Tough fight in the steeplechase: That's what track and field athlete Julia Rath says about her World Cup debut

Created: 08/03/2022, 09:45 am

By: Paul Hopp

The German duo over 3000 meters obstacle: Carolin Hinrichs (left) from Münsterland and Julia Rath from Penzberg.

Rath is one of three Bavarian U20 women at the youth world championships in Colombia.

© Instagram/Rath

Julia Rath did not reach the final over the 3000 meter obstacle at the U20 World Championships in Colombia.

After her use, the Penzberg native commented on the race.

Cali/Penzberg – Julia Rath got a bit too much in this heat.

The 18-year-old completed her first race ever in a Germany jersey - and that too at a U20 World Championship, which is also taking place 9500 kilometers from her home town of Penzberg on another continent.

Added to this was the weather conditions of 26 degrees Celsius paired with 65 percent humidity at the start time shortly before eleven o'clock in the morning and technical chaos with several start attempts.

But what really led to Rath not having a good day in the pre-run over the 3000 meter obstacle and clearly missing the final remained a mystery to the athlete.

Julia Rath takes 11th place in her preliminary heat in her World Championship debut

"I don't really know what it was either.

The training last week actually went quite well," the Penzberg native was quoted as saying by the German Athletics Association (DLV).

Rath was recently ill, "that's why I didn't start at the DM in Ulm".

In the training phase afterwards, "I only did shorter runs, maybe that's why I didn't have the pace."

The conclusion was unequivocal: "I had hoped for more." Despite all the disappointment about being eliminated in eleventh place with a time of 11:16.69 minutes, the performance for the World Cup debutant was something very special, namely "definitely a new one and great experience".

Team colleague Carolin Hinrichs (VfL Löningen) can compete again on Friday (0.20 a.m. German time) in the race for the medals.

Like Rath, the woman from Munster started in the second heat and came in fifth (10:34.57).

She even qualified directly.

“It took me a while to get into the race, but of course I'm very happy with the result.

I had imagined the weather to be a bit more pleasant,” said Hinrichs.

Tough competition in the steeplechase

From the two heats, the first five athletes plus five “fastest” progressed.

In the second heat, the Italian Agnese Carcano (10:37.08) made it into the final in eighth place.

Rath had undercut the result of the opponent in her obstacle races this year.

At the end of May she broke the German World Cup norm (10:30) with a personal best of 10:24.27 minutes.

At the junior gala in Mannheim, she finished second after Hinrichs in 10:32.65 minutes.

But racing is not the same as racing.

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In Cali, a technical problem with the starter caused confusion: the runners were sent off twice, twice – after a few seconds – ordered back to the starting line.

With a delay of a good ten minutes it actually started;

the third start attempt worked.

Julia Rath struggled from the start and ran in a rear position in the group.

After a few hundred meters the field was already divided.

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Technical problem causes confusion at the start

In front were Kenya's Faith Cherotich (final winner in 9:38.18) and Ethiopia's Meseret Yeshaneh (9:41.99).

The duo Rihab Dhahri (Tunisia/10:13.49) and Khadija Ennasri (Morocco/10:29.86) followed at a considerable distance.

The rest formed the third group, from which Hinrichs separated towards the end.

Rath could no longer counter, her strength was rapidly dwindling.

When Cherotich ran to the finish, she still had almost one lap to go.

Julia Rath is one of three athletes from Bavaria in Cali.

In addition to her, the German pole vault champion Chiara Sistermann (TSV Graefelfing) and 5000 meter runner Linda Meier (LAC Passau) belong to the DLV squad.

It's been 22 years since the last U20 world championships for track and field athletes took place on South American soil - back then in Chile.

In 2015, the "Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero" in Cali was the scene of a World Championships in Athletics, in the U18 age group.

At that time, a certain Swede named Armand Duplantis won gold in the pole vault (with a championship record of 5.30 meters) and the German Niklas Kaul in the decathlon.