by Larry Eder
Photo of Kristian Pars by PhotoRun.net
This journey started on Wednesday, when I decided to come to Hengelo to see the 2012 FBK Hengelo Meeting. The clashes were intriguing, however, I felt it was important to visit a meet that had lotsnof small sponsors this year, but no large ones.
Watched Ostrava on Eurosport from my room, and it was a spectacular broadcast. No reason why it could not be on ESPN. Offer is there: I am happy to sell ads for broadcast of euro meets.
PARS WL AND MR, HEIDLER MR
OSTRAVA (CZE, May 24): It was a short day at the office for Krisztian Pars, but the Hungarian managed to increase his own world best performance on both of his first two trips into the ring. The Szombathely-based thrower posted a 81.37 on his first attempt and improved to 82.28 in the second round. Then, he became a spectator. “I did not finish the competition because I felt a little pain in my back and did not want risk a serious injury,” he reported afterwards. “I was hoping that 82.28 would hold up the rest of the way. I don’t think my shape is yet optimal, and I’d like to add one more metre to today’s performance before the season is finished.” His PB of 82.45 is not far away from his winning mark today. Pars also broke his own three-year-old Golden Spike meeting record of 80.71 with both of his attempts. Although almost two metres behind Pars, the second-place finish by the still 22-year-old Pawel Fajdek was an auspicious one. The spectacled thrower from Poland, after a somewhat weak opening 77.46, launched the ball 80.06 on his second attempt to become a new member of the 80-Meter Club. He further cemented his claim to membership with 80.36 improvement in round three. Russia’s Aleksey Zagorniy finished third in a season-best 78.40 while Germany’s Markus Esser put together several good throws in the second half of the competition to move into fourth with 77.27. It took a fifth-round nudge from another competitor, but in the end Betty Heidler showed that she is never out of any competition. The first four rounds were somewhat lacking in drama as Heidler was in command at 76.07. But in the penultimate stanza, China’s Zhang Wenxiu threw 76.99 to take the lead. It was a PB by 1.27m for the Beijing bronze winner as well as being an Asian record. Heidler was next in the ring, and the former world champion sailed the ball out to 78.07 for a season best (and fourth best mark ever) and a lead which held up through the final round. It was just short of this season’s leading throw of 78.19 by Aksana Miankova of Belarus, and it surpassed her own Golden Spike meeting record of 77.22. Former world champion Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland took third with 74.81, very close to her season best of 74.88, while two-time world champion Yipsi Moreno of Cuba claimed fourth at 73.28.
TOP FIELD FOR GOTZIS
GOTZIS (AUT): The world’s best combined events athletes are ready for the Hypo meeting in Götzis on May 26th and 27th. In the men’s decathlon world decathlon record holder Roman Sebrle is set to compete for another season and is joined by up and coming Czech decathlete Adam Sebastian Helcelet. World bronze medalist Leonel Suarez brings fellow Cubans Yordanis Garcia and Yunior Diaz. Germany is well presented as well with Pascal Behrenbruch, Jan Felix Knobel, Rico Freimuth, Michael Schrader and Norman Muller on the startlist. Dutch Eelco Sintnicolaas and Belarussian Andrei Krauchanka are among others who could score very well this weekend. The women’s heptathlon is promising to become a preview for the London Olympic Games with the presence of British golden girl Jessica Ennis, Russian world champion Tatiana Chernova and new world indoor record holder Natalya Dobrynska. Also competing is Lithuania’s Austra Skujyte, Dutch super talent Dafne Schippers and Germany’s strongest heptathletes Lili Schwarzkopf and Jennifer Oeser.
DREAM MILE
OSLO (NOR): Once again a strong focus at the ExxonMobil Bislett Games on 7 June will be the traditional “Dream Mile” when the Samsung Diamond League series lands in Oslo for its fifth stop of 2012. Again a top quality field has been assembled, headed by last year’s winner, the reigning Olympic & World champion Asbel Kiprop of Kenya. The field will also include World Indoor champion Abdelaati Iguider of Morocco, former World 1500m champion Youssef Saad Kamel of Bahrain and the current European 800m Champion Marcin Lewdowski of Poland. The depth of the competition is as one expects in the Dream Mile with Hailu Mekonnen (Ethiopia), Daniel Kipchirchir Komen and Andy Baddeley of Great Britain all having personal bests under 3:50 for the four laps, whilst Kiprop and the Morrocans Amine Laalou and Iguider have all broken 3:30 for the 1500m. Meanwhile organisers are bracing themselves for the second head-to-head face off of 2012 between Jamaicans Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, the current and former World 100m record holders, which was previously announced. The two will also square off at Rome’s Compeed Golden Gala on Thursday, 31 May.
OTHER NEWS
BRUSSELS (BEL) : Belgian decathlete Thomas Van der Plaetsen has withdrawn from the IAAF Combined events challenge meeting in Götzis. The European U23 champion has a niggling hamstring injury and is not fit enough to perform a full decathlon. Van der Plaetsen is now aiming for a good performance at the European Championships in Helsinki.
LONDON (GBR): Phillips Idowu will clash with Christian Taylor, the American who took away his IAAF World Championships triple jump title last summer in Daegu, at the Aviva London Grand Prix on 14 July writes David Martin. “The Aviva London Grand Prix is only three weeks before we jump at the Olympics, so it’s perfect for me to keep sharp and get the support of the home crowd which will give me a taste of things to come in the Olympic stadium.” Idowu was quoted.
AMSTERDAM (NED): Dutch heptathlete Yvonne Van Langen-Wisse is not ready to compete at the Hypo-meeting in Götzis but is hoping to qualify for the European championships in Helsinki when competing at the Fortuna combined events meeting in Kladno. Van Langen-Wisse could not train following injuries in her calf and foot but believes she still has the strength to qualify for Helsinki according to Losseveter.nl.
LONDON (GBR): Christine Ohuruogu is determined not to let anything deflect her focus from the ‘ultimate job’ of delivering another Olympic 400 metres gold in London. The 28-year-old has just returned from a training camp in Los Angeles, where she continued a low-key build up to the Games. ‘The London Games will be special, but I don’t want to be running on emotion,’ said Ohuruogu, ‘I am quite hardened to that now, the excitement has gone and it is just work, nothing else.’ She was quoted by the Daily Mail.
DALLAS (USA): therichest.org reports that American athlete Sanya Richards-Ross has an estimated net worth of $1 million.
LONDON (GBR): Corporations that benefit from clean sport could soon be asked to contribute to the anti-doping effort as funding for the fight against performance-enhancing drugs gets tighter, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said according to Reuters. As a global financial crisis drags on, WADA admits that backing anti-doping efforts could be viewed as a luxury item that governments, which contribute half of the organisation’s $28 million budget, can no longer afford.
RES
ULTS
ULTS
BEOGRAD (SRB, May 20): Dragutin Topic cleared in high jump at Serbian Club Championships world masters record of 228 in the high jump. He cleared the height in second attempt and did not continue.
SOFIA (BUL, May 24): Denis Eradiri leaped here to 795 (+0.6) long jump and Georgi Ivanov got 20.08 shot put. Tezdzhan Naimova clocked windy 11.38 (+2.1) in her 100 m heat (she did not run the final).
OSLO (NOR, May 24): Great high jump improvement at Hyundai Grand Prix meet by Tonje Angelsen with 195 what is national U23 record. Margarethe Renstrom achieved 660 (+0.7) in the long jump. Australian Zoe Buckman posted world leading 1000 m 2:37.84. Also to note 7:52.72 at 3000 m by Briton Nick McCormack and another British win by Richard Alleyne with 13.70 (0.0) at the 110 m hurdles. Nick Eckelund-Arenander of Denmark won the 400 m in personal best 46.24.
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