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| Latvia's Maris Urtans sent the Shot out to 21.63m, the second best throw by a European this year, at last weekend's European Team Championships Second League meeting in Belgrade. |
It takes a lot to upstage the Croatia’s High Jump superstar Blanka Vlašić but Latvia’s M„ris Urt„ns did it when he sent the Shot out to 21.63 at last weekend’s European Team Championships Second League meeting in Belgrade.
It was without doubt the performance of the weekend in the Serbian capital although sadly for Urt„ns, it was not enough to get Latvia promoted. Indeed, it was Vlašić and her compatriots who went up to the First League next season along with Switzerland.
However, Urt„ns’ effort was the second best in his event by a European this year, and he is currently ahead in the rankings of the likes of Poland’s 2008 Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski and Germany’s current European champion Ralf Bartels, although Belarus’ former world champion Andrei Mikhnevich still leads the way with 21.81m.
“Everything just came together, technically it was very good, so the Shot just went so far way. Fortunately, while the rain came down like bullets later in the afternoon, we were throwing before the weather changed for the worse,” said Urt„ns modestly after his second personal best throw of the year.
Urt„ns is no giant compared to the likes of Majewski and Mikhnevich, giving away more than 15 centimetres in height to both men although he can look Bartels in the eye, and so is dependent on his technique doing the work for him rather than brute force.
He started 2010 with a best of 20.64m but has improved in two big jumps in the last two weeks, firstly to 20.75m at the European Athletics Outdoor Premium Meeting in Prague on June 14 and then he improved by nearly a metre more last Saturday.
It also propelled Urt„ns into consideration as a medal contender at the European Athletics Championships next month, perhaps as his country’s best bet for getting on the podium, even more so than Stanislav Olijars, Latvia’s only medallist four years ago, who won the 110m hurdles gold medal in 2006.
Urt„ns can currently boast of a six-competition winning streak but he is still just short of the national record of 21.74m by Janis Bojars, which has been on the record books since 1984 when Latvia was part of the former Soviet Union.
“I’m not thinking about Bojars’ record right now, it’s now my main aim although I’d be very happy if one day I can do better. I’m just thinking about getting into the final in Barcelona and then we will se what happens after that.”
“Getting big throws depends on so many things, the weather especially, physical form and many other nuances, so I don’t know whether there will ever be a situation where I can even beat this mark but I’m going to keep on pushing,” he added.
Urt„ns is realistic to acknowledge that his record in global and continental competitions has not been a good one until now.
He crashed out in the qualifying competition at the 2006 European Athletics Championships and it was a similar story at the last two World Championships.
In fact, although he won a silver medal at the 2007 World University Games, the only time he has made the final in such a high level contest was as an 18-year-old at the 1999 European Athletics Junior Championships when he was throwing the Discus!