Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk is the hammer world record-holder with her 79.58m from Berlin last August and on Saturday in Wroclaw, she produced 79.83m with an effort over the Odra River.
The fact the event was not held in a stadium means she will now wait for clarification over whether it can count as a new world record mark, but either way it shows the form she is in heading towards the IAAF World Championships in Beijing where she will look to regain a title she won back in 2009 having taken silver in Moscow 2013.
NEW HAMMER WORLD RECORD BY ANITA WLODARCZYK 79.83m (261′ 11″)
@primozkozmus @NicoleLomi @KibweJohnson @MLomnicky https://t.co/5iiK5P3kYP
— Throwholics (@Throwholics) June 27, 2015
Wlodarczyk beat Polish teammate Joanna Fiodorow with 70.10m and Martina Hrasnova, of Slovakia, with 69.97m.
In Schonebeck, Germany’s shot put star David Storl increased his position at the top of the European Athletics rankings by taking his season’s best from 21.92m to 21.94m at the 10th Sole Cup.
It proved a good event for Storl’s teammates as in the women’s shot put, Christina Schwanitz triumphed with 20.36m over China’s Gong Lijiao with 20.24m, while Martin Wierig won the men’s discus with a season’s best of 65.94m as he beat Markus Munch with 64.30m.
Eykens soaring towards Eskilstuna
It is less than three weeks until the European Athletics Junior Championships in Eskilstuna and Belgium’s Renée Eykens has put herself bang in the frame to bid for a gold medal.
In what was quite a weekend for a number of competitors who will head to Sweden chasing glory, the Mannheim Junior Gala on Sunday proved a record-breaking day for 800m runner Eykens.
Not only did Eykens, 19, produce a Belgian junior national mark of 2:02.55, she did so by beating Icelandic star Anita Hinriksdottir who was second in 2:02.57.
Onstuitbare Renée Eykens stelt BR scherper http://t.co/r4KufgFjVg pic.twitter.com/H2lqZTk4Zk
— Atletieknieuws (@Atletieknieuws) June 28, 2015
Hinriksdottir, also 19 and just under five months older than Eykens, is the defending European junior champion having won in Rieti in 2:01.14, and she is top of the European Athletics Junior rankings with 2:01.50.
But the Belgian had too much for her and it sets up what could be one of the best races of the championships.
Great Britain’s Elliot Powell put himself in gold medal shape with an equally superb performance at the same meeting.
Named in the first wave of British athletes announced last week for Eskilstuna, Powell, 19, celebrated his selection by running a European junior leading time of 20.68m to win the 200m as Even Meinseth showed his form with a Norwegian junior record of 21.07.
In the women’s 200m, Germany’s 18-year-old Gina Luckenkemper improved her personal best to a superb 23.04 – and with it beat the European leader, Shannon Hylton, also 18, who was second in 23.16. The Briton tops the rankings with 22.94.
Both 400m hurdles provided potential Eskilstuna champions.
In the men’s race, France’s Victor Coroller, who tops the rankings with his national junior record of 50.13 from earlier this month, ran another cracking time of 50.45 and in the women’s race, Germany’s Laura Nurnberger, who is 19 this Sunday, moved to second on the rankings as she won in a personal best of 58.47.
Spotakova takes 10th title
Plzen was the venue for the Czech Republic National Championships and javelin world-record holder Barbora Spotakova made her mark again by winning the title for the 10th time with a throw of 61.00m.
Denisa Rosolova ran 55.26 to win the 400m hurdles while it was a mixed meeting for the world champion in that event, Zuzana Hejnova. She opted for the 200m where her heat time was 23.73 but then she false-started in the final where the race was won by 16-year-old Nikola Bendova in 23.76.
Pavel Maslak, the double European indoor 400m champion, also looked for a great speed test over the 200m which he won in 20.58.
Petersen at her best
At the Janusz SidÅ‚o Memorial Sopot Grand Prix on Saturday, there was a superb run by Denmark’s Sara Petersen as she broke the national record to win the 400m hurdles in 54.79 and move to third on the European Athletics rankings.
Poland’s 2011 World champion Pawel Wojciechowski won the pole vault with 5.70m while Russia’s Mariya Kuchina was the only woman to clear 1.94m in the high jump as she beat Poland’s Kamila Licwinko and Croatian Ana Simic, both on 1.91m.
There are 51 meetings in Europe this week - led by the European Cup Combined Events and European Mountain Running Championships. For full details, go to www.european-athletics.org/calendar