Konstanze Klosterhalfen blinked a little shyly late on Monday evening around the moderately crowded Olympic Stadium. The 25-year-old is an exceptional runner. In the past few months, however, she has been rather ordinary in terms of performance – measured by her claims. At the World Championships in Eugene three weeks ago, the third place in the World Cup in Doha even missed the final, which could probably also be explained by the consequences of a corona disease.
At the European Championships in Munich, she wanted to show her exception again. The field of participants was significantly weaker than last time in Eugene. The best runners come from Africa and Sifan Hassan, who started for the Netherlands, did not compete. According to the most recent impressions, Klosterhalfen seemed to have a chance of winning a medal at the European Championships – a seventh place over 3000 meters at the Diamond League meeting in Chorzow. Nevertheless, the big favorite to win was Brit Eilish McColgan. Among the participants, she was by far the fastest of the year in 30:19.02 minutes.
As soon as the starting gun was fired, McColgan and – directly behind her – Klosterhalfen took the lead in the field. After a third of the distance, a group of five pulled away from the rest, among them: Konstanze Klosterhalfen. In front, McColgan set the pace. Klosterhalfen had wished for just such a fast race beforehand.
After almost half the distance, the quintet had become a quartet, Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, Yasemin Can and Klosterhalfen continued to cling to Eilish McColgan’s heels. The lap times were fast, about three minutes. After 7,500 meters, Can, who started for Turkey, put in an intermediate sport and pulled away from the others. Shortly thereafter, Klosterhalfen was no longer able to follow McColgan and Salpeter and was fourth. Meanwhile, the second German starter, Alina Reh, was lapped. Deer was obviously struggling with stomach problems.
Can, on the other hand, was able to keep up her pace and won the race comfortably in 30:32.57 minutes ahead of McColgan (30:41.05) and Salpeter (30:46.37). Klosterhalfen finished fourth in 31:05.21. “I imagined it to be a bit different,” she said after the race. “So I’m a little disappointed because she sees herself on the right track. In fact, her time was only a few seconds above her personal best.
