With gold at the last two year European championships – outdoors in Berlin in 2018 and indoors in Glasgow last March – Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou has established himself as Europe’s finest and as one of the best long jumpers in the world at the age of 21.
In his last competition of the indoor season, Tentoglou moved to the top of the 2020 European list with a European-leading mark of 8.26m at the Greek Indoor Championships in the suburb of Athens in Piraeus.
It came in a series where his other legal jumps were: 7.96m, 7.94m, 8.11m and 8.16m. The signs are good for another big year ahead culminating with the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the Paris 2020 European Athletics Championships where he will be looking for a repeat win.
Anastasia Dragomirova’s progress saw her break the Greek U20 pentathlon record as she won the senior pentathlon title with 4081 points. A bronze medallist at the 2019 European Youth Olympics Festival, it is another big step up for Dragomirova.
Erta eclipses European indoor U20 400m record in Ourense
Fourth place is not always a position for catching the eye but that was far from the case in the 400m at the Spanish championships in Ourense on Sunday (1).
As Bernat Erta crossed the line in 46.73, he increased his reputation by breaking the European U20 record that had stood since 2006. Erta, 19, who won individual silver and relay bronze at the European U20 Championships in Boras last summer, ran a superb 46.73 to replace the mark of 46.87 set by Belgium’s Kevin Borlee in Gent 14 years ago.
The 400m was one of the highest quality races at the Spanish championships, as Lucas Bua triumphed in 46.40 from Samuel Garcia, second in 46.50, and Manuel Guijarro, third in 46.66 with Erta fourth. If Oscar Husillos hadn’t been missing the championships through injury, it is possible that five runners would have broken the 47 second-barrier.
Five years ago this week, Pablo Torrijos won silver at the European Indoor Championships in Prague and with his performance came the Spanish triple jump record of 17.04m. On Sunday, Torrijos took that mark to a European lead of 17.18m. He holds the outdoor record of 16.96m from 2017.
Un salto para la historia
— atletismoRFEA (@atletismoRFEA) March 1, 2020
17.18 de @ptorrijos916 en Expourense#CEAtletismoPC #Ourense2020 pic.twitter.com/2VXHrDtvBN
Teammate Orlando Ortega had two fine days. On Saturday, the Olympic 110m hurdles silver medallist won the 60m hurdles title in 7.56 after running 7.54 in the semifinals and then set the tone for Sunday with the quickest time of the 60m heats with a personal best of 6.66 to reach the final. When it came to it, he lowered his lifetime best once again, taking his second title of the weekend in 6.65 from Sergio Lopez in 6.68.
Reigning European indoor champions Jorge Urena and Ana Peleteiro also produced notable performances in Ourense. Urena set a European leading mark of 6143 points in the heptathlon and Peleteiro won the triple jump with 13.90m, her first competition of the season.
Swiety-Ersetic wins three titles at the Polish Indoor Championships in Torun
Ahead of next year’s European Athletics Indoor Championships, Torun was the venue of the Polish Indoor Championships this weekend.
One of the prospective stars at next year’s championships, double European champion Justyna Swiety-Ersetic came away with three titles in just over two hours. After winning the 200m in a dead heat with Marlena Gola in 23.64 at 6.20pm, Swiety-Ersetic won the 400m title only twenty minutes later in 53.09 before helping Katowice to the 4x200m title at the end of the programme.
Reigning European indoor and outdoor champion Michal Haratyk defeated European leader Konrad Bukowiecki in the shot put - 21.24m to 21.16m - while in the pole vault, fellow European indoor champion Pawel Wojciechowski cleared 5.70m to beat Robert Sobera, second with 5.60m.
At the Portuguese Indoor Championships in Pombal, world 50km race walk silver medallist Joao Vieira, 44, celebrated his 20th title as he won the men’s 5000m walk in 19:38.98 with Ana Cabecinha taking the 3000m walk in 12:34.10.
The Irish Indoor Championships in Abbotstown was highlighted by the women’s 60m in which Ciara Neville won the title in 7.30 from sisters Joan Healy (7.33) and Phil Healy (7.36) on Sunday. Phil won the 200m title the previous day in 23.16, just 0.06 shy of her national record.
Andrei Toader won the Romanian shot put crown with 20.79m in Bucharest and at the Latvian championships in Kuldiga, European U23 champion Sindija Buksa had a great double, running 7.48 to win the 60m on Saturday and 23.90 to triumph in the 200m on Sunday.