I was a little apprehensive before the start of this year's continental indoors which were held in the United Kingdom, just like last year's World's and its slew of disqualifications. I was afraid that having this global competition in the same country could result in the same disqualification frenzy. According to the sportscasters last year's massacre was due to the excessive slope of the Birmingham track which tended to push the athletes outside their lane. Fortunately the track in Glasgow had much gentle slopes and the disqualifications were what one would statistically expect for a major championship.
This year's Championships were particularly successful for Greece: a fifth place in the medal-based classification. All greek medals were obtained in jumps but there were also some non-medal finalists in track as well as throws.
The men's 60 m was won by J. Volko in 6.60 s. What was quite unusual, in particular for this super-short sprint, was that the winner was the slowest among the finalists to start. The women's race was won by E. Swoboda in 7.09 s. Hailed for a few years now as the next talent in sprint, Swoboda has at last confirmed the predictions. And in case you were wondering, she was also the slowest among the finalists to start. D. Schippers obtained the silver medal, while world bronze medalist M. Kambundji could not do better than 5th.
Last year's disqualified world champion O. Husillos was both luckier and unluckier this year. On the positive side, he secured a medal. On the negative side, he obtained only silver. It was impossible to beat K. Warholm, who decided to try his hand far from the hurdles and, with 45.05 s, equalled the european record. This promises great duels this summer over the 400 m hurdles.
The women's race was won by L. Sprunger in 51.61 s, but the one who was really impressive was C. Bolingo-Mbongo who lost the title for 0.01 s. A minor disappointment was the last place of J. Swiety, the 2018 outdoors european champion.
A. de Arriba won a tactical 800m in 1:46.83. I was expecting something better from A. Kramer who was silver medalist at last year's Europeans: he reached the final quite easily only to finish last in it. S. Oskan-Clarke won the women's 800 m with 2:02.58 with R. Lamotte obtaining her third european silver over the distance (the other two outdoors). S. Büchel, one of the pre-race favourites (double european indoor champion), was out in the semis.
J. Ingebrigtsen might have lost the title over 1500 m, beaten by Lewandowski in 3:42.85, but he was really impressive. He qualified for the two finals running two races in the same afternoon and improving the european U23 record over 3000 m with 7:51.20 and winning the 1500 m in 3:42.00.
He then went on to win the final over that distance in a race where he was never menaced. His brother Henrik was third but the other brother, Filip, was less lucky, as he was disqualified in the 1500 m for stepping outside the track.
What J. Ingebrigtsen could not manage, L. Muir did and with flying colours. Her domination over both the 1500 m and the 3000 m was total. She won the first with 4:05.92. S. Ennaoui, who is at last confirming her potential, was second.
In the 3000 m the commentators were expecting a duel between Muir and Klosterhalfen (coached by none other than A. Salazar) but it did not materialise. When Muir decided to accelerate, all Klosterhalfen could do was to secure her second place. Muir's 8:30.61 was a championships record for the 3000 m.
I have already published a post on the 60 m hurdles both men's and women's. Just so that you have a complete set of photos in this article I include the podium of the men's race with Trajkovic flanked by the two french hurdlers (Martinot-Lagarde and Manga).
And also a photo taken shortly after the arrival of the women's race. Notice that Visser is radiant, knowing that she has won, while Roleder is anxiously waiting the results just to make sure of her position.
Tamberi is back. After his 2016 accident (when he was the world leader, less than two months before the Olympics) he is again the top european high jumper. His 2.32 was 6 cm more than K. Baniotis 2.26 (but which sufficed for a silver medal).
M. Lasitskene confirmed her position as the leader of women's high jump, winning easily with 2.01. Y. Levchenko (2017 world vice-champion) was second with 1.99. A minor surprise was the elimination with 1.89 of E. Vallortigara, who had jumped 2.02 last year (but given her inconsistent performing the surprise is only a minor one).
Men's pole vault was a polish business with P. Wojciechowski first with 5.90, and P. Lisek, second with 5.85. E. Karalis just missed a medal with 5.65, when M. Svard-Jakobsson (8th up to that point) passed 5.75 on his third attempt. K. Filippidis disappointed the greek fans by no-heighting at 5.45! The women's pole vault was another unpleasant surprise: for the first time in three years E. Stefanidi came home without a medal. In fact she risked a no-height at her initial 4.65 negotiated only at the third attempt. Fortunately for Greece N. Kyriakopoulou's 4.65 sufficed for a bronze medal. A. Sidorova dominated the event, winning with 4.85, with H. Bradshaw second with 4.75. The funny thing in that Bradshaw had risked elimination at the qualifiers missing two attempts at 4.60 and entering the final as 8th with 4.50. I was really disappointed by the elimination of A. Bengtsson who could not jump beyond 4.40, after having established a personal best of 4.81 in February.
After having won the European outdoors last year M. Tentoglou obtained the indoors title as well. His jump of 8.38 is a world leading one. And of course, while preparing for this article I read about the extraterrestrial wind-aided 8.92 of J.M. Echevarría. This year's World's will be really interesting. (Just when we were thinking that men's long jump was stagnating).
I. Spanovic has furnished another proof that she is a great champion, and to my eyes the best long jumper today. She started the competition with an excellent 6.90 but then N. Mironchyk jumped a somewhat unexpected 6.93 personal best. Mind you, she has an outdoors best of 7.08 and even a wind-aided 7.21 from 2012, but that was the year she failed a drugs test. There is also a very interesting story about Mironchyk's pony tail (and, in fact, a similar thing happened to Spanovic in 2017).
Spanovic was unfazed and on her 5th jump landed at 6.99 clinching the gold medal and equaling the world leading performance (held by M. Mihambo who could not manage anything better than 6.83 and 4th place).
Men's triple jump saw the relative surprise victory of N. Babayev with 17.29 (but he is an over 17 m jumper outdoors already from 2015). Veteran N. Evora (Olympic, World and European champion) was present as always and secured the second place with a 17.11 jump. In women's triple jump P. Papachristou took an early lead with 14.50 but had to settle for silver as A. Peleteiro went on to jump 14.56 and then 14.73.
O. Saladukha, jumped thrice 14.47 for third place. The two portuguese jumpers P. Mamona and S. Costa both jumped 14.43 for 4th and 5th place respectively. An estonian athlete, M. Uudmäe participated in women's triple jump (but did not qualify with 13.40) I wondered if she was the daughter of the 1980 olympic champion Jaak Uudmäe, who won in Moscow with 17.35, but it turned out that this was not the case. Jaak Uudmäe has only a son Jaanus (17.06 in triple).
Of last year's shot put winning polish duo one laughed in Glasgow and one weeped. M. Haratyk won the european title, with 21.65, but K. Bukowiecki (the 2017 champion) was eliminated in the qualifiers with just 20.18. The last remaining high-level glider, D. Storl, was as always present and won silver with 21.54. The women's event was a suspenseful one. C. Schwanitz, considered by many as the undisputed favourite, lead with 19.11 up to the 5th throw when S. Mavrodieva managed a 19.12 for the highest rung of the podium. (It's the second time Schwanitz loses a european title at the last throw). A Marton, one of the best women spinners is back from injury and with 19.00 obtained the bronze medal.
J. Ureña won the men's heptathlon and it was a well deserved victory. But Ureña being who he is (he fouled out in discus in the 2016 Europeans and no-heighted in pole vault in the 2018 ones) he courted disaster once more. He fouled twice in shot put but managed to get a valid throw (and, in fact, a personal best) at the third attempt. Last year's revelation, T. Duckworth, obtained a medal (silver) this time, essentially thanks to a personal best in the 1000 m. I. Shkurenyov confirmed once more the fact that he is a second-day athlete. Finishing 2nd in the hurdles, 1st in the pole vault and 2nd in the 1000 m he secured the bronze medal.
The field of women's pentathlon was particularly dense despite the absence of N. Thiam.
I have the impression that C. Johnson-Thompson who won is better suited for this event rather than the heptathlon. But I must admit that this year she has made a substantial improvement in the shot put. I hadn't seen N. Emerson (silver medalist) before and I must say that at 20 years of age she is quite impressive. The surprise came from hurdler S. Ndama who won the bronze medal, pushing two of the favourites I. Dadic and L. Ikauniece out of the podium. Emerson and Ndama were not the only young talents present in this championships. H. Maudens (a good long jumper) finished at 8th place and M. Vicente (just 18 years old) finished 9th. I am not convinced that the combined events are the best choice for the latter, all the more so since she is a very good triple jumper, but one never knows. Twenty year old A. Shukh was a minor disappointment. After a bad long jump she dropped out of the pentathlon. Still I am convinced that she has a great potential: she is a good thrower (excellent in javelin throw), good jumper and has a very decent 800 m. It suffices to work on speed and improve technically over the hurdles and she can be among the protagonists.
The flying belgians did it again in men's 4x400 m relay. This time the Borlée family was complemented by J. Watrin (excellent first relay). World champion Poland left empty-handed, the silver and bronze medals going to Italy and France. At least the women's polish relay team repeated their performance of two years ago securing the precious medal for their country.
This year's Championships were particularly successful for Greece: a fifth place in the medal-based classification. All greek medals were obtained in jumps but there were also some non-medal finalists in track as well as throws.
The men's 60 m was won by J. Volko in 6.60 s. What was quite unusual, in particular for this super-short sprint, was that the winner was the slowest among the finalists to start. The women's race was won by E. Swoboda in 7.09 s. Hailed for a few years now as the next talent in sprint, Swoboda has at last confirmed the predictions. And in case you were wondering, she was also the slowest among the finalists to start. D. Schippers obtained the silver medal, while world bronze medalist M. Kambundji could not do better than 5th.
Last year's disqualified world champion O. Husillos was both luckier and unluckier this year. On the positive side, he secured a medal. On the negative side, he obtained only silver. It was impossible to beat K. Warholm, who decided to try his hand far from the hurdles and, with 45.05 s, equalled the european record. This promises great duels this summer over the 400 m hurdles.
The women's race was won by L. Sprunger in 51.61 s, but the one who was really impressive was C. Bolingo-Mbongo who lost the title for 0.01 s. A minor disappointment was the last place of J. Swiety, the 2018 outdoors european champion.
A. de Arriba won a tactical 800m in 1:46.83. I was expecting something better from A. Kramer who was silver medalist at last year's Europeans: he reached the final quite easily only to finish last in it. S. Oskan-Clarke won the women's 800 m with 2:02.58 with R. Lamotte obtaining her third european silver over the distance (the other two outdoors). S. Büchel, one of the pre-race favourites (double european indoor champion), was out in the semis.
J. Ingebrigtsen might have lost the title over 1500 m, beaten by Lewandowski in 3:42.85, but he was really impressive. He qualified for the two finals running two races in the same afternoon and improving the european U23 record over 3000 m with 7:51.20 and winning the 1500 m in 3:42.00.
What J. Ingebrigtsen could not manage, L. Muir did and with flying colours. Her domination over both the 1500 m and the 3000 m was total. She won the first with 4:05.92. S. Ennaoui, who is at last confirming her potential, was second.
In the 3000 m the commentators were expecting a duel between Muir and Klosterhalfen (coached by none other than A. Salazar) but it did not materialise. When Muir decided to accelerate, all Klosterhalfen could do was to secure her second place. Muir's 8:30.61 was a championships record for the 3000 m.
I have already published a post on the 60 m hurdles both men's and women's. Just so that you have a complete set of photos in this article I include the podium of the men's race with Trajkovic flanked by the two french hurdlers (Martinot-Lagarde and Manga).
And also a photo taken shortly after the arrival of the women's race. Notice that Visser is radiant, knowing that she has won, while Roleder is anxiously waiting the results just to make sure of her position.
Tamberi is back. After his 2016 accident (when he was the world leader, less than two months before the Olympics) he is again the top european high jumper. His 2.32 was 6 cm more than K. Baniotis 2.26 (but which sufficed for a silver medal).
M. Lasitskene confirmed her position as the leader of women's high jump, winning easily with 2.01. Y. Levchenko (2017 world vice-champion) was second with 1.99. A minor surprise was the elimination with 1.89 of E. Vallortigara, who had jumped 2.02 last year (but given her inconsistent performing the surprise is only a minor one).
Men's pole vault was a polish business with P. Wojciechowski first with 5.90, and P. Lisek, second with 5.85. E. Karalis just missed a medal with 5.65, when M. Svard-Jakobsson (8th up to that point) passed 5.75 on his third attempt. K. Filippidis disappointed the greek fans by no-heighting at 5.45! The women's pole vault was another unpleasant surprise: for the first time in three years E. Stefanidi came home without a medal. In fact she risked a no-height at her initial 4.65 negotiated only at the third attempt. Fortunately for Greece N. Kyriakopoulou's 4.65 sufficed for a bronze medal. A. Sidorova dominated the event, winning with 4.85, with H. Bradshaw second with 4.75. The funny thing in that Bradshaw had risked elimination at the qualifiers missing two attempts at 4.60 and entering the final as 8th with 4.50. I was really disappointed by the elimination of A. Bengtsson who could not jump beyond 4.40, after having established a personal best of 4.81 in February.
After having won the European outdoors last year M. Tentoglou obtained the indoors title as well. His jump of 8.38 is a world leading one. And of course, while preparing for this article I read about the extraterrestrial wind-aided 8.92 of J.M. Echevarría. This year's World's will be really interesting. (Just when we were thinking that men's long jump was stagnating).
I. Spanovic has furnished another proof that she is a great champion, and to my eyes the best long jumper today. She started the competition with an excellent 6.90 but then N. Mironchyk jumped a somewhat unexpected 6.93 personal best. Mind you, she has an outdoors best of 7.08 and even a wind-aided 7.21 from 2012, but that was the year she failed a drugs test. There is also a very interesting story about Mironchyk's pony tail (and, in fact, a similar thing happened to Spanovic in 2017).
Spanovic was unfazed and on her 5th jump landed at 6.99 clinching the gold medal and equaling the world leading performance (held by M. Mihambo who could not manage anything better than 6.83 and 4th place).
Men's triple jump saw the relative surprise victory of N. Babayev with 17.29 (but he is an over 17 m jumper outdoors already from 2015). Veteran N. Evora (Olympic, World and European champion) was present as always and secured the second place with a 17.11 jump. In women's triple jump P. Papachristou took an early lead with 14.50 but had to settle for silver as A. Peleteiro went on to jump 14.56 and then 14.73.
O. Saladukha, jumped thrice 14.47 for third place. The two portuguese jumpers P. Mamona and S. Costa both jumped 14.43 for 4th and 5th place respectively. An estonian athlete, M. Uudmäe participated in women's triple jump (but did not qualify with 13.40) I wondered if she was the daughter of the 1980 olympic champion Jaak Uudmäe, who won in Moscow with 17.35, but it turned out that this was not the case. Jaak Uudmäe has only a son Jaanus (17.06 in triple).
Of last year's shot put winning polish duo one laughed in Glasgow and one weeped. M. Haratyk won the european title, with 21.65, but K. Bukowiecki (the 2017 champion) was eliminated in the qualifiers with just 20.18. The last remaining high-level glider, D. Storl, was as always present and won silver with 21.54. The women's event was a suspenseful one. C. Schwanitz, considered by many as the undisputed favourite, lead with 19.11 up to the 5th throw when S. Mavrodieva managed a 19.12 for the highest rung of the podium. (It's the second time Schwanitz loses a european title at the last throw). A Marton, one of the best women spinners is back from injury and with 19.00 obtained the bronze medal.
J. Ureña won the men's heptathlon and it was a well deserved victory. But Ureña being who he is (he fouled out in discus in the 2016 Europeans and no-heighted in pole vault in the 2018 ones) he courted disaster once more. He fouled twice in shot put but managed to get a valid throw (and, in fact, a personal best) at the third attempt. Last year's revelation, T. Duckworth, obtained a medal (silver) this time, essentially thanks to a personal best in the 1000 m. I. Shkurenyov confirmed once more the fact that he is a second-day athlete. Finishing 2nd in the hurdles, 1st in the pole vault and 2nd in the 1000 m he secured the bronze medal.
The field of women's pentathlon was particularly dense despite the absence of N. Thiam.
I have the impression that C. Johnson-Thompson who won is better suited for this event rather than the heptathlon. But I must admit that this year she has made a substantial improvement in the shot put. I hadn't seen N. Emerson (silver medalist) before and I must say that at 20 years of age she is quite impressive. The surprise came from hurdler S. Ndama who won the bronze medal, pushing two of the favourites I. Dadic and L. Ikauniece out of the podium. Emerson and Ndama were not the only young talents present in this championships. H. Maudens (a good long jumper) finished at 8th place and M. Vicente (just 18 years old) finished 9th. I am not convinced that the combined events are the best choice for the latter, all the more so since she is a very good triple jumper, but one never knows. Twenty year old A. Shukh was a minor disappointment. After a bad long jump she dropped out of the pentathlon. Still I am convinced that she has a great potential: she is a good thrower (excellent in javelin throw), good jumper and has a very decent 800 m. It suffices to work on speed and improve technically over the hurdles and she can be among the protagonists.
The flying belgians did it again in men's 4x400 m relay. This time the Borlée family was complemented by J. Watrin (excellent first relay). World champion Poland left empty-handed, the silver and bronze medals going to Italy and France. At least the women's polish relay team repeated their performance of two years ago securing the precious medal for their country.
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