14th March 2013 05:46
Shot put (Sunday):
Ralf Bartels is one of the great shot-putters of world athletics and his presence in Spain means this event has a legend in its midst. At 35, the shaven-headed German is still at the height of his competition powers as he showed at the start of the month at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Göteborg when he finished fourth with an effort of 20.16m. It was a season's best as Serbia's Asmir Kolasinac triumphed with 20.62m and it makes him the favourite in Castellon.
Bartels' career-record speaks volumes, a glittering run of medal success which started, incredibly, 17 years ago when he won the world junior title in Sydney. He progressed to become European Athletics champion - indoors and out - and twice won bronze at the World Championships. His personal best of 21.44m(i) makes him the only man in the field to have broken the 21-metre barrier.
But he will face tough competition in Castellon. Bulgarian Georgi Ivanov has thrown 20.59m this winter while Spain's Borja Vivas has reached 20.30 outdoors. Both are personal best efforts and will put them in contention.
Early days, of course, for outdoor events but Israel's Itamar Levi tops the European Under-23 lists with 17.99m and he will look to improve upon that in an important year for the age group, with the European Athletics U23 Championships in Tampere in July.
Discus (Saturday):
It was almost five years ago that Spain's Frank Casanas took to the discus ring in Castellon and launched the greatest throw of his life. His distance on that June day was 67.91m and he returns to the Spanish province as one of the main men in this event.
As the slow build up starts towards the World Championships in Moscow, only a handful of major discus competitions have taken place. This weekend is the biggest in Europe and Casanas will arrive there fourth in the rankings with 62.34m from Leon, a competition which he won.
Not enough though to take him to the top of the European Athletics lists, a position which is occupied by Ecrument Olgundeniz, of Türkiye, whose 64.77m in Mersin saw him set the standard for the rest.
The pair both reached the final of last year's European Athletics Championships in Helsinki where Germany's Robert Harting triumphed with 68.30m.
Casanas was back in fifth with 63.60m with Olgundeniz in ninth with 60.92m. But his personal best of 67.50m from last summer, just before the Championships, shows how far he can throw, which means Castellon could see him extend his place at the top of the rankings if he finds his right rhythm.
But the whole field will surely have their eyes on one man - Lithuanian Virgilijus Alekna, the double Olympic champion. He is 41, he has a personal best of 73.88m from 2000 and he cannot be ruled out.
The versatility of Montenegro's Danijel Furtula will be on full show in Castellon. He is top of the European Athletics Under-23 rankings for the discus with 64.60m and second in the shot put with 17.70. He competes in both events this weekend.
Hammer (Saturday):
In four months' time at the World Championships in Moscow, Krisztian Pars will be one of the major stars. It is a long road to Russia for the Hungarian Olympic and European champion, but the small steps now are all about creating the consistency and edging towards that peak. Nothing like a good, early event, though, to ensure that the mental side of competing remains at its greatest and that is what Pars will face in Castellon.
Even at this early stage of the Hammer season, the results have been superb, with two Belarussians at the top of the European Athletics rankings.
Yury Shayunov has thrown 78.99m and his countryman Pavel Kryvitski has recorded 78.85m, putting them first and second respectively on the lists with Pars third with 78.32m.
The trio are all in Castellon for what should be a fabulously competitive event.
All three of those distances would have meant at least silver at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki last summer - and Pars, of course, threw further than that as he won the gold medal with 79.72m.
His mark of 80.59m then brought him gold at the Olympic Games in London in a career of brilliant consistency. He won silver at the World Championships in Daegu in 2011, with a throw of 81.18m, and will be looking to make it gold in Moscow to complete the hat-trick of major outdoor titles.
It has been quite a start to the year for Belarus. In the European Under-23 rankings, Zakhar Makhrosenka has thrown the furthest with 76.08m and he will start as favourite for that age-group event in Castellon where he will meet his nearest rival this year, Quentin Bigot, of France, who has a 2013 best of 74m.
Javelin (Sunday):
By the end of the 2013 summer season, Russians Valeriy Iordan and Dmitriy Tarabin could find themselves among the most-talked about young field eventers in the sport.
At 21, Iordan is a rising star of the javelin world, a position he cemented by finishing second at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki last summer, his throw of 83.23m bringing silver as Vitezslav Vesely, of the Czech Republic, won gold with 83.72m.
But that personal best from Helsinki by Iordan has already been replaced in 2013 by his 83.56m then he finished second at the Russian Winter Throwing Championships in Alder at the end of last month.
He was beaten by Dmitriy Tarabin, five months his senior, whose throw of 85.63m at that event was the best by a European in 2013, putting him top of the European rankings from Iordan.
Both men are in Castellon in a year where they will be looking to make an impression at both the European Athletics U23 Championships in Tampere and the World Championships in Moscow.
Iordan opts for the under-23 event this weekend while in the senior competition, of the 17-man field, only eight of them have thrown this winter.
Tarabin will face his fellow Russian Aleksey Tovarnov, who threw 82.54m in Adler, while with 83.26m from Ancona, German Thomas Rohler is the only other man in the senior event to have passed 80m this year.