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| Hagen Pohle of Germany celebrates after winning the men's 10,000m walk in Tallinn on Saturday. |
Hagen Pohle broke a 10-year Russian stranglehold on the 10,000m walk title in Tallinn this morning as the German added the European junior title to the world youth crown he picked up two years ago.
Echoing Yelena Lashmanova’s world record victory in the women’s event on Thursday, Pohle won it from the front, leading from start to finish to clock 40:43.73, some five seconds outside his season lead.
Pohle’s victory is the first for Germany in this event since Andreas Erm won in 1995 and the first by a non-Russian since 1999.
Wearing a peaked red cap and bright green shoes, Pohle dominated the second half of the race with his pattering style. He finished more than 100m ahead of Ihor Lyashenko as the Ukrainian followed him home to take silver in 41:10.43 with Spain’s Luís Alberto Amezcua bagging bronze and a personal best of 41:34.13.
“Gold tastes really good today,” said Pohle afterwards. “It was really stuffy out there today but the previous days were hotter so I knew what to expect and drank a lot of water. I focused on my race and not the weather.”
Decathlon
In fact the stifling weather of the first two days broke overnight as Tallinn was hit by a giant thunderstorm and a much-needed deluge at six this morning.
It was soon Europe’s best junior multi-eventers who were thundering down the track, however, as the decathlon 100m races kicked off action in the Kadriorg Stadium.
It wasn’t a great start for the favourite, however, as Kevin Mayer was below his best with 11.40, good enough only for 13th place for the Frenchman. But the world junior champion recovered with personal bests in long jump and shot to lie second after three events.
This year’s number one Johannes Hock of Germany leads after he also set PBs in the long jump and shot. Hock’s shot was particularly impressive as he improved his previous best by 60cm to 16.31.
Hock has 2557 points while Mayer’s final put of 14.65 pushed him ahead of Norway’s Martin Roe with 2482. Roe lies third with 2458, just five more than Estonian Karl-Robert Saluri with Germany’s Matthias Brugger another three behind.
Field events
Benedict Steinen confirmed his status as favourite for tomorrow’s discus final after breaching 60m in the qualifiers this morning. The German needed all three throws to find his range but eventually hit 60.46.
His compatriot Philippe Grewe was less happy, however. The European number two registered just one valid throw of 54.02, nearly nine metres below his best, but still goes through to the final.
Austrian record holder Lukas Weisshaldinger and Montenegro’s Furtula Danijel were also in form, both exceeding 59 metres.
There were no major casualties in the women’s shot qualifiers but just two women threw beyond the automatic mark of 15.20. That was Anna Wloka of Poland who was close to her season’s best with 15.53 and Russia’s Natalia Troneva who put 15.38.
Europe’s number one Lena Urbaniak will have to improve if she’s to add to her 2009 world youth title. The German managed only 14.73, nearly two metres short of her best.
Her teammate Anna Rüh, the discus silver medallist, will contest her second final of the championships after she qualified with a best of 15.18.
The women’s javelin brought the home nation’s main medal hope to the arena for the first time. Unfortunately, Liina Laasma’s efforts were seen by a sparse smattering of fans as group B started an hour after the rest of the action.
It was worth the wait though, as Laasma opened up with a effortless throw of 56.12, more than three metres beyond the yellow qualification tape. Job done.
It was simple enough for Latvia’s Lina Müze too. The world junior silver medallist did just enough in group A with 54.48. The Czech Republic’s Irena Sedivá, who lies third in the rankings, didn’t hit form till her third effort, landing at 55.68.
Prescilla Lecurieux of France was best of the qualifiers with her PB of 56.99 from group A. Kateryna Derun of Ukraine also threw a PB, 56.31, while Nathalie Meirer’s Swiss record of 53.46 was enough to get her in the final.
There was disappointment for Marija Vučenović though, as the Serbian was eliminate with a best of 5054.
Relays
With no Russian quartet in the line-up there’ll be a new name on the women’s 4x400m medal for the first time in seven editions of these championships. And that could well belong to Germany who were best of the qualifiers this morning, winning the first semi-final in 3:39.19 just ahead of Britain.
Poland won a tight finish in the other semi in 3:44.58. That race featured individual champion Bianca Razor who made up a huge deficit to give Romania a chance of qualifying. It was all rather wasted effort, however, as Romania were later disqualified along with Ukraine meaning only seven nations will contest the final.
Italy could be the team to beat in the men’s event after they posted the fastest time in the semis, 3:09.82, winning the first heat ahead of the Czech Republic.
Germany and Russia eased over the line together in the second semi and they will be medal threats too. Germany edged ahead on the line to clock 3:10.93.
Britain will have to improve to retain their title. The Britons were a poor third in the first race in 3:11.94, the slowest of the eight finallists.