Anita Wlodarczyk’s four year-long unbeaten streak came to an abrupt and unexpected end earlier this season but the world record-holder is returning to seemingly unbeatable form with the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships only a fortnight away.
Wlodarczyk won the Athletics World Cup in London last weekend with 78.74m and she added another metre to her world lead at the Polish Championships in Lublin on Sunday, winning with 79.59m. This performance might not represent her very best form but even so, nobody else in the event history has surpassed that mark.
Wlodarczyk will be aiming for her fourth successive European title in Berlin next month and the world record-holder is rounding into the form which could see her challenge her championship record of 78.76m from Zurich four years ago.
In the men’s hammer, Wojciech Nowicki notched up another victory over teammate Pawel Fajdek. Nowicki threw 80.26m in the fifth round although Fajdek - whose only valid throw from his first five attempts was a modest 72.68m - almost toppled Nowicki with his final throw of 80.14m.
Nowicki has won four successive bronze medals in major competitions since the 2016 European Championships - three of them behind Fajdek - but Nowicki is the event’s in-form competitor ahead of the European Championships.
There was also a notable performance in the women’s 200m as 19-year-old Martyna Kotwila won the title in 22.99, breaking Irena Szewinska’s national U20 record of 23.13 which had stood since the 1964 Olympics.
European indoor and outdoor 800m champion Adam Kszczot stepped up to win the 1500m in 3:46.24 while European indoor 1500m champion Marcin Lewandowski dropped back down to the 800m, winning in 1:50.27.
Hortelano breaks Spanish 200m record
World champion Ramil Guliyev leads the 2018 European lists with 19.90 - one of three sub-20 second clockings this summer - but reigning European champion Bruno Hortelano will arrive in Berlin also aspirations of breaking the 20-second barrier.
Hortelano, who missed the entirety of the 2017 season due to injuries sustained in a car crash just after the 2016 Olympics, had already smashed the long-standing national 400m record with 44.69 and the 26-year-old was in record-breaking form at the Spanish Championships in Getafe.
Hortelano sped to a 20.04 clocking in the semifinals to improve his national record by 0.08. While he wasn’t quite as fast in the final, his winning time of 20.15 was still the third fastest of his career.
Hortelano could also compete in the 4x400m at the European Championships in Berlin. With Hortelano focusing on the 200m in Getafe, Oscar Husillos won the 400m title in 45.22 ahead of Lucas Bua (45.45) and Samuel Garcia (45.48).
At the Belarusian Championships in Minsk, reigning European champion Tatsiana Khaladovich won the javelin title with 64.77m and 21-year-old Krystsina Tsimanouskaya made a breakthrough in the 100m, improving from 11.28 to 11.26 in the semifinals before setting a national U23 record of 11.09 in the final. She also won the 200m title in 23.54 against a 1.4 m/s headwind.
Maryna Bekh produced a marginally wind-aided 6.86m to win the long jump title at the Ukrainian Championships in Lutsk while European indoor bronze medallist Serhiy Nykyforov improved to a wind-legal 8.23m to win the men’s long jump. Multiple world and European triple jump champion Olha Saladukha collected another domestic title with 14.19m.