18th July 2013 06:36
Ali Kaya smashed the championships record to win an extraordinary men’s 10,000m final at the end of an action-packed day at the European Junior Championships in Rieti which also saw Mesud Pezer pick up an historic shot put gold for Bosnia.
The results show that Kaya – former Eldoret-born Kenyan Stephen Kiprotich – won at a canter in 28:31.16, with Lorenzo Dini claiming a loudly cheered silver almost a minute back in 29:31.11. The bronze went to Dino Bosnjak of Croatia in 29:59.07 ahead of Russia’s Mikhail Strelkov.
But the numbers don’t tell half the story of a dramatic race which saw Kaya lap the entire field causing the confused Strelkov to stop a full 400m before the end thinking he had finished alongside the Turk when in truth he still had another circuit to go.
Strelkov believed he’d beaten Dini to silver and buried his head in his hands when told of his mistake before jogging a forlorn final lap in the Italian’s wake.
That drama shouldn’t take away from Kaya’s performance though, for he led from first to last, running solo to beat Christian Leuprecht’s 24-year-old championships by more than half a minute and go third on the European junior all-time list.
“This run was good. I could set a new national record which is also a new championships record,” said Kaya, who took up athletics when he moved to Türkiye in 2010 and has recently gained citizenship.
Strelkov’s mistake allowed the delighted Dini to deliver the hosts’ first medal of the championships, although the Italian may well have beaten the Russian to silver anyway.
“I destroyed my personal best, and the support of the Italian public on the tribune was fuel for my race,” he said. “I feel great because I’m the first Italian to win a medal on this first day of the championships.
“I came here completely distressed and I reached my concentration in the warm up area. It was an awesome result.”
Pezer puts Bosnia on the medal table
It was an awesome result for Pezer too as he won the Balkan nation’s first ever medal at a European Junior championships, taking gold in a bruising shot put final which saw the lead change hands half a dozen times between three athletes.
Pezer came into the event as the highest ranked European junior and he topped this morning’s qualifying round with ease. But the final was anything but easy as Croatia’s Filip Mihaljevic pushed him all the way.
Lying third at half way, Pezer had to come from behind to take the lead in the fifth by 3cm from the Croatian before sending his sixth effort out to 20.44, breaking his own national junior record by 4cm.
Not that he was entirely content. “I am happy with a medal but even if it was a national junior record, I am not really satisfied,” he said. “I have already thrown better in training and I expected something in the sixties.”
Mihaljevic finished second 21cm behind, while Andrzej Regin took a surprise bronze with a last round PB of 20.07, shoving his teammate, the half-way leader Dawid Krzyzan, off the podium.
“This medal is awesome,” said Mihaljevic of his first international success. “I trained a lot to get this result, but I only started athletics a year and a half ago. I played football before. It was my cousin who brought me to the shot put and I am glad how it turned out.”
Thiam extends heptathlon lead
Nafissatou Thiam was glad too after she stretched her lead at the top of the heptathlon standings to end day one 74 points clear of Sweden’s Sofia Linde. Thiam took her day-one total to 3774 with a PB of 14.26 in the shot and 25.15 in the 200m.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for the tall Belgian, however, as she almost came a cropper with two fouls from her first pair of puts, and she was below her best in the 200m too.
Linde moved second with a big shot PB of 14.46 and then matched Thiam’s 200m time. Nadine Visser remains third with 3664, more than 100 points ahead of Thiam’s teammate Marjolein Lindemans following two more PBs for the Dutchwoman.
Akakpo on track for gold
On the track, Stella Akakpo looks uncatchable in the women’s dash. The French speedster produced her second sparkling run of the day in the semi-finals, overcoming a touch of cramp to clock 11.39 following her 11.26 heat this morning.
Akakpo won by some five metres from Klára Seidlová with Italy’s Silvia Corbucci taking the third automatic final place.
Sophie Papps ran hard to win the second semi in 11.77 ahead of Ireland’s Phil Healy. The Briton looks a good bet for silver but will have to improve by half a second to catch the flying Frenchwoman.
The men’s 100 is shaping up to be a closer affair with Bulgaria’s pre-champs favourite Denis Dimitrov facing stiff competition from Briton Chijindu Ujah and Zdenek Stromsik of the Czech Republic.
Dimitrov was the quickest semi-finalist in 10.47, three hundredths ahead of Stromsik, while Ujah clocked 10.50 to win the second semi, eight hundredths ahead of Stuart Dutamby of France.
Razor sharp in 400 semis
Bianca Razor looks in form to defend her 400m title although it will be a tight tussle with Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz of Poland. The Romanian was a raw 16 when she won two years ago and she cruised into the 2013 final running 52.60 to win her semi-final, while Wyciszkiewicz was just one hundredth slower in her semi.
Wyciszkiewicz had to overhaul the surprise of the round, Catia Azvedo, who lowered her national junior record to 52.76 to win her place. A bronze medal beckons for the Portuguese.
Patryk Dobek threw down the gauntlet to his rivals in the men’s one-lap semis. The Pole ran conservatively in the heats this morning, but he powered away from Russia’s Pavel Ivashko this evening to move into tomorrow’s final as favourite. Dobek clocked 46.44 while Ivashko clawed his way into second palce with 47.12.
Frenchman Thomas Jordier was unruffled in winning his semi in 46.82 ahead of Croatian hope Mateo Ruzic who also dipped under 47.
Fearless Hendriksdottir
Any question that Anita Hendriksdottir would be feeling the strain after her victorious exploits at the World Youth Championships in Donetsk last weekend were quickly blown away when the 17-year-old Icelander flew round the first lap of her 800m semi-final in 57.81, some 20 metres ahead of the field.
She slowed, of course, but still crossed the line almost a second clear of Germany’s Katharina Trost in 2:02.61. The 800m women had to paddle through puddles round the top bend of the track following a passing thunderstorm, but that didn’t worry fearless Hendriksdottir who goes into Saturday’s final as the fastest qualifier.
Olena Sidorska looks set to be her biggest threat. The long-striding Ukrainian was imperious at the front of the first heat, leading from start to finish to clock 2:04.50 ahead of another German, Christina Hering.
Ireland’s medal hope Siofra Cleirigh-Buttner safely negotiated the more sedate third race, finishing second behind yet another German, Christine Gess, who crossed in 2:07.92.
Süleyman Bekmezci looks the man to beat in the men’s 1500m. The Turk held off Britain’s Jake Wightman to win the second semi in 3:43.75, the fastest of the day.
A late run for home brought Ireland’s Sean Tobin victory in the slow first heat which saw Wightman’s teammate and medal-favourite Matthew McLaughlin struggle home in fourth. That was enough for him, just, while Ireland’s main medal hope, Shane Fitzsimons, faded to sixth and misses the final.
Oona Kettunen of Finland and Slovenia’s Marusa Mismas strode across the line virtually side-by-side to go through to the women’s steeplechase final where they’ll face Sweden’s impressive Maria Larsson. Kettunen got the nod in the first race by a hundredth in 10:05.83 while Larsson ran solo to win the second semi in 9:56.90, a touch outside her PB.
Germany’s Maya Rehberg was second in that race, while this morning’s walk champion Anezka Drahotova proved her versatility (not to mention her stamina) by finishing third to win a place in the final.
Usmanov out
High jump hope Usman Usmanov was the biggest name to miss out in the field event qualifiers. The Russian has a best this year of 2.18, but couldn’t get over 2.08 this afternoon.
Usmanov’s teammate Mikhail Akimenko will go into the final as favourite after a clean record with Tihomir Ivanov of Bulgaria his most likely challenger. Only eight men cleared 2.12 in drizzly conditions, 4cm below the qualifying height.
Oleg Zernikel of Germany was one of only two men with a clean record in the pole vault as 10 of the 12 qualifiers went over 5.05.
A personal best of 7.69 saw Denmark’s Benjamin Gabrielsen into the long jump final as the best qualifier while Sweden’s Lynn Johnson led the women’s triple jump list with 13.13 as seven went beyond 13 metres.
In the throws, Germany’s Julian Weber will battle Maksym Bohdan of Ukraine in the men’s javelin final after the two favourites qualified effortlessly with throws beyond 77 metres. Weber reached 77.02 only for Bohdan to go further with 77.27, a PB by more than a metre.
Karolina Makul of Poland was the only woman beyond 50 metres in the discus qualifiers. Makul topped out at 51.79 with Russia’s Natalya Shirobokova and Belgium’s Belén Toimil the only other throwers over the automatic mark of 49.00.
Gold favourite Tetyana Yuryeva was nearly nine metres short of her best, but still went through, while Germany’s Julia Hartwig was the event’s main casualty.