In my post on field events at the World Championships I was commenting on Tentoglou's defeat by saying that
"...given Tentoglou's talent, he should be able to land consistently at 8.50 m or beyond so as not to be vulnerable to 'oi polloi'."
My writing was somehow prophetic since he did just that at the Europeans. He started with a foul (in the 8.50 m region). It is a well-known joke among the members of the Greek team that when Miltos starts with a foul he is usually winning the event. This time he did not disappoint. He had a series of 8.23, 8.35 and 8.52 m any of which would have sufficed for victory. And with 8.52 m he improved Reif's championship's record.
Montler and Pommery were second and third with 8.06 m. Men's long jump final played out as a drama since Fincham-Dukes had also a jump at 8.06 securing silver thanks to his second best jump. However after the end of the event and when Fincham-Dukes was celebrating his success he was disqualified. I am giving below the photo of his jump that was considered a foul.
The current rules state that
An athlete fails if, while taking off (prior to the instant at which they cease contact with the take-off board or ground), they break the vertical plane of the take-off line with any part of their take-off foot/shoe, whether running up without jumping or in the act of jumping.
Previously the jump was considered a foul if the athlete left a mark on the plasticine board. However since November 2021 the rule stated above is applied and the rationale for its introduction was that "this would be more understandable and simpler to judge". In an article I published when I read about the new rule I did not mince my words. I criticised the WA decision saying that they are trying to kill the horizontal jumps. Once again WA, in their lack of clarity, replaced an objective criterion (a mark on the plasticine) by a subjective one (the judges' appreciation). And to add insult to injury in the case of Fincham-Dukes, the disqualification reversed the judges' decision (who had validated the jump) most probably after the consultation of a video of the event. Is that "more understandable"? You tell me. And just in case you have time to spare, I invite you to read my article on how the application of the above rule, who had always been in effect in the US collegiate athletics, had deprived King Carl of a 9+ m world record.
In my World Championships article I was rather laconic about my preferred female long-jumper, I. Spanovic-Vuleta (but I did sneak her photo in). I must say that I was somewhat apprehensive at the start of the women's long jump, all the more so since Vuleta had not shown anything extraordinary in the qualifiers. But then in the final she had a perfect first jump at 7.06 m (and she backed it up with 6.98 m in the second before fouling the remaining ones) practically killing the event. Only M. Mihambo could surpass her and while she did try she could do no better than 7.03 m settling for second. J. Sawyers, an athlete I always keep an eye on, grabbed bronze with her last jump at 6.80 m pushing M. Bekh-Romanchuk, 6.76 m, out of the medals. The latter reacted at her last attempt (she was jumping after Sawyers) but her 7+ jump was a foul and the podium did not change. Iapichino was 5th with 6.62 m. M. Gardasevic who had jumped 6.83 m in the qualifiers could do no better than 6.52 m in the final and had to settle for 7th.
Bekh-Romanchuk took her vengeance in the triple jump. Any of her valid jumps would have sufficed for the gold medal, and at her penultimate attempt she joined the 15+ club with a jump of 15.02 m. Reigning European champion P. Mamona was 5th with 14.41 m, missing bronze for just 4 cm. (She was the first european in Eugene). One jump was enough for Pichardo: he could have won the gold medal with his first jump at 17.05 m. He improved it to 17.50 m and that was more than enough. Out of the 12 competitors the only other 17+ jump was the 17.04 m of Dellavalle for silver, a rather sad situation for the men's triple jump in Europe.
G. Tamberi, with his usual "brio", won the high jump with a 2.30 m clearance. Out of the 13 jumpers qualified for the final 5 could not get past the initial height of 2.18 m! Women's event was a rather disappointing one. Y. Mahuchikh won the event with 1.95 m, a ridiculously low height for her (just two weeks later she jumped 2.05 m in a meeting and went on to make attempts at the world record). M. Vukovic (who lives and trains in Greece) obtained her first major success winning silver with 1.95 m. A. Topic (the name should ring a bell) was third with 1.93 m at 17 years of age. It goes without saying that I will be following her progress. After having jumped 2 m in the World's, I. Gerashchenko could do no better than 1.93 m and a fifth place. Still she did better than world bronze medallist E. Valortigara who ended up at 9th place with just 1.86 m. The latter shared the same height with Y. Levchenko, whom I found impressive a few years back when she had jumped 2.01 m when she was just 19. (Unfortunately she hasn't jumped over 2 m since 2020).
Stefanidi showed once more her mastery of pole-vault. In a season which is admittedly not one of her best, she jumped a 4.75 m season's best in Munich, which would suffice for gold were it not for an impressive W. Murto who secured gold with 4.80 m and went on to equal the championships' record with 4.85 m. It is funny to remark that the vaulters of the european podium Murto-Stefanidi-Sutej were classified 4th, 5th and 6th at the World's but in the reverse order. The one new athlete I noticed in Munich was M.-J. Bonnin who jumped a personal best of 4.55 m finishing 6th. She is just 20 years old and I think that I'll have the occasion to write about her in the future.
Duplantis won the men's event making it look as a pure formality. He had already won at 5.95 but he went on and jumped 6.06 m for a championships record. Lita Baehre was second with 5.85 m and Lillefosse third with 5.75 m beating on count-back three other jumpers who had cleared the same height. R. Lavillenie went directly from 5.65 to 5.85 m but without success, ending at the 7th place. Still that was better than his brother's performance who no-heighted at 5.50 m in the qualifiers. E. Karalis could not reproduce his success of the Olympics and with 5.50 m in the qualifiers did not make the final.
J. Schilder won the women's shot put with 20.24 m. While 20+ m performances are becoming customary we are still very, very far from the 22+ m of the 80s and 90s. Dongmo was second with 19.82 m one of the rare gliders in women's shot put. It took a few more years, but women shot putters are becoming spinners just like men. It is not astonishing that the 3rd of the event is a discus thrower, Van Klinken who obtained bronze with 18.94 m (but failed to grab a medal in the discus). Mihalevic won the men's shot put in 21.88 in a final where all the throwers were spinners. I am now wondering when we are going to see the combined events athletes adopt the rotational style for the shot put. (But, of course, Maurice Smith was using that technique already in 2007).
S. Perkovic obtained her 6th consecutive european title. This time it was not easy since K. Pudenz, the silver medalist, was just 8 cm shy of Perkovic's performance 67.87 to 67.95 m. Everybody was betting on K. Ceh for the men's title but in the end it was M. Alekna (this name should also ring a bell) who won, 69.78 to 68.28 m. Both throwers are quite young, Ceh 23 and Alekna just 20 so we can start hoping to see the 36 years old world record soon erased from the tables. The olympic medal winning swedish duo was not in great shape: D. Stahl could do no better than 5th while S. Petterson was slightly better finishing 4th.
E. Tzengko took control of the women's javelin throw from the outset, with a 60.82 m throw. In fact this throw would have sufficed for the gold medal up to the last throw of Vilagos. Tzengko secured the victory with a 65.81 m personal best in her second throw.
The remaining athletes had trouble finding their rhythm but in the end the talent of Vilagos and the experience of Spotakova prevailed. Vilagos threw 62.01 m at her last throw obtaining silver while Spotakova with 60.68 m added one more medal to her rich collection. Tzengko is just 20 years old while Vilagos is just 18, so one can expect a renaissance of the european women's javelin.
Unfortunately I cannot be equally optimistic for the men's discipline. At the end of the day it was J. Weber who won with 87.66 and saved the german pride, because with Vetter absent, Rohler eliminated in the qualifiers with 71.31 m and Hofmann finishing 14th with 74.75 m, the german javelin school did not look great. Things were slightly better for the finish school with Etelätalo obtaining bronze with 86.44 m and Kuusela 5th. (Helander who threw an impressive 89.83 m in June was absent). All things considered, it was the Czech school that fared better, with Vadlejch second with 87.28 m, Vesely 4th and Konecny also in the final finishing 12th.
Women's hammer was an uninteresting event won by B. Ghelber (2nd european in Eugene) in 72.72 m, while Fantini, the best european in the World's, finished third. S. Kosonen was 7th in Eugene (3rd european) but could do no better than 5th in Munich with 69.45 m, four metres off her personal best. After having won his 5th world title P. Fajdek managed to lose in Munich, finishing 4th. W. Nowicki won with 82.00 m and E. Henriksen was third just as in Eugene, this time with a sub-80 throw of 79.45 m. Halasz, 5th in the World's was second with a 80.92 personal best. Ch. Frantzeskakis confirmed his progress and his place in the final in Eugene, by finishing 6th in Munich with a personal best of 78.20 m. The minor surprise was the 7th place of Q. Bigot who was just outside the medals in the world championships.
Women's heptathlon was almost a formality for Thiam. She took control after the high jump (with 1.98 m) and she never relinquished it. Despite a so-so long jump and javelin throw but thanks to a more than decent 2:17.95 in the 800 m she finished almost 100 points ahead of Sulek, 6628 to 6532. Sulek obtained silver thanks to her 2:09.39 in the 800 m, overtaking Kälin who was 2nd before the last event, having jumped 6.73 m and thrown 48.72 m in the javelin. Her excellent 2:13.73, however, was not sufficient for her to keep the silver medal. N. Vidts was 2nd after the first day but with just 41.82 m at the javelin she could do no better than 4th, despite her 2:09.53 in the 800 m. (A small riddle for my readers: there is one number missing in the photo above. What happened?).
Y. Dadic was disqualified in the 200 m for lane violation. M. Vicente fouled out in the long jump. Vetter quit after the long jump with an Achilles tendon injury: she was 3rd after the first day and 5th after the long jump. So the dutch school was represented only by 19 years old S. Dokter who finished at the 13th place with 5811 points (but she has a 6144 personal best so she will be someone to follow).
Apart from Ehammer and Dester who are 22 years old, there are other promising young athletes. The new french talent B. Thierry is 21. He finished 9th with 8057 points (but he is a runner-jumper, not my preferred profile). S. Skotheim is just 20 and he is better balanced. He finished 7th in 8211 points. Add to them S. Roosen, 21 years old, who finished 10th in 8021 and 22 years old L. Neugebauer who was 10th in Eugene with 8362 points, and this makes a whole bunch of new european talents to follow. And don't forget that N. Kaul is just 24 years old. But the competition will be fierce, since Owens-Delerme (8532 for 4th place in Eugene) is also 22 just as K. Garland (with a 8720 personal best).
Six out of the 21 who took the start dropped out. World champion and world record holder K. Mayer was the first victim, withdrawing after the 100 m due to a thigh injury.
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