Belgium, Norway and hosts Slovenia asserted their ambitions for promotion from the 2nd Division of the European Athletics Team Championships on a sun-soaked first day of action in Maribor on Saturday (28).
The Belgians - helped by a nail-biting victory for European 400m champion Alexander Doom - won six different events compared to Norway’s four. They lead the overnight standings on 241 points, 15 ahead of their rivals, and 27.5 ahead of the home team.
Roared on by an enthusiastic home crowd, Slovenia were buoyed by a pole vault victory for three-time European indoor silver medallist Tina Sutej, which helped them put a buffer zone of 17.5 points between themselves and fourth-placed Denmark.
World lead for Hudson
Eight out of sixteen teams took maximum points in at least one event, and arguably the standout result of the day came in the women’s javelin. Austria’s Victoria Hudson launched the implement out to 67.76m - a world-leading mark and a new national record - which puts her ninth on the European all-time list.
In the process, the 29-year-old smashed her own Austrian record, which had stood at 66.06 for just over a year.
It also helped to put her nation - who were promoted from the 3rd Division in 2023 - in seventh overall overnight, 42.5 points clear of the relegation zone that is currently occupied by Cyprus, Bulgaria and Latvia.
Doom dips for dramatic 400m win
Doom left it late to seal victory as he dipped across the line in a fantastic race that saw four men under 45 seconds. Slovenian supporters cheered as Rok Ferlan tried gallantly to hold on to the lead down the home straight, only for Doom to come past the home favourite, as Romania’s Mihai Sorin Dringo and Ireland’s Jack Raftery fought for position behind.
The winning time of 44.66 put Doom just 0.04 seconds clear of Ferlan, who was rewarded with a new national record, bettering Luka Janezic’s mark of 44.84 from 2017. Dringo improved on his own Romanian record of 44.88 that he’d freshly achieved in Geneva just last Saturday (21).
That followed Naomi Van den Broeck finding a brilliant burst of pace to speed away in the 400m hurdles and European U23 200m champion Delphine Nkansa storming to 100m victory in 11.42.
Yet another headline from a Belgian point of view was Elien Vekemans achieving the highest ever vault by a woman from her country with 4.65. That was five centimetres shy of the winning height for Slovenia’s Sutej, who only had one failure throughout the competition.
Norwegians shine in the field
Strong field performances were also produced by the Norwegians, with Thomas Mardal taking maximum points with a best of 76.85m in the hammer, despite leaving himself under pressure after two fouls in the opening two rounds.
His compatriot Marcus Thomsen then appeared to make light work of the shot put, as he hauled the implement out to 21.02m in the second round.
Just after that event concluded, one of the most impressive national record-breaking results of the day came in the women’s 400m, as Slovakia’s Emma Zapletalova improved her own mark from 51.91 to a stunning 50.76. Until her previous personal best in Banska Bystrica on 17 June, the record had stood at 51.98 since 1974.
Elkasevic dominates discus
Elsewhere, Croatia’s seven-time European champion Sandra Elkasevic was nearly four metres ahead of the competition with her best discus throw of 62.87.
Israel picked up two victories in quick succession as a determined Adva Cohen sped past Belgium’s Eline Dalemans in the closing 100m to win the steeplechase in an impressive time of 9:32.43, before the rest of the competition marvelled as Jonathan Kapitolnik made a high jump clearance of 2.25 look easy.
Dalemans was initially disqualified for stepping on the inside of the track, but she was reinstated after a protest. That serves as a reminder of the potential to score zero points, which could upset the promotion race. Norway found that out as they failed to get the baton round in the women’s 4x100m, allowing a victorious Belgian quartet to cut their advantage.
The Norwegians did however make amends as they broke a 28-year-old national record to win the men’s 4x100m in 38.86, only 0.02 ahead of Ireland’s national record, which - similar to Dringo - usurped a time set in Geneva last weekend.
With the top two in a very healthy position out front, Slovenia will look to world and European discus champion Kristjan Ceh to boost their hopes of going up to the 1st Division, while they try to avoid the type of situation that happened in 2023, where they narrowly missed out by half a point.
Alex Seftel for European Athletics