Germany's world champs prove their form

Germany's world champions Robert Harting and David Storl warmed up for next month's world championships with national titles on Sunday, while promising sprinter Julian Reus dominated the 100m. Storl, 22, who won the shot-putt world title in Daegu in 2011, took the national title in Ulm with a throw of 21.04m, his furthest of the year, but behind the 22.28m of world leader Ryan Whiting of the USA. "I'm satisfied. This was a step in the right direction, breaking the 21m mark makes me relaxed," said Storl, the Olympic silver medallist, ahead of the world championships in Moscow from August 10-18. "At the world championships, I will take at least a medal, but the title is the ultimate goal, in which case I'll need to throw over 22 metres." Germany's world discus champion Harting claimed his seventh national title in a row with 67.95m, the day after also winning the Diamond League meeting in Paris by throwing 67.04m. "I'll do anything to keep what I already have," said Olympic champion Harting, who is bidding for his third straight world title in Moscow, but Poland's Piotr Malachowski threw 71.84m last month. "But for the title, I still have both feet on the accelerator." There was a fast time in the men's 100m final when Reus, 25, ran 10.17sec, but that's a way short of Tyson Gay's year's best mark of 9.75sec. "Maybe I can build on that at the world championships," said Reus, who ran 10.09secs last year, the fastest time by a German since 1985. On Saturday, hammer world record-holder Betty Heidler claimed her ninth German title in succession as the 29-year-old threw 73.93m to win by nearly four metres from her nearest rival. Source: AFP