Amos Bartelsmeyer finishes sixth in 3000m final at European Indoor Championships...
Bartelsmeyer, who has dual German and US citizenship, ran 7:59.62, as Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen became the youngest winner of the European indoor crown at 3000 meters, as the 18-year old took the title in 7:56.15.
The Georgetown grad, who moved to Seattle to train under Husky head coach Andy Powell, ran in last for the first 2000 meters to stay out of traffic.
“I talked to my coach yesterday. He said that I should stay calm for the first 2,000 meters. I realized that I'm in last place, but I thought, ‘that's no problem’. It was also very slow. In the end, that was a good thing, because there was a lot of confusion in the middle. And on the last 1,000 meters, I could push myself further forward.”
“I am satisfied with the sixth place. I thought maybe I could finish fourth, or if everything went perfectly well I would win a medal. But I have to be satisfied with sixth place in my first European Championship final.”
Seattle resident and British citizen Tim Duckworth, the reigning NCAA indoor and outdoor multi-events champion, currently leads the heptathlon competition with a four event score of 3533 points.
Duckworth, a graduate of the University of Kentucky, who is training under former Kentucky assistant and current Husky associate head coach Toby Stevenson, ran 6.85 in the 60 meter dash, then won the long jump with a mark of 25-6.75 (7.79m).
He had a minor hiccup in the shot put, where he finished last in the 12-man field with a throw of 42-6.75 (12.97m), short of his indoor personal best of 44-7 (13.59m) that pushed him down to third after three events.
Duckworth bounced back to win the high jump with a clearance of 6-11.75 (2.13m) to give him an overall score of 3533, a 58 point lead over Fredrik Samuelsson of Sweden, with Spain’s Jorge Ureña third at 3443.
Afterwards, Duckworth said, “It wasn’t bad, a little rusty because I haven’t competed very much this season but it was OK except for the shot put.”
“I need to start strong tomorrow, the goal is to have a good hurdle race and keep the momentum going from there. I have run 8.10 this year with no competition so I am hoping with competition, I can get sub-8 and go with it.”
“The shot put showed the rust that I have in the competition setting. I was throwing really well in warm up, which is why it was frustrating. I am after specific points, if I score what I want to score I can’t really be too mad at what I have done. I try not to judge it too much on place.”
Former Washington State volunteer coach Liga Velvere of Latvia finished fourth in her semi-final of the 800 meters, running 2:04.06.
The Idaho alum ran at or near the front for the first 600, but was caught by Ukraine’s Olha Lyakhova on the final straight for the third and final spot in Sunday’s final.
On her Instagram post, Velvere revealed that she had an injury going into Saturday’s semis.
Duckworth resumes competition Sunday in the heptathlon, with the 60 hurdles at 2:06 am Seattle time (10:06 am local time), followed by the pole vault at 3:15 am Seattle time (11:15 am local time).
The heptathlon concludes at 11:37 am Seattle time (7:37 pm local time).
Complete day 2 results of the European Indoor Championships are available here.
NOTE: European Athletics, the German Athletics Federation, and British Athletics contributed to this report.
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