At the Olympic premiere of the mixed relays over 4 x 400 meters in athletics, the German quartet ran into the final.
Marvin Schlegel, Corinna Schwab (both Chemnitz), Ruth Sophia Spelmeyer-Preuß (Oldenburg) and Manuel Sanders (Dortmund) crossed the finish line in third place in the second heat after 3: 12.94 minutes.
The time is considered the best German performance, there is no official record here.
The previous best time was 3: 16.85 minutes by Yokahama 2019. First in the run with the German relay was Belgium (3: 12.75) ahead of Ireland (3: 12.88).
The final is on Saturday (2.35 p.m. / CEST in the FAZ live ticker for the Olympics, on ARD and on Eurosport).
Schwanitz eliminated
Former shot put world champion Christina Schwanitz, on the other hand, missed the finals and has to finally bury her medal dream at summer games. The 36-year-old remained in the qualification with 18.08 meters, well below the 18.80 required for direct entry into the medal decision on Sunday (3.35 a.m. CEST) and was also not among the twelve best in distance. Katharina Maisch (17.89 / LV Erzgebirge) was also eliminated. Sara Gambetta (Halle / Saale), however, made it into the final with 18.57 meters.
Neele Eckhardt-Noack (Göttingen) was two centimeters short: the triple jumper also just missed the Olympic final (Sunday, 1:15 p.m. CEST). The German champion finished 14th in the qualification with 14.20 meters. A distance of 14.22 would have been enough for her to advance. At the beginning of June, the sports soldier jumped 14.26 meters in Braunschweig. The former indoor world championship runner-up Kristin Gierisch injured herself after an aborted, half-hearted jump to 13.02 meters and also failed in the qualification.
Schwanitz, whose best distance from the 2015 World Cup triumph in Beijing was 20.77 meters, started the season late in the spring after a herniated disc. She had traveled to Tokyo with an annual best of 18.63. For Schwanitz it was the fourth participation in the Olympic Games. In 2008 (eleventh place) and 2012 (tenth place) things didn't go as planned after injury problems. In 2016 she experienced a bitter disappointment as the favorite and reigning world champion and came in sixth.