TUK student and UNISPORT athlete Dennis Lukas wins DM bronze in shot put
The German Athletics Championships took place in Braunschweig on August 8 and 9, 2020. Just two months earlier, the German Athletics Association (DLV) had announced that it had applied for special permission to hold the national championships at a later date. The originally planned date of the German Championships at the beginning of June had to be postponed due to coronavirus. The city of Braunschweig finally approved the submitted hygiene concept for the rescheduled date on June 12 and agreed to hold the event at the beginning of August.
Good news also for TUK student and shot putter Dennis Lukas. After winning the title at the German University Championships and finishing fifth at the German Indoor Championships, both in February 2020, he too was initially confronted with the drastic cutbacks in every respect brought about by the coronavirus.
"It was a huge change when the lockdown came in mid-March, and in terms of motivation, things went downhill for a while," reports Lukas, both in terms of his training and his studies. He is currently completing his third Master's semester in Energy and Process Engineering at TUK. "Initially, many exams at university had to be postponed, for example. But my courses in the summer semester were then very well implemented digitally and I was able to continue with my studies in this way." With the announcement of the German Athletics Championships by the DLV, things also started to pick up again in sporting terms shortly afterwards: "Once I had a concrete goal in mind again, my motivation and ambition returned very quickly. It was really helpful that I was able to continue my strength training there at the end of May when UNIFIT reopened, where I had been registered for some time. I also used the Unisport sports ground for my technique training as soon as it was possible again. I completed a large part of my DM preparation at both venues."
Immediately before his competition in Braunschweig, Lukas took an objective look at his chances in the national starting field. "Beforehand, anything between 4th and 8th place was realistic for me. In the end, however, I coped very well with the conditions in Braunschweig, firstly with the extreme heat and secondly with the special features of the competition due to the coronavirus. I only missed the spectators and the support from the stands a little, but overall it still went very well," Lukas reports on his impressions on site.
After a first invalid attempt, Lukas worked his way closer and closer to the 19-meter mark in rounds two to five and was able to position himself in the top half of the field of participants with 18.79 meters. However, this was not the end for the 26-year-old, who competes for LG Idar-Oberstein. "Before the last round, I was fourth, then only fifth for a short time. On my sixth attempt, I had to go through a lot of mental warfare with myself again to really focus and stay concentrated. I then put everything I could into the shot. And as soon as the ball left my hand, I realized that it was going to be a really good distance." With 19.15 meters, Lukas finally catapulted himself into third place, which none of his competitors were able to take away from him afterwards. The bronze medal was safe!
"It's definitely not something you forget in a hurry!" commented Lukas on his great success. Even a few days later, he looks back on the DM weekend with great satisfaction - both in terms of his own performance and the organization and execution of the event itself. "I had a very positive impression of the DLV's hygiene concept on site and had nothing to complain about. It was all implemented very well and you can simply be happy that championships could be held at all. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have taken part in any more competitions this year."
The TUK and Unisport would like to congratulate Dennis Lukas on winning the bronze medal and wish him many more successful championships and competitions in the future!