04m to take victory, an effort which moved him&nbsp;to number three in the world this year and within two centimetres of his brother&rsquo;s season&rsquo;s best.
<h3>Hussong victorious in world-class field</h3>
The knowledgeable crowd didn&rsquo;t have to wait long for things to heat up again as&nbsp;a world-class women&rsquo;s javelin field took to the runway.
Christin Hussong wasn&rsquo;t disturbed by the changing winds or by her top-notch opponents, which included reigning world champion Katharina Molitor, Christina Obergfoll and Linda Stahl, the London 2012 Olympic Games silver and bronze medallists respectively.
The 22-year-old Hussong lofted&nbsp;the javelin perfectly to set&nbsp;a German under-23 record of 66.41m, which would have been a world lead if Barbora Spotakova hadn&rsquo;t claimed that spot earlier in the day at the Czech championships.
Elsewhere in the throws, the usual suspects delivered in both the men&rsquo;s shot put and women&rsquo;s hammer.
David Storl won his sixth national shot put title with 20.75m, while former hammer throw world record holder Betty Heidler also took the honours with a best of 75.32m. World shot put champion Christina Schwanitz won her fifth title with a season&rsquo;s best of 19.49m.
In the women&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase Gesa Felicitas Krause was one of the safe bets of the championship and the world bronze medallist duly obliged,&nbsp;clocking 9:31.00 to win the title in a championship record.
Teenage star&nbsp;Konstanze Klosterhalfen put on an equally impressive performance in the women&rsquo;s 1500m. The 19-year-old had more than a 20-metre advantage as she crossed&nbsp;the line to win her first national title in 4:07.52, the fastest time at the German championships for 20 years.
&ldquo;In Ostrava I ran well with a pacemaker so I wanted to prove I can run well on my own as well. I won&rsquo;t be racing in Amsterdam, but at the world U20s instead; then I&rsquo;ll turn my attention to Rio,&rdquo; she said before setting off on possibly the day&rsquo;s fastest victory lap.
In the men&rsquo;s 1500m, Homiyu Tesfaye was the favourite but with 100 metres to go it was Timo Benitz who surprised him with a lethal kick to take the win in 3:40.28.
Having ticked off the Olympic 800m qualifier from her to-do list in the heats, Fabienne Kohlmann was looking to defend her national title from last year. in Sunday's final. However, Christina Hering took charge after 400m and secured the crown in 2:02.19.
<h3>New generation takes&nbsp;command in sprints</h3>
Germany&rsquo;s women are currently outshining their male counterparts in the sprints, and in Kassel it was rising star Tatjana Pinto who again showed her vast potential, winning the women&rsquo;s 100m title with 11.22 into a 2.0m/s headwind.
However it was the 200m that really provided the fireworks on the track. Only two weeks ago, a German quartet including Pinto had recorded a world-leading 42.00 4x100m, and now the remaining three were lining up against each other in the 200m final.
Lisa Mayer entered the home&nbsp;straight in front, but was clawed back in&nbsp;the final metres by Gina Luckenkemper. Running into a slight 0.5m/s headwind, the 19-year-old took the title in 22.84, just 0.03 ahead of her relay partner, who improved her personal best by 0.17 in second placer.
On the men&rsquo;s side Julian Reus won his fourth 100m title in 10.30 (-2.3m/s), while Robin Erewa struck 200m gold in 20.60.
In the women&rsquo;s pole vault Martina Strutz improved her season&rsquo;s best to 4.70m, while on the men&rsquo;s side a gamble at 4.65m paid off for Tobias Scherbarth as he won with 5.70m.
Michelle Sammet for the IAAF

The weather may have been unpredictable, but Germany’s leading Olympic medal hopes turned in a consistent series of classy performances at their national championships in Kassel over the weekend.

Rohler and Harting lead the way at German Championships 

About 27,000 spectators at the two-day German Championships in Ulm on 6-7 July saw throwers as strong as ever, sprinters getting into shape for the IAAF World Championships in Moscow and Alyn Camara causing an upset in the Long Jump.Olympic silver medallist Bjorn Otto was under pressure in the Pole Vault as Olympic bronze medallist Raphael Holzdeppe cleared 5.75m on his first attempt. But Otto showed strong composure as he jumped over the bar at 5.80m, forcing Holzdeppe to raise the bar to 5.85m, which was too high for the 23-year-old.Otto went on to attempt 5.92m, but had to be content with what was his first ever outdoor national title, despite being just three months shy of his 36th birthday.World Champion David Storl dominated the Shot competition with his first throw over 21 metres this season. With his winning effort of 21.04m, he moved up to eighth on this year’s world rankings. His next stop will be the Shot meeting in Biberach on Monday, and afterwards he’ll trust in his coach Sven Lang to get him into shape for the World Championships.Fast times for Reus and SailerJulian Reus achieved A standards for Moscow in both the 100m (10.14) and the 200m (20.36) but will probably focus on the shorter distance and the sprint relay at the World Championships.Verena Sailer clocked the second-fastest time of her career in the 100m, winning in 11.09.“Today, everything just fitted perfectly,” said the 2010 European champion. “Before the race, I was so excited I almost felt sick warming up. But then I simply enjoyed the race.”Camara jumps to victoryThe big surprise of the championships came from Alyn Camara of Leverkusen who won the Long Jump ahead of the big favourites. He leaped 8.02m in round three before being surpassed in the final round by two-time European indoor champion Sebastian Bayer (8.04m).But Camara, the last jumper of the competition, fought back and jumped to victory with 8.15m. Christian Reif, the 2010 European champion, finished third with 7.90m.“Sebastian pushing me in the last round was necessary for me to improve – I didn’t even feel pressure, it was normal tension of a competition,” said Camara. “When I hit the board, I already felt that this was going to be a great jump.”In the women’s Pole Vault, Martina Strutz impressed with a flawless performance up to the height of 4.60m. A clearance at 4.65m on her second attempt – her best performance since winning the silver medal at the 2011 World Championships – won her the German title ahead of Silke Spiegelburg, who cleared 4.50m. Third place with 4.45m went to 19-year-old Anjuli Knasche, fourth at the World Junior Championships last year.Two medals for the Harting familyOlympic champion Robert Harting was accompanied on the podium by his 23-year-old brother Christoph who won bronze with 62.61m. Robert Harting, who had competed at the Paris Diamond League meeting on the day before, dominated the competition with five throws beyond the 66-metre mark, his best attempt being measured at 67.95m.“I know that 68 metres won’t scare anyone in a World Championships final,” said Harting. “I will still have to improve by one or two metres.”Martin Wierig, too, showed good shape with a throw of 66.10m which won him silver. For Moscow, he is looking at a top-six finish.Hammer title No.9 for HeidlerWorld record-holder Betty Heidler celebrated her ninth national title in the Hammer Throw with a series of six throws beyond the 70-metre mark.But she wasn’t completely happy with her winning attempt of 73.93m hopes to do better at the World Championships. “I am going to Moscow to win a medal,” she said. “I think that this is a realistic goal. My shape on the day itself will decide which medal it will be.”European indoor champion Christina Schwanitz dominated the Shot Put and again showed that she is in top shape with 19.76m.Muller beats the youngstersNadine Muller left behind the up-and-coming Germans in the Discus where she won gold with 64.17m ahead of Anna Ruh (63.79m) and Shanice Craft (60.77m), first and second at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona last year.In the men’s Javelin, it was again Thomas Rohler who won with 83.56m. The women’s title went to Linda Stahl with 63.70m, almost two metres ahead of Christina Obergfoll (61.73m), who competed in Paris the night before.Silke Bernhart for the IAAF

Otto celebrates first national title as Storl gets into shape

About 27,000 spectators at the two-day German Championships in Ulm on 6-7 July saw throwers as strong as ever, sprinters getting into shape for the IAAF World Championships in Moscow and Alyn Camara causing an upset in the Long Jump.