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A team of four Austrian athletes compete at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Berlin.
Gerhard Mayer, 29, was 18th at the Olympic Games in Beijing and wants to improve on this result. A Gold medallist at the World University Games 2007 in Bangkok, he takes part in his first World Championships. This year Mayer improved his personal best to a national record of 64.16 meters (a result of 65.06 meters at Salinas, California, is still awaiting ratification as there are open questions concerning the topography of the throwing field). A very consistent thrower he has an outside chance to reach the final.
Ryan Moseley, 27, clocked 10.21 seconds for a personal best in the 100m this season. Born in Barbados and married to an Austrian, he was granted citizenship in April 2008. At the European Indoors in Torino 2009, his first appearance at an international championship, he competed in the 60m final but could not do himself justice due to a hip injury. Moseley, 26, has worked as a construction engineer in London. He is a full time athlete only since October 2008 and clearly feels the benefit of it. Moseley hopes to improve his personal best and will do his best to reach the semi-final.
Roland Schwarzl, 28, tenth at the Olympic Games 2004 in Athens and bronze medallist at the European Indoor Championships in Madrid 2005, hopes to make a good performance in the Decathlon again. Since 2005 his sporting ambitions has been hampered by illness and injury. This year he is right on track to reach his best again. In Berlin he wants to improve his season best of 7,971 points from Götzis to break the 8,000 mark.
Elisabeth Pauer, 26, competes at her first major international championship. She improved her personal best to a national record of 59.01 meters this year. Working part time as a physiotherapist she has to combine her training with the duties of her job. Berlin will be a learning experience for her, though she will do her very best to show a strong performance on world level.
Three other athletes have qualified but will not take part due to injuries. Long distance runner Günther Weidlinger ran 2:12:39 at his marathon debut in Vienna this year but was hampered by inflammations afterwards. He started training only recently. Likewise Andrea Mayr, who clocked 2:30:43 for a national record in her debut marathon in Vienna, is not in right shape to compete at the highest level after an operation in May. Bettina Müller-Weissina stormed to a season best of 11.33 seconds in the 100m at World Military Games in Sofia, Bulgaria, where she won the silver medal. She could not train due to a hip injury in July.
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