It was a busy weekend of national championships ahead of next month’s IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland and here are some of the main stories from across Europe.
GREAT BRITAIN
Richard Kilty has become the king of the 60m indoors over the past two winters, with world and European success, but he was disqualified from the final in Sheffield on Saturday for a false start in his semi. He will learn tomorrow whether he has made the team after an event where European 100m champion James Dasaolu won (6.53) from Andrew Robertson (6.54), both those times sitting behind Germany's Julian Reus (6.52) in the European Athletics rankings.
But one of the big shocks came on Sunday in the 800m when Adelle Tracey (2:02.99) triumphed in a race where 2012 European champion Lynsey Sharp (2:03.50) was third and 2011 European Indoor champion Jenny Meadows (2:03.81) was fourth.
FRANCE
There was a sprint double in Aubière for Christophe Lemaitre and the strengthening of a world lead to go with it too.
After winning the 60m (6.64) on Saturday, he won the 200m the next day in 20.43, to improve on his quickest time in the world by 0.01 as Mickael-Meba Zeze (20.54) ran a personal best in second.
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It was another triumphant weekend for Renaud Lavillenie who won his 11th national pole vault title (5.93m), with victory in the men’s event by 30 centimetres from Stanley Joseph. In the women’s competition, Vanessa Boslak won with her best clearance in four years (4.60m).
CZECH REPUBLIC
The championships marked the official opening of the new Ostrava indoor hall and the setting brought performances to match the occasion.
Last year, long jumper Radek Juska won silver medals at the European Athletics Indoor Championships and European Athletics U23 Championships and he is the national indoor champion after a last round 8.01m.
World indoor champion Pavel Maslak showed his impressive speed as he won the 200m (20.78) while double world 400m hurdles champion Zuzana Hejnova won the 400m (52.34). In the pole vault, Romana Malacova won with 4.50m and it was perfect timing on Saturday as she booked her place for the Olympic Games as the Czech Federation began recognising their standards for Rio from that day.
NETHERLANDS/SWEDEN
Top of the world this year with 7.00 from her 60m run in Berlin, Dafne Schippers now has 2016’s second best time with 7.03 after taking the title in Apeldoorn. Once more teammate Jamile Samuels showed her fine form behind her as she equalled her personal best (7.14), while European indoor 1500m champion Sifan Hassan ran an indoor 800m lifetime best (2:02.62).
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The return from injury for Swedish sprint hurdles star Susanna Kallur carried on at pace as she won the national 60m flat title in Malmo (7.34) to show the extent of her comeback. It is impressive grounding for the year ahead and for her main event over the barriers. Irene Ekelund (24.09) took the 200m and Michel Torneus won the long jump (7.82m).
BALKANS
Istanbul staged the 21st Balkan Indoor Championships and there was a fine performance from Serbia’s European indoor champion Ivana Spanovic as she won the long jump (6.78m). It was a championships of 16 countries and in the team competitions, the hosts led the way. Türkiye’s men won with 87.5 points from Romania (73) and Greece (50) while their women triumphed with 65 from Romania (62) and Greece (56.5).
Individually, Albania’s Luiza Gega broke the national 1500m record (4:06.89).
SWITZERLAND/DENMARK
Nicole Büchler made the headlines in St Gallen as she achieved an overall Swiss pole vault record of 4.72m on the second day of the national championships where Lea Sprunger won a double, taking the 200m in 23.28 and 400m in 53.20.
There was a national record, too, in Skive for Denmark’s 400m hurdler Sara Petersen in the 200m (23.87).
SLOVAKIA/FINLAND
Jana Veldakova won the Slovakian long jump title for the 11th time in Bratislava (6.41m) and in Tampere, Minna Nikkanen’s 4.55m beat World junior pole vault record-holder Wilma Murto (4.35m).
UKRAINE/ESTONIA
The Ukrainian championships in Sumy saw a national under-23 3000m record for Mykola Nyzhnyk (8:01.05) over 3000m and in Tallinn, Ksenija Balta’s 7.29 broke the Estonian 60m record.
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HUNGARY/PORTUGAL
Anita Marton was in good form at the Hungarian championships in Szombathely winning the shot put (18.43m) as Portugal’s Nelson Evora, the European indoor champion, celebrated more glory in the triple jump with 16.41m in Pombal.
There are 72 meetings across Europe this week, including a European Athletics Indoor Permit Meeting in Jablonec nad Nisou on Saturday. All the information is at http://www.european-athletics.org/calendar/