Although 2022 has been a "normal" year competition-wise, I was impatiently waiting this year's indoor Europeans. And I was not disappointed. While the competitions leading to the championships were so-so, despite the presence on non-Europeans, the quality of the Istanbul competition was great. I wrote already about the fabulous women's pentathlon and in my post on men's combined event, where I explore the idea of a men's pentathlon, I talk about the heptathlon competition in Istanbul. So, let us focus on the remaining events
The spring favourites met with different fortunes. World indoor and Olympic champion L. Jacobs had to content himself with the silver medal this time, the victory going to his compatriot, S. Ceccarelli, who won with 6.48 s (6.47 s in the semis). Seeing the acceleration of Jacobs after 40 m I am really confident for his summer season (baring injuries, of course). World Indoor champion M. Kambundji, on the other hand, dominated the women's 60 m winning in 7.05 s, ahead of D. Neita, 7.07 s, and E. Swoboda, 7.10 s. It is funny to see Kambundji, who is considered quite deservedly a 200 m specialist, excel at the short sprint.
The 400 m race saw two great hurdle specialists win the title, albeit in different style. K. Warholm won in 45.35 after a suicidal first 200 m covered in 20.84 s. Reigning european champion O. Husillos could do not better than fourth, while J. Watrin broke the record of Belgium with 45.44 s for silver. F. Bol, fresh from her 49.26 s world record (where she erased the name of J. Kratochvilova from the tablets) won the european title with 49.85 s. Contrary to Warholm she had a fast but prudent first 200 m in 23.78 s. I was very pleased to see L. Klaver running at long last at her full potential. After a personal best of 50.34 s two weeks before the championships, she followed Bol all the way to the finish line obtaining silver with 50.57 s.
While the woman's 800 m was a quite predictable one, the men's race was not decided until the finish line. B. Robert led the race from the start up to, practically, the finish but A. Ben being a tad faster managed to pass him on the line and win for just 3 milliseconds, both athletes having the official time of 1:47.34. Once more I was disappointed by A. Kramer who could do no better than 5th. K. Hodgkinson led from start to finish and when she crossed the line, in 1:58.66, she was more than 10 m ahead of the remaining runners. It is really amazing how Hodgkinson makes running a race as exhausting as the 800 m look so easy.
J. Ingebrigtsen was the favourite for the men's 1500 m and he dominated the race imposing his rhythm from the get-go, winning in 3:33.95. And then he went on to win the 3000 m in 7:40.32 taking the command of the race after the first three laps. In the women's race L. Muir won rather easily in a race paced by C. Bobocea up to the last 100 m. They finished in 4:03.40 and 4:03.76 respectively, the podium being completed by S. Ennaoui in 4:04.06, ahead of E. Guerrero. The women's 3000 m race was a most interesting one, where the two german runners took the command after the first kilometre with Klosterhalfen leading and Klein following just behind her. On the finish line the order was reversed, the victory going to the fast-finishing Klein with 8:65.87.
The 60 m hurdles was a moment of pure anguish when in the final one of the favourites, spanish hurdler E. Llopis, crashed into the last hurdle, fell hitting his head on the ground and remained unconscious. Fortunately, back to Spain he sent a message that he is OK and pursues his recovery. The winner of the final J. Joseph, 7.41 s, was severely criticised for not checking on Llopis and had to issue a public apology. Ex indoor European champion M. Trajkovic could not progress beyond the semi-final. In the women's 60 m hurdles, N. Visser could not obtain a third european gold medal and had to content herself with silver. The race was won by R. Hurske with 7.79 s, ahead of Visser's 7.84 s while D. Kambundji, 7.91 s, obtained an indoors bronze to go with the outdoors one she won last year in Münich.
The unexpected winner of the men's high jump was D. Amels. From the beginning of the competition I liked his style but I was really surprised when, after jumping a personal best of 2.29 m, he went on to pass 2.31 m beating Protsenko, who had one unsuccessful attempt at 2.33 m. Everyone was expecting Y. Mahuchikh to win the women's high jump. And she did indeed. But it was not easy in particular in the qualification. She started by fouling twice at 1.87 m and had to leave her third attempt for 1.91 m (she passed, phew!). She won the final with 1.98 m and went directly to 2.03 m but could not make it. B. Weerman, with 1.96 m, secured the silver medal for the Netherlands. And, together with Amels, they brought back to their country two national records. A. Topic lost the bronze medal on count-back jumping 1.94 m, just like the two ukrainian jumpers, Tabashnyk, 3rd, and Levchenko, 5th.
Tentoglou hates competing in the morning. So he won with "just" 8.30 m. He is just 25 years old and has already won almost everything. The only gold medal missing in his collection is the World's one but there are World Championships this summer, so... Usually I am unhappy whenever I. Spanovic/Vuleta does not win. Well, not this time. In Istanbul it was another long jumper that I follow who won gold: J. Sawyers.
And she did it in a masterful way, joining the 7 m club on her 5th attempt. Vuleta could do no better than 6.91 m and that was only enough for 3rd place, since L. Iapicchino (for those who do not follow, she is Fiona May's daughter) jumped an indoor national record of 6.97 m on her last attempt. The 4th place of M. Mihambo, 6.83 m, was a minor surprise. And I was somewhat disappointed by M. Gardasevic, who had recently jumped 6.91 m but could not qualify for the final.
The pole vault brought mixed feelings to the greek fans. Olympic, World and European champion K. Stefanidi could go no higher than 4.60 m and finished 4th in a match won by W. Murto with 4.80 m (who needed three attempts at 4.75 m). On the men's side E. Karalis got his redemption (after his near miss at the Olympics where he finished 4th) finishing 2nd, ex-aequo with P. Lisek, both jumping 5.80 m, just like the winner, S. Guttormsen (but also Blech who ended at the 4th position on count-back). One week later Guttormsen, competing at the NCAA championships, became a 6 m vaulter.
The third greek medal came at the men's triple jump. P. Pichardo was untouchable and with 17.60 m at his third attempt clinched the gold medal. Behind him there were five athletes separated by less than 20 cm. And finally it was N. Andrikopoulos who obtained silver with 16.58 m, beating M. Hess by just a cm. The women's triple jump saw the victory of a turkish athlete T. Danismaz. She had already announced her intentions in the qualifiers where she had the longest jump together with reigning champion P. Mamona. In the final she killed the opposition with a first jump at 14.31 m. Mamona could do no better than 14.16 m and was pushed to third place by D. Derkach with 14.20 m.
Men's shot put is dominated by spinners: today the only ones who throw in the glider style are the combined event athletes. I had prophesied this in an article of mine just after the Rio Olympics and it is now becoming true. And the level is getting higher by the day. Z. Weir won with 22.06 m and B. Bertemes with 21.00 m could do no better than 5th. To say nothing of L. Fabbri who fouled all of his throws but had some very long ones (and who threw 21.17 m in the qualifiers).
More and more women are throwing in the spinning style but not the first two of the championships. A. Dongmo won with 19.76 m. Measuring 1.83 m she is more at ease in the gliding style (just like the great V. Adams, but who was 10 cm taller than Dongmo). European champion J. Schidler, who threw 19.18 m in the qualifiers, could do no better than 18.29 m in the final and finished 5th.
In the men's 4x400 m Spain got an early lead thanks to a 45.96 s relay by Husillos, while D. Borlée ran a lacklustre 47.54 for 4th place. But from then onwards the situation did improve for Belgium and thanks also to a great third relay by K. Borlée and the anchor of J. Watrin they won in 3:05.83. France and the Netherlands managed to pass the flagging spanish anchorman obtaining silver and bronze. The Netherlands, reigning champion since 2021, were the favourite for the women's title but the presence of two great 400 m runners in the team made the whole thing look particularly easy. L. Klaver took command of the race with 50.67 s and the dutch team stayed at the head of the race up to the last relay and F. Bol. With a 49.58 s anchor Bol finished, in 3:25.66, more than 20 m ahead of the second team, a surprising Italy who managed to beat Poland, winner of the 2015, 2017 and 2019 titles.
Believe me, I did not lie when I said that I was not disappointed by the 2023 European Indoors.
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