On Saturday, 11.11.2023, the German University Championships in cross-country running were held as part of the Sparkassen Cross Pforzheim. In a strong field of participants, 2 female athletes and 7 male athletes from KIT took part in the race. The women had to complete 5 laps of 1.1 km each, while the men had to run 7 laps. The 1100m long circuit on the meadows of the Lohwiesenhof was very varied with two hills, a sand bunker, several obstacles made of straw bales, tree trunks and a hedge to jump over, as well as a chicane with 180° turns. As it had rained beforehand, the ground was quite soft but grippy and the sun even came out just in time for the start. Only the wind alternated between a tailwind and a headwind.

Due to the large number of participants, the women's and men's races were separated. Antje Alt and Caroline Grauer started on time at 13:50 for the KIT on the 5.5 km course in the women's race. They finished 12th and 13th in a very strong field. A little later, at 2:25 p.m., the starting signal was given for the men's 7.7km race. Jannik Weiß was the first KIT runner to cross the finish line and achieved 8th place at the DHM. He thus led the first KIT team, which was completed by Benedict Noon (23rd place) and Philipp Kern (26th place) after strong races. The great performance was honored with the silver medal of the DHM team ranking. András Barnabás Molnár (27th place) finished just behind, leading the second KIT team to 6th place in the DHM. The team performance was completed by Tim Althuon (31st place) and Yannik Weber (32nd place), who crossed the finish line close behind each other and both ran together with Hannes Wallmann (35th place) for a long time.

With this great team result and new experiences in what was partly their first cross-country race, the KIT runners were able to return to Karlsruhe with a satisfied feeling.