Germany
2023
Seventy-five athletes, six finals and no medals — the first blank World Championships in German history, and the kit of a team rebuilding.
Germany won no medals at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest — the first time the country had left a World Championships empty-handed since the championships began in 1983.
This is that season told honestly: the six finals Germany reached, the injury that removed its best medal chance before the start, what the team went on to win afterwards, and the Nike Germany Pro Elite 2023 kit it raced in.
Part of our Season Series — one year at a time. The full national story is in The History of Athletics in Germany. Jump to the 2023 kit or browse the collection.
- Championship
- World Championships, Budapest, 19–27 August 2023
- Medals
- 0 — no gold, silver or bronze
- Historic first
- First German World Championships without a medal since 1983
- Team size
- 75 athletes — 38 men, 37 women
- Best finish
- Julian Weber, 4th in the javelin, 85.79m
- Key absence
- Malaika Mihambo — thigh muscle tear, did not travel
- What followed
- Ogunleye Olympic gold 2024 · Neugebauer world champion 2025
- Kit
- Nike Germany Pro Elite 2023 — not in the archive right now
The 2023 season in short
Germany sent 75 athletes to the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest — 38 men and 37 women — and brought home nothing. It was the first time the country had finished a World Athletics Championships without a medal since the championships began in 1983.
That is the fact the season turns on, and there is no softer way to put it. Six Germans reached a final. None of them reached a podium.
Budapest: six finals, no podium
The closest call was Julian Weber, fourth in the javelin with 85.79m. Leo Neugebauer finished fifth in the decathlon on 8645 points and Tobias Potye fifth in the high jump at 2.33m. Kristin Pudenz was sixth in the discus, Sophie Weißenberg seventh in the heptathlon, Henrik Janssen eighth in the discus.
One absence mattered more than any single result. Malaika Mihambo, the reigning world long jump champion from 2019 and 2022 and the Olympic champion from Tokyo, tore a muscle fibre in her thigh at the German national championships earlier that August and did not travel. Germany lost its most reliable medal before the championships started.
The blank year did not come out of nowhere. German medal counts at World Championships had been falling for over a decade — nine in 2009, two in 2022, none in 2023. The German federation appointed a new sporting director after Budapest.
German finalists at Budapest 2023 — data table
| Athlete | Event | Position | Mark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Julian Weber | Javelin | 4th | 85.79m |
| Leo Neugebauer | Decathlon | 5th | 8645 pts |
| Tobias Potye | High jump | 5th | 2.33m |
| Kristin Pudenz | Discus | 6th | 65.96m |
| Sophie Weißenberg | Heptathlon | 7th | 6438 pts |
| Henrik Janssen | Discus | 8th | 63.80m |
What happened next
A season is only the shape of one year, and this one aged better than it looked at the time. Three of the athletes who left Budapest empty-handed, or did not get there at all, went on to win the biggest titles of their careers.
Leo Neugebauer, fifth in the decathlon here, became world champion in Tokyo in 2025. Yemisi Ogunleye won Olympic gold in the shot put in Paris in 2024. Malaika Mihambo, who missed Budapest injured, took silver at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo.
Read that way, 2023 is the low point between two better years rather than a verdict. It is also the reason the kit from this cycle is worth keeping straight: it is the kit of a team that was rebuilding.
The kit: Nike Germany Pro Elite 2023
The German team raced 2023 in the Nike Germany Pro Elite 2023 cycle — the federation kit issued through the team channel, not a retail range.
A competition kit, not a supporter kit. Pro Elite pieces go to the athletes and staff on the national team. The cut and the weight are specified for competition, and the run is limited to what the squad receives. What reaches the open market is what left that channel.
Our 2023 German rail is weighted towards the pieces a track and field squad actually wears through a full season rather than only on finals night: competition briefs and booty short tights, half tights and capri long tights, running shorts, and the Storm outerwear and podium pants that get used in warm-up and on the podium.
Germany Pro Elite 2023
Every piece we hold from the Nike Germany Pro Elite 2023 cycle. Athlete-issued kit from the team channel, so the rail is small and it does not restock. In stock first; sold-out pieces stay visible so you can see what the cycle contained.
How many medals did Germany win at the 2023 World Athletics Championships?
None. Germany finished the 2023 World Championships in Budapest with no gold, silver or bronze — the first time the country had gone medal-less at a World Athletics Championships since the event began in 1983.
Who was Germany's best performer in Budapest?
Julian Weber, fourth in the javelin with 85.79m. Five other Germans made finals: Leo Neugebauer (5th, decathlon), Tobias Potye (5th, high jump), Kristin Pudenz (6th, discus), Sophie Weißenberg (7th, heptathlon) and Henrik Janssen (8th, discus).
Why did Malaika Mihambo not compete in Budapest?
She tore a muscle fibre in her thigh at the German national championships in August 2023. Mihambo was the reigning world long jump champion, having won in 2019 and 2022, and the Tokyo Olympic champion, so her withdrawal removed Germany's strongest medal chance before the championships began.
Did German athletics recover after 2023?
Yes. Yemisi Ogunleye won Olympic shot put gold in Paris in 2024. Leo Neugebauer, fifth in the decathlon in Budapest, became world champion in Tokyo in 2025, where Mihambo took silver.
What kit did the German team wear in 2023?
The Nike Germany Pro Elite 2023 collection — the athlete-issued federation kit for that cycle, covering competition pieces and the team's warm-up and podium layers.
Sources and References
- Wikipedia — Germany at the 2023 World Athletics Championships — zero medals, team size, finalists and placings
- World Athletics — Budapest 2023 medal table — confirms Germany absent from the table
- Xinhua — Alarm bells ringing for German athletics at 2023 Worlds — first blank championships since 1983, and the federation's response
- NBC Sports — Malaika Mihambo to miss the world championships — the thigh muscle tear that ruled her out