Discus star Müller in magnificent form at European Cup Winter Throwing

Nadine Muller was in fantastic form at the Bar 2012 European Cup Winter Throwing.

German discus thrower Nadine Müller provided the highlight of the second day of the 12th European Cup Winter Throwing in Bar, Montenegro, on Sunday.

The 2011 World Championships silver medallist twice improved on her personal best and finished with an outstanding effort of 68.89m, the longest throw in the world for almost eight years.

Click here for video interviews from the second day of the event.

Men's events

Shot put – Portugal's Mario Fortes had a good indoor season and was ranked number four in Europe indoors after his Portuguese record of 20.91m last month but he started his outdoor campaign in outstanding fashion with a new absolute record of 21.02m.

It was also a 2012 world outdoor lead at this early stage in the year.

He had two other throws that would have won the competition as Serbia's Asmir Kolašinac, who set a national indoor record of 20.64m last month, finished second with 20.50m.

Spain's Borja Vivas set a personal best of 20.06m for third place.

Javelin – In one of the few low-key contests of the weekend, Turkey's 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships silver medallist Fatih Avan was the only man to go over 80 metres, sending his spear out to 80.34m in the fifth round and then 81.09m with the last throw of the competition.

Russia's Dimity Tarabin, who still only 20, can boast of a best of 85.10m but could do no better than 79.94m for second place on this occasion.

U23 shot put – Croatia's 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships bronze medallist Martin Premeru was the only man over 19 metres, opening with 19.04m then reaching 19.49m before having four fouls while trying to chase his recent personal best of 19.90m.

Ukraine's Dmytro Savytskyy, who finished one place in front of Premeru in Ostrava last summer, had the tables turned on him this time and was second with 18.76m.

Down in 11^th place, Montenegro's U23 discus winner Danijel Furtula capped an excellent weekend for the host nation in front of his friends and family with a national record of 17.10m, following on from another record in the discus on Saturday.

U23 javelin – Ukraine's Oleksandr Nychyporchuk, who only turns 20 next month, impressed with a personal best of 76.23m, almost a metre further than he had thrown before.

Slovenia's Jaka Muhar, who turned 19 on Thursday, also went into new territory with a big personal best of 75.94m, more than four metres further than he had ever thrown before and the best in the world by a junior so far this year.

Muhar is also a very talented decathlete and has a best of 7194 points with the junior implements.

In a close contest and entertaining with less than a metre covering the top four, Russia's Valery Iordan was third with 75.58 while Portugal's Thiago Aperta set an absolute national record of 75.55m.

Women's events

Discus – Germany's 2011 World Championships silver medallist Nadine Müller, and the top European thrower last year, was in stunning form as she sent all six of her throws out to 65.00m or better, culminating with a magnificent personal best of 68.89m.

Her final throw was the longest in the world for almost eight years.

She opened with 66.34m, set her first personal best with 68.81m in the third round – adding more than a metre to her two-year-old previous best of 67.78m – then had two more throws over 67 metres before going even further to 68.89m with the last throw of the competition.

Her complete series was: 66.34m, 65.00m, 68.81m, 67.70m, 67.07m, 68.89m.

A distant second but still throwing well was Russia's 2006 European champion Darya Pishchalnikova, who reached a season's best of 63.86m.

France's 2001 European Athletics U23 Championships gold medallist Mélina Robert-Michon had her competition since 2009 when she finished third with 63.03m and there were three other women over 60 metres.

Hammer – Moldova's Zalina Marghieva caused a big upset when she beat Russia's reigning world champion and former world record holder Tatyana Lysenko, the former adding more than half-a-metre onto her national record with 73.60m on her last throw.

Lysenko had lead after the first round with 71.84m and then threw 72.87m in the second round and that remained the best throw of the competition until Marghieva's final effort, which moved her up from third to first place.

Neither France's two-time World Championships finalist Stephanié Falzon, who had thrown 72.60m in the fourth round to lie in second place ahead of the final throws, nor then Lysenko could improve and overtake Marghieva, who had also won at the 2010 European Cup Winter Throwing in the French city of Arles.

A second national record came from Czech Republic's 2009 European Athletics U23 Championships silver medallist Kateřina Šafránková, who started the day with a best of 69.39m but went over 70 metres for the first time in the fourth round with 70.16m and then improved by exactly a metre with 71.16m in the final round for her fifth and sixth Czech records.

U23 discus – Croatia's 2010 European Athletics Championships gold medallist and European Athletics Rising Star Sandra Perkovic, who is still only 21, decided not to compete with the seniors and relaxed alongside her peers.

Not surprisingly, she totally dominated the competition.

Perkovic reached 67.19m in the fifth round and had two other throws over 66 metres.

U23 hammer – Romania's 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships gold medal Bianca Perie didn't dominate the competition quite as much as expected and was almost five metres down on her best but she still had almost a metre to spare over her nearest rival with a winning throw of 68.74m, which came in the third round.

Belarus' Alina Kastrova, sixth behind Perie in Ostrava last summer, was closer to her top form with the second best competition of her career and finished as the runner up with 67.86m.

Ukraine's Anna Skydan was third with 66.35m while Slovenia's Barbara Spiler, now 20, was not in quite the same form that took her to the European junior title in Tallinn last summer, when she threw a senior national record of 67.06m and finished fourth in 65.91m.

Full details of the results from the 2012 European Cup Winter Throwing in Bar, Montenegro, can be found here.



 


 

 

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