Just over a week before the start of the European Athletics Championships in Zurich, Rasmus Mägi has put down an impressive marker.
Mägi, the 400m hurdler from Estonia, moved to the top of the European Athletics rankings with a national record of 48.77 at the national championships in Tallinn on Sunday.A year ago he was third at the European Athletics Under-23 Championships in Tampere and now ahead of the major event of this summer, he has shown the sort of speed which makes him a medal hope.
Magi, 22, was fifth at the last European Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 2012 and now leads the rankings by 0.03 from Great Britain’s Neil Flannery.His fellow Estonian Gerd Kanter, the 2008 Olympic discus champion, has won silver twice at the European Athletics Championships, and cannot be ruled out of playing a big part again.
On the first day of the championships in Tallinn on Saturday, Kanter won with a season’s best of 66.02m, while on Sunday, Marek Niit won the 200m in 20.85.Petr Svoboda, the 2011 European 60m hurdles champion, is very much on his way back after his long injury.
Svoboda, of the Czech Republic, who has returned to the sport this summer after a three year absence, ran 13.50 to win the national 110m hurdles title in Ostrava on Saturday. With another week of work to come before Zurich, his progress is looking good.In the 400m hurdles, Denisa Rosolova’s victory in 54.63 is the second best by a European athlete this year as Jaroslav Baba cleared 2.31m to win the high jump national title.
At the Swedish Championships in Umea, two of the country’s top young stars showed their ability again just days after winning medals at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Eugene. Irene Ekelund, after her silver medal in Oregon, sprinted to victory in the 200m in 23.38 while Andreas Almgren, who took bronze at the championships, won the 800m in 1:50.24.Krisztian Pars, the defending European champion, showed his form ahead of Zurich as he won the hammer on the second day of the Hungarian Championships in Szekesfehervar with 81.38m as the man he succeeded as Olympic champion in London, Slovenian Primoz Kozmus, delivered a best of the season at his national championships in Celje with 77.44m.
It was there that Martina Ratej, who has already thrown a European fifth-best javelin of 66.13m this summer, showed she remains in good shape with 64.15m. That came on Sunday, and 24 hours earlier Matija Kranjc won the men’s javelin with 79.46m, missing his national record by 26 centimetres. A javelin throw of 83.70m on the last day of the Finnish Championships in Kuopio from Antti Ruuskanen gave him victory over Lassi Etelatalo, who was second with 80.24m, and Ari Mannio, third with 80.00m.
One of the stars of the championships was Minna Nikkanen as she broke the national pole vault record with a clearance of 4.51m.
In Odense, Nick Ekelund-Arenander achieved a double at the Danish Championships, winning the 400m in 46.36 on the first day and taking the 200m in 21.07 on the second.
At the Serbian Team Championships in Kragujevac, Emir Bekric, the European under-23 champion, won the 400m in 46.83 while Daniil Tsyplakov, who will take his place alongside Ivan Ukhov and Aleksey Dmitrik in the Russian high jump team in Zurich, cleared an outdoor personal best of 2.33m to win the under-23 event at the Summer Spartakiad in Saransk.
THE WEEK AHEAD
There are 30 meetings this week. Visit our European Athletics Calendar for all the details.