Anita Marton has revealed her New Year wishes to the Hungarian media and it will come as no surprise to those who have followed her career that she’s looking for three things in 2018: getting among the medals at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018 in March and then the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships in August as well as sending her shot over 20 metres for the first time.
Marton, now 28, has an enviable record in big championships and always seems to produce her best, or near to it, when it counts.
Her personal best of 19.87m and her indoor best of 19.33m, both Hungarian records, came when finishing third at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and second at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Portland 2016.
Last summer, Marton took the silver medal at the IAAF World Championships London 2017 and she is also the two-time defending European indoor champion in her specialist event.
“I really hope that I will get 20 metres this year, I want to improve my personal best” she told Hungarian media. “In the coming year, I will have two main competitions, the world indoor championship and the European Championships. At both championships, the podium is the goal and the brighter the medal, the better.”
Marton is back in serious training again after a week’s break over the holiday season following on from her return to the gym and weights room at the start of November.
In Berlin, Marton is likely to face her nemesis at recent European Athletics Championships and Germany’s local favourite Christina Schwanitz.
Schwanitz is planning to return to heavy training this month, after six weeks of light training and conditioning before the holiday season, after giving birth to twins this summer.
The 2015 world champion will probably miss the indoor season but, having won the women’s shot put title at both the 2014 and 2016 European Championships when Marton took the bronze and silver medals respectively, Schwanitz intends to come out with all guns blazing when the outdoor season gets under way en-route to defending her continental crown.
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More information on the 2018 European Championships:
- The Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships will be part of the first multi-sport European Championships along with co-hosts Glasgow.
- It will be a must-watch, must-attend experience that elevates the status of European Champions, uniting existing European Championships to celebrate the highest honour in European sport and celebrating the defining moments that create Champions.
- It is the continent’s ultimate multi-sport event, an 11-day celebration of European sport staged every four years.
- Seven of Europe’s leading sports (athletics, aquatics, rowing, golf, cycling, gymnastics, triathlon) will be brought together for the first edition.
- The European Athletics Championships in Berlin will be staged 7-12 August. The six other sports will be staged in Glasgow through 2-12 August.
- 4500 athletes and 52 nations will compete across the seven sports.
- Potential TV audience of over one billion with millions more across multiple digital platforms.
- Over half a million spectators expected.