20th August 2012 11:41
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| Local hero Anita Wlodarczyk defeated Olympic champion Tatyana Lysenko of Russia to claim the hammer title at the 3rd Kamila Skolimowska Memorial meeting in Warsaw on Sunday. |
On a sunny summer afternoon, Olympic champions were defeated in both the women’s hammer and the men’s shot put competitions.
Home star Anita Wlodarczyk brought her top form into the women’s hammer event, her best throw of 76.70m proved sufficient to beat Russian Olympic champion Tatyana Lysenko, who could only manage 73.91m.
In the men’s shot put, Olympic bronze medallist Reese Hoffa of the U.S.A. defeated double Olympic champion and Polish star, Tomasz Majewski, with a best of 21.72m, nearly a metre clear of Majewski’s best of 20.84m.
In an exhibition 5kg shot, Hoffa again stamped his authority over the field, with a best effort of 25.20m over Canadian Justin Rodhe’s 24.68m and Majewski’s 24.54m.
The sprint events were affected by a head wind, but European 400m champion Pavel Maslak’s time of 45.10 in the 400m stood out as the performance of the day.
Jamaican Olympic relay winner Kemar Bailey-Cole stamped his class on the 100m field, winning with a time of 10.24 (-1.6), beating Trinidadian Keston Bledman (10.28), Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis (10.29) and Gerald Phiri of Zambia (10.29).
Olympic bronze winner, the Jamaican Hansle Parchment, battled to win over a strong hurdles field with a time of 13.34 (-1.5), while fellow Jamaican Warren Weir came first in the 200m with a time of 20.49 (-1.8).
Kenyan Nicholas Koech won a tight 800m race in 1:46.12, beating Polish runners Marcin Lewandowski (1:46.48), Adam Kszczot (1:47.17) and Olympic 1500m silver medallist, Leo Manzano of the United States of America (1:47.84).
Polish veteran Szymon Ziolkowski won the men’s hammer with a best of 76.52m, while in the discus, fellow Pole Piotr Malachowski defeated the Olympic bronze medallist Gerd Kanter of Estonia with 65.53m over Kanter’s 63.92m.
American Jeneba Tarmoh clocked a fast 11.30 into a -1.2 head wind, beating Olympic 4x100m relay bronze medallist Olesya Povkh of Ukraine who could only manage 11.41.
British pole vaulter Steve Lewis showed impressive form with a 5.63m clearance in windy conditions, while American Brenda Martinez won a tactical 1500m race with a time of 4:20.31.
‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius of South Africa tested his shape in his only 100m before the Paralympics, coming fifth in the B-race with a time of 11.17 (-1.5):
“That was the best preparation for my Paralympic 100m,” said Pistorius.
Gordeeva clears 2.04m
Russian high jumper Irina Gordeyeva, who finished 10th at the Olympic Games, cleared 2.04m in Eberstadt, Germany, setting a new personal best and the second best jump in the world in 2012.
She showed her ambition by then attempting to set a new Russian record of 2.08m, though she was unsuccessful.
Olympic bronze medallist and fellow Russian, Svetlana Shkolina, was second with 2.00m, while the European champion Ruth Beitia of Spain was third with 1.97m. Belgian Tia Hellebaut, the Olympic champion from 2008, was fourth, also clearing 1.97m while German Marie-Laurence Jungfleisch was fifth with a clearance of 1.94m.