Dutchman Solomon Bockarie, who missed out on a medal at the European Athletics Championships by the narrowest of margins, had a night to remember in Velenje on Wednesday.
Bockarie was the dominant force in the men's 200m at this European Athletics Classic Meeting as he lowered his personal best by 0.02 to win in 20.37 ahead of Germany’s Patrick Domogala (20.91) and Austria’s Christoph Haslauer (22.21).
In July in Amsterdam, in front of his home fans, Bockarie finished fourth in the 200m final in 20.56, the same time as Great Britain’s bronze medallist Danny Talbot, having broken his personal best in the semis (20.39). He then ran the first leg in the 4x100m final where the Dutch were also fourth.
But the 29-year-old has kept his season going in fine fashion, reaching this 200m peak on an evening where he was also second in the 100m (10.29) won by Jamaica’s Julian Forte (10.15).
[FACEBOOK ID='https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanAthletics/videos/10154194623166181/']
Slovenia’s Martina Ratej was in front from her first throw in the javelin as she gave the crowd a home success.
Ratej, who was sixth at the European Athletics Championships, eventually won with 61.03m, from the fifth round, but her opening effort of 56.77m would have been enough as she beat Nikola Ogrodnikova, of the Czech Republic (56.26m), and Belarusian Tatsiana Korzh (53.81m).
And it was a one-two for the hosts in the discus as Veronika Domjan triumphed with 56.35m from the first round to defeat Ziva Gornik (45.66m).
Amel Tuka, the world bronze medallist from Bosnia & Herzegovina, was in control in the 800m which he won in 1:46.79 from Italy’s Giordano Benedetti (1:47.23) and Czech Jan Kubista (1:47.52), while a height of 5.60m brought victory for Croatian Ivan Horvat in the pole vault as Slovenia’s Robert Renner (5.50m) injured himself as he looked to match that winning mark.
[PHOTO src='1279751' size='mediumLandscape' align='right']
Croatia had more success in the 100m hurdles as Andrea Ivancevic (13.02) beat teammate Ivana Loncarek (13.63).
Jodie Williams was quickest in the women's 200m, winning in 23.18 from Slovenia’s Maja Mihalinec (23.24) and fellow Briton Margaret Adeoye (23.71), and Germany’s Melanie Bauschke saved her best for the last two rounds as she won the long jump with 6.21m from Anna Lunyova, of the Ukraine (6.18m).
Bauschke first took the lead from Lunyova with 6.20m and then extended it by a centimetre with her final effort.