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Murofushi win with last attempt, Koech runs world lead |
PRAGUE, June 5 – Olympic champion´s last hammer effort, Paul Koech´s steeple world lead and solid depth in men´s pole vault were the highlights of the 13th Josef Odlozil Memorial in Prague this year held as EAA Premium Meeting. Crowd of about 5000 spectators in again cold evening cheered for local athletes and this time the only czech win of the evening happened in men´s high jump. Season leader Svatoslav Ton jumped 227 on second and that was enough to make it for top position. His country and club mate Tomas Janku did it on third and both of them were not succesfull at 230 cm. Other high calibre 230 plus jumpers like Bieniek and Walerianczyk from Poland, Voronin from Russia or Sokolovskiy from Ukraine were far from their capabilities. On the women´s side olympic champion and world indoor champion Yelena Slesarenko headed the competition clearly – after mastering as only one 193 she passed 196 and tried for 198. „It was not only for spectators, I felt I could do it. But at the end I was too tired. I have Eugene and Oslo in my legs and my next international competition will be in July in Paris,“ she explained afterwards. Men´s hammer was also this year the speciality of the event, this time held in the main stadium. Helsinki silver medallist Vadim Deviatovskiy from Belarus started with very solid effort of 79.56 m. It looked like this will be the winning throw until in last round as in Ostrava. Then olympic champion Koji Murofushi exploded to 79.57 m and was the winner with closest possible margin. Deviatovskiy responded with a foul. „I had bad luck in last competitions, hopefully in Goteborg it will be different,“ said the Belorussian. Murofushi was of course satisfied: „It is getting better and better, I still need more time to come back. Now I will return to Japan and wait for my national championships early July and afterwards I will return to Europe for some meetings,“ said the Japanese. Last event of the cool evening became the highest quality as the kenyan olympic medallist Paul Kipsiele Koech in solo effort achieved a new world best and meeting record of 8:17.76. „It was very cold for me, but I feel I am in good shape so could manage this time even alone after early parts of the race. I was thinking I could run between 8:10-8.15 but totally alone and in cold evening it was not possible. My next steeple will be in Rome,“ said the Kenyan. Men´s pole vault produced nice depth with three over 570 and another three jumpers over 560. Japanese record holder Daichi Sawano scored second win of the evening for his country after having clean sheet at all heights but the last 577 which he did not managed. Men´s 100 m sprint was a close call between American Kaaron Conwright, Anson Henry from Canada and Matic Osovnikar from Slovenia. They were separated only by 0.03 s and the win went to Conwright from the famous HSI group. The Memorial 1500 m race was not as quick as expected and the win went to Abdelaati Iguider from Marocco with only 3:43.91. Latvia´s Stanislav Olijar managed to win the high hurdles with very solid 13.35 and Gable Garenamotse from Botswana was the only long jumper of the evening who was able to produce more than one 8 metres jump. He actually did three with twice 814 and once 803 and was well deserved winner. Men´s shot was a little bit away from expectations as world leader Christian Cantwell from USA was a late withdrawal. His teammate Dan Taylor won clearly with 20.98 from the fifth round. On the women´s side Poland´s Aurelia Trywianska devastated a strong hurdles field with two former world champions (2001-Kirkland, 2003-Felicien) with only sub 13 clocking of 12.88. UK´s Natasha Danvers-Smith scored a very solid win over US Helsinki bronze medallist Sandra Glover with 55.79. The 800 m race brought a very close finish as only four thousands of seconds separated Mina Ait Hammou from Morocco and Lucia Klocova from Slovakia both credited with 2:02.44. Women´s steeple was a clear affair for Australian Victoria Mitchell who scored with 9:40.27 her first important win at European circuit.
Results link at www.memorial-odlozil.cz
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Alfons Juck
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