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| Robert Harting will be among the stars turning out in German colours at the SPAR European Team Championships in Stockholm on 18-19 June. |
There are 22 athletes – eight men and 14 women – who helped Germany to victory at the SPAR European Team Championships two years ago in Portugal who will contest this year’s event in Stockholm on 18-19 June.
'We want to fight with the other three major European nations: Russia, Great Britain and France for the medals,” said the German athletics federation sports director Thomas Kurschilgen, when announcing the team on Friday.
“Despite a few losses due to injuries (including the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships 60m hurdles gold medallist Carolin Nytra) we will start with a powerful team,” he added.
Two European champions from Barcelona last summer are in German squad: long jumper Christian Reif and hammer world record holder Betty Heidler. However, the team also has admirably strength in many other events and can boast of a quartet of 2010 European Athletics Championships medallists silver medallists: Carsten Schlangen, Robert Harting, Mattias De Zordo and Silke Speigelburg.
There are also some young emerging talents like shot putter David Storl and hurdler Cindy Roleder, who will be looking not only to help their team in Stockholm but be in the hunt for a gold medal at next month’s European Athletics U23 Championships in the Czech city of Ostrava.
Germany finished third last year in Bergen, Norway, in the defence of their title from the inaugural year of the Championships.
The 12 teams competing in the Swedish capital are: Russia, Great Britain, Germany, France, Poland, Ukraine, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Belarus, Czech Republic and Portugal.
The complete Germany team (including club affiliation) is:
Men
100m: Tobias Unger (LG Stadtwerke München)
200m: Sebastian Ernst (TV Wattenscheid 01)
400m: Thomas Schneider (SC Potsdam)
800m: Robin Schembera (TSV Bayer Leverkusen)
1500m: Carsten Schlangen (LG Nord Berlin)
3000m: Rico Schwarz (ASV Erfurt)
5000m: Arne Gabius (LAV asics Tübingen)
110m hurdles: Erik Balnuweit (LAZ Leipzig)
400m hurdles: Georg Fleischhauer (Dresdner SC 1898)
3000m steeplechase: Steffen Uliczka (SG TSV Kronshagen/Kieler TB)
High jump: Raúl Spank (Dresdner SC 1898)
Pole vault: Malte Mohr (LG Stadtwerke München)
Long jump: Christian Reif (ABC Ludwigshafen)
Triple jump: Andreas Pohle (ASV Erfurt)
Shot put: David Storl (LAC Erdgas Chemnitz)
Discus: Robert Harting (SCC Berlin)
Hammer: Markus Esser (TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
Javelin: Matthias de Zordo (SV Schlau.com Saar 05 Saarbrücken)
4 x 100m: Tobias Unger, Sebastian Ernst, Marius Broening (LG Stadtwerke München), Martin Keller (LAC Erdgas Chemnitz), Alex Schaf (VfB Stuttgart)
4 x 400m: Thomas Schneider, David Gollnow (TSV Erding), Miguel Rigau (LT DSHS Köln), Benjamin Jonas (LG Eintracht Frankfurt), Jonas Plass (asics-Team Wendelstein)
Women
100m: Marion Wagner (USC Mainz)
200m: Cathleen Tschirch (TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
400m: Janin Lindenberg (SC Magdeburg)
800m: Jana Hartmann (LG Olympia Dortmund)
1500m: Denise Krebs (TV Wattenscheid)
3000m: Corinna Harrer (LG Telis Finanz Regensburg)
5000m: Sabrina Mockenhaupt (LG Sieg)
100m hurdles: Cindy Roleder (LAZ Leipzig)
400m hurdles: Christiane Klopsch (LG ovag Friedberg-Fauerbach)
3000m steeplechase: Jana Sussmann (LG Nordheide)
High jump: Marie-Laurence Jungfleisch (LAZ Sala. Kornwesth.)
Pole vault: Silke Spiegelburg (TSV Bayer Leverkusen)
Long jump: Bianca Kappler (LC Rehlingen)
Triple jump: Katja Demut (TuS Jena)
Shot put: Nadine Kleinert (SC Magdeburg)
Discus: Nadine Müller (Hallesche LAF)
Hammer: Betty Heidler (LG Eintracht Frankfurt)
Javelin: Christina Obergföll (LG Offenburg)
4 x 100m: Marion Wagner, Cathleen Tschirch, Verena Sailer (MTG Mannheim), Leena Günther (LT DSHS Köln), Johanna Kedzierski (USC Heidelberg)
4 x 400m: Janin Lindenberg, Claudia Hoffmann (SC Potsdam), Esther Cremer (TV Wattenscheid), Lena Schmidt (LG Hilden), Wiebke Ullmann (TSV Bayer Leverkusen)