Germany has set itself a target of finishing among the top five on the athletics medals table at Los Angeles 2028, despite its worst performance at the World Championships in Budapest ©Getty Images

A place in the top five on the medals table at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles remains the target set by the German Athletics Association (DLV) despite its worst performance at the World Athletics Championships last month.

Germany finished the event in Budapest without a medal for the first time since the World Athletics Championships made its debut 40 years ago.

The closest its team of 75 - made up of 38 male and 37 female athletes - came to winning a medal was on the last day when Julian Weber finished fourth in the men's javelin.

The fear is that Germany could produce a similar result at next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

"We know that things didn't go particularly well this year," DLV President Jürgen Kessing admitted in an interview with news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA).

"We're not happy with that.

"That may continue next year in Paris."

But the DLV is continuing to maintain its target first announced by its general director Cheick-Idriss Gonschinska in February.

"We have set ourselves the goal of being back among the top five athletics nations in Los Angeles by 2028," Kessing said.

German Athletics Federation President Jürgen Kessing has admitted that they have fallen behind their rivals and need to do work to catch up ©Facebook
German Athletics Federation President Jürgen Kessing has admitted that they have fallen behind their rivals and need to do work to catch up ©Facebook

Kessing claimed that the DLV needed to go under a period of restructuring and carry out an investigation into why Germany has declined so significantly.

"The rest of the world has become significantly stronger than us," he told DPA.

"So, these are big and complex processes that just take time."

Germany’s team in Budapest was hit by the absence of long jumper Malaika Mihambo, the Olympic gold medallist and winner of the last two World Championships at Doha in 2019 and Eugene in 2022.

She was one of several leading names that were missing in Hungary’s capital.

"We also have to look at where the injuries come from - is it still an after-effect of coronavirus, is it a material story?" Kessing, head of the DLV since 2017, said.

"These are all things we need to clarify."

"The consequences in the association are now being discussed.

"If we want to implement changes, we will announce this accordingly."

Germany finished second on the athletics medals table the last time Los Angeles hosted the Olympics in 1984, with its four gold medallists including Ulrike Meyfarth in the high jump ©Getty Images
Germany finished second on the athletics medals table the last time Los Angeles hosted the Olympics in 1984, with its four gold medallists including Ulrike Meyfarth in the high jump ©Getty Images

Germany was not the only European country that underperformed in Budapest with next year's Olympic hosts France winning only a solitary medal in the men's 4x400 metres relay. 

Germany's worst performance in athletics at the Olympics came at Beijing 2008 when their single medal was a silver in the women’s javelin for Christina Obergföll.

The last time the United States held the Summer Olympics at Atlanta in 1996, Germany finished third in the final table behind the hosts and Russia with a total of seven medals, including gold for Lars Riedel in the men’s discus and Astrid Kumbernuss and Ilke Wyludda in the women’s shot put and discus, respectively.

When Los Angeles hosted the Olympics last, in 1984, West Germany finished second on the final medals table behind the US.

They won a total of 11 medals.

This included four golds from Dietmar Mögenburg in the men’s high jump and Rolf Danneberg in the men’s discus, with Ulrike Meyfarth in the women’s high jump and Claudia Losch in the women’s shot put completing the total.

A unified German team has taken part in the Olympics since Barcelona 1992 following the collapse of the Berlin Wall.