2550 spectators watched the Sparkassen Indoor Meeting of the LG Olympia Dortmund in the Helmut-Körnig-Halle on Saturday and saw five world lead performances. In addition, three new meeting records were set. And in the women's long jump, Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo (LG Kurpfalz) made her much-noticed comeback.

The first meeting record and the first world best of the day was set by Robert Farken (SC DHfK Leipzig) in the men's 800 meters. The race was only added to the program a few days before the event. In 1:47.00 minutes, he improved the previous meeting record set by Amel Tuka last year by two hundredths of a second. He was followed by German champion Luis Oberbeck (LG Göttingen) in second place in 1:47.61 minutes.

There was another new meeting record in the women's 1500 meters in a world record time. It was a race at world-class level! Led by pacesetter Vera Coutellier (ASV Cologne), who only slipped into the field at short notice, Georgia Bell (Great Britain) improved her own world best and personal best by seven seconds to 4:03.54 minutes, closely followed by her compatriot Revée Walcott-Nolan in 4:03.93 minutes. Third-placed Jetske van Kampen (Netherlands) also remained under the previous meeting record with 4:09.58 minutes.

In the men's 60 meter hurdles, the crowd, which provided an outstanding atmosphere, was also able to cheer the combination of a meeting record and a world record. Last year's Asian champion, Yaqoub Al-Yoha from Kowait, clocked 7.58 seconds, his fastest time for four years, to top the current World Athletics Association leaderboard. Job Geerds (Netherlands; 7.63 seconds) and Manuel Mordi (Hamburger SV; 7.70 seconds) took second and third place respectively.

Malaika Mihambo made her comeback in the women's long jump competition and competed in her first competition since the German Championships in Kassel last July, where she suffered a muscle injury. After two invalid attempts, she jumped 6.65 meters in the third round and thus secured three more attempts. The sixth attempt went significantly further, but was unfortunately invalid again. Malaika Mihambo therefore finished in fourth place, but was nevertheless satisfied. The victory surprisingly went to Laura Raquel Müller (Unterländer LG), third at the U20 European Championships 2023, who improved to a strong 6.81 meters and thus jumped further than any other athlete in the world in this still young indoor season. Laura Raquel Müller missed Khaddi Sagnia's meeting record by just one centimeter. Silver went to Mikaelle Assani (SCL Heel Baden-Baden), who improved her personal best from last year, also set at the Sparkassen Indoor Meeting in Dortmund, by two centimetres to 6.72 meters. Milica Gardašević from Serbia came third with 6.69 meters.

Alexandra Burghardt (LG Gendorf Wacker Burghausen) also made a successful comeback in the 60 meters. She finished in second place in 7.22 seconds, the same time as the winner Magdalena Stefanowicz (Poland). Lorène Bazolo (Portugal) finished third in 7.23 seconds, just one hundredth of a second behind. In the men's race, the German 200-meter record holder Joshua Hartmann (ASV Cologne) won after Henrik Larsson (Sweden), who finished third in the European Indoor Championships, was only allowed to start under reserve after a false start, although he set a new meeting record of 6.55 seconds, but was later disqualified.

After his victory last year, Ben Higgins (Great Britain) had to settle for 47.57 seconds and second place in the men's 400 meters this year. Victory here went to Boško Kijanović from Serbia, who won in 46.99 seconds. Italy's Alice Mangione won the women's race over the same distance in 52.82 seconds, one day after her 27th birthday, ahead of Cátia Azevedo (Portugal; 53.18 seconds) and Phil Healy (Ireland; 53.61 seconds).

Five jumpers finished on the podium in the men's pole vault. Ersu Şaşma (Turkey) took victory with a jump of 5.72 meters. Second place was shared by four athletes with 5.50 meters: Oleg Zernikel (ASV Landau), Pål Haugen Lillefosse (Norway), Emmanouíl Karalís (Greece) and Torben Blech (TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen).

There was a surprise victory in the women's 800 meters. The 17-year-old Jana Marie Becker (Königsteiner LV) won in 2:04.87 minutes, beating Tanja Spill (LAV Bayer Uerdingen/Dormagen; 2:05.29 min.) and Jennifer Hauke (Berlin Track Club; 2:05.77 min. Marius Probst (TV Wattenscheid 01) won the men's 1500 meters in 3:40.80 minutes ahead of Brian Komen (Kenya; 3:44.06 min) and Sven Wagner (Königsteiner LV; 3:44.74 min).

Yoshi Müller, Head of Organization of the Sparkassen Indoor Meeting, was very satisfied with the course of the event: “Our thanks go above all to our sponsors and partners, especially Sparkasse Dortmund as title sponsor, but also to our more than 150 volunteers who contributed to the smooth running of the event.” And Sebastian Junker, Deputy Member of the Management Board of Sparkasse Dortmund, says: “For me, the Sparkassen Indoor Meeting is simply an atmospheric sports festival for the whole family. I am glad that we at Sparkasse Dortmund are able to be a permanent partner of LG Olympia and I am already looking forward to seeing them again at the Sparkassen Indoor Meeting 2025.”