It was another successful night on the comeback trail for Germany’s Christina Schwanitz as she seeks a hat-trick of European shot put titles in Berlin later this summer.
Once more she went beyond 19 metres at the 12th Meeting Iberoamericano de Atletismo, a European Athletics Outdoor Classic Meeting, on Friday (8) to confirm how strong a force she remains after a break from the sport when she gave birth to twins. She is unbeaten in six competitions in 2018 and has surpassed 19 metres in each competition as well.
It was a slow build-up to her best this time, although she was never behind in the competition.
After an opening round foul, she reached 18.81m in the second round before another foul. Then 18.60m followed two superb throws of 19.21m and 19.05m - all of her legal efforts easily enough for victory ahead of Sweden’s Fanny Roos (17.95m) and Germany’s Sara Schmidt (17.00m).
Ordonez clocks 1:44.44 over 800m in Huelva
Spain’s Saul Ordonez blew the European 800m scene wide open with the best run of his life for victory on home soil.
Three months after winning bronze at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Ordonez triumphed on home soil in Huelva, setting a meeting record of 1:44.44 to move to the top of the 2018 European lists.
He also improved his personal best of 1:45.28 by nearly one second to put himself bang in contention for a medal at the European Championships in Berlin in two months time.
Breaking the 1:45-barrier on home soil will send his confidence rising after victory in a race which was also memorable for teammate Alvaro de Arriba. Fourth at the World Indoor Championships, he was second in a PB of 1:44.99 – moving to second on the European lists – with Ethiopian teenager Tolesa Bodena third in 1:45.56.
France’s Pierre-Ambroise Bosse, running internationally for the first time since winning gold at the IAAF World Championships in London last summer, was disqualified although he was never in contention for the victory last night.
Fast times over one lap for Grenot and Bua
Another woman heading to Berlin with the aim of winning a hat-trick of titles is Italy’s Libania Grenot. In Huelva, she lowered her season’s best to 51.81 as she won in good fashion from Portugal’s Catia Azevedo in 52.31.
The men’s 400m was a little closer as Spain’s Lucas Bua won in a lifetime best of 45.25 from Slovenia’s Luka Janezic in 45.38.
The home crowd was also treated to a national record in the 3000m walk as Maria Perez won in 12:00.87, surpassing the time of 12:11.27 which Julia Takacs had set at this meeting four years ago.
She won by over 23 seconds from teammate Laura Garcia-Cara Lorenzo, second in a lifetime best of 12:23.93.