An action packed evening for European Athletics saw Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou take back the world lead with an incredible jump of 8.54m at the Dromia International Sprint and Relays Meeting on Saturday (13).
As two-time Olympic and former world champion, Tentoglou was the star of the meet in Greece, and he put on a show for the home fans who came to watch.
He opened the competition with 8.23m (+3.7) before going on to jump his best distance in the second round, however he was aided by a strong +4.3 wind.
In the third round he backed his performance up with a jump of 8.42m (+2.3) before struggling in the last three rounds to get a proper jump in, with two sub-par distances of 4.17m and 6.26m and a no jump.
Poland’s Piotr Tarkowski took second place with 7.90m, while Croatia’s Filip Pravdica took third with a jump of 7.84m.
Meeting Nikaia
In France, the men’s javelin was the star of the evening with Germany’s former Olympic and European champion Thomas Rohler and the two-time world champion from Grenada, Anderson Peters, taking to the runway.
However, 22-year-old Briton, Ben East, upset the global champions to take the win after throwing two PB’s.
East’s PB before this season stood at 77.40m, however this year alone he has progressed to 78.77m, then 80.05m, and the went on to throw 80.35m in the third round tonight before extending his best again in the final round to 80.49m.
Rohler took third with his best of 78.33m coming in the fourth round while Peters’ best throw was in the fifth round measuring at 79.76m.
In the men’s 800m, three athletes secured the qualification standard of 1:44.80 for the Birmingham 2026 European Athletics Championships.
France’s Louey Ouerrat took the win in 1:43.80, a nearly two second PB, Great Britain’s Alex Botterill took second in 1:44.16, and Switzerland’s Ramon Wipfli in third with 1:44.71.
Innsbruck Golden Fly Series
Bulgaria’s star boy, Bozhidar Saraboyukov, was the headliner of the Golden Fly Series that saw crowds flood the streets to watch the jumps events.
But he suffered a tough start to the competition where he measured three no jumps due to small foot-fouls on the board.
However he came back to jump 8.18m to take the win and equal the meeting record and recover the competition, though he is looking to get back nearer to his season’s best of 8.45m from February.
Although in the women’s long jump, Austria’s Deborah Achleitner jumped 5.94m to equal her PB and surpass the standard of 5.90m for the European Athletics U18 Championships for the second time this year.