In the hopeful run

“But Enzo Diessl is Europe’s greatest talent!”

Enzo Diessl ran the 110 m hurdles in 13.63 seconds.

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

Enzo Diessl, Austria's great athletics talent, celebrated a very pleasing Olympic debut in Paris. The 20-year-old finished sixth in his preliminary heat of the 110 m hurdles in 13.63 seconds and has to go through to the hopeful heat on Tuesday. "I may have run a little too shy ..."

13.43 seconds would have been enough to advance directly to the semi-finals from the five preliminary heats. But the youngster, who finished 29th overall in the heats, was still missing something. "My start was very good by my standards. My race was good up to the fourth and fifth hurdle, but the second half wasn't what I'm capable of."

Diessl, at 20 years and two months the youngest of all the hurdle sprinters in Paris, still sees a small chance of making it through to the semi-finals from one of the three hopeful heats. There are still two places for advancement in each. He is confident of beating his best time of 13.40.

"It was fun!"
But the Styrian has already fully enjoyed his Olympic premiere. "It was really fun. I'm very happy to be here at the Games!" That would hardly have been thought possible at the beginning of the year. After all, last year's U20 European champion is competing in his first season over the men's hurdles this year. But he has a great future ahead of him. Even the experts are convinced of this. Arto Bryggare (Fin), partner of Olympic champion Heike Drechsler, for example, says: "Enzo is the biggest talent in Europe!" He even dares to make a hot prediction: "In two years, he'll be running under 13 seconds!"

Weißhaidinger in Group A
On Monday, things will also get serious for discus star Lukas Weißhaidinger! The Upper Austrian, who even won European silver in Rome this year after winning bronze at the European Championships, World Championships and Olympics, will be competing in his qualification. He has been drawn in Group A, which starts at 10.10 am in the Stade de Prince. To qualify directly for the final on August 7, a distance of 66.00 m is required. A distance which, based on experience, will not necessarily be necessary for advancement. If twelve discus throwers do not achieve this required distance, the field will be filled with the next best from the two qualifying groups.

Lukas Weißhaidinger

(Bild: Thomas Windestam)

"Of course I want to throw 66.00 m on my first attempt," says the 32-year-old from Upper Austria, who logically wants to avoid the trembling he experienced in qualifying with just three throws in order to save energy and nerves for the final.

Although the men's discus throw has developed significantly since the Games in Tokyo 2021, the qualifying distance for the final remained the same as three years ago at 66.00m. However, only one athlete (Daniel Stahl with 66.12 m) had exceeded this standard in Tokyo. Lukas Weißhaidinger reached the final in 2021 with 64.77 m, where he then took a historic third place. In Tokyo, 62.93 m was also enough to make it into the top twelve. In Rio, the qualifying distance was 65.50 m.

Susi Gogl-Walli in lane 5
Susanne Gogl-Walli will also start the Games in Paris on Monday in the morning session. She was seeded in the 5th preliminary heat (12.27 p.m.) in the 400 m and was given the favorable lane 6. The top 3 of the six preliminary heats qualify directly for the semifinals. All other runners have to try to make it to the next round via the highly controversial hope heats.

Susanne Gogl-Walli

(Bild: Olaf Brockmann)

Only Susanne Gogl-Walli and Christiane Wildschek have so far reached the Olympic 400m semifinals in the women's 400m. The Upper Austrian wants to do it again. She can achieve this goal directly from the preliminary heat or from the hopeful heat. She has every reason to believe that she can achieve this, as she has always shown her top form at the season's high point. She reached the semi-finals at the 2021 Olympics and the World Championships (2022, 2023), as well as the final at this year's European Championships. Added to this are her outstanding indoor results, such as at the 2024 World Championships (6th) and the 2023 European Championships (4th). There she replaced Karoline Käfer as the record holder. The Carinthian, who incidentally already competed at the 1972 Games as a 17-year-old, is (still) the number 1 in the ÖLV outdoor field with 50.62, ahead of her with 50.87.