Two notable national records provided the highlights at the Memorial Matica Šuštaršiča in Patrika Cvetana, a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger event, in Kranj, Slovenia on Saturday (11).
Filip Pravdica smashed the Croatian long jump record with 8.35m (+1.5 m/s) to move to second on the 2024 world list behind Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou who tops the list with 8.36m.
The 28-year-old's performance, which marked an improvement of 20 centimetres on his previous lifetime best, was also an automatic qualifying mark for the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships as well as the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
And in the 400m hurdles, 20-year-old Matic Ian Gucek improved his Slovenian record on home soil to 48.66.
At the Horst Mandl Memorial in Graz on Sunday (12), former European U23 champion Henrik Larsson improved his Swedish 100m record to 10.08 while reigning world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson opened her season with 44.88m in the javelin and 13.68 in the 100m hurdles.
Rising star Vilagos improves to 63.58m for victory in Offenburg
Two of Europe's brightest talents prevailed in the Hylo Speerwurfmeeting in Offenburg, a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger meeting, on Sunday (12) afternoon.
In the women's javelin, European silver medallist Adriana Vilagos set a lifetime best of 63.58m with her first throw of the competition which went unsurpassed for the entirety of the competition.
However, South Africa’s Joe-Ann Van Dyk came within one centimetre of the 20-year-old Serbian’s leading mark with 63.57m while Poland’s Maria Andrejczyk finished third with 62.72m, her longest throw since the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games where she won silver with 64.61m.
In the men’s javelin, European U20 and U23 champion Artur Felfner from Ukraine produced a season’s best of 83.95m in the fifth round to overtake Germany’s Max Dehning - the newest member of the 90 metre-plus club - who had to settle for second with 80.50m.
13.28 for Martinez in Ibiza
Reigning European champion Asier Martinez opened his season with a fast 13.29 in the 110m hurdles at the Meeting de Atletismo Toni Bonet, a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger meeting, on Saturday (11) to defeat former Olympic silver medallist Orlando Ortega who clocked 13.89 in his first race since May 2022.
Elsewhere around the world…
There were three notable British victories at the Jamaica Invitational in Kingston on Saturday (11) evening on the road to Roma 2024.
Reigning European 200m champion Zharnel Hughes sped to a European lead and a sub-20 second clocking with 19.96 - the fourth fastest time of his career - while two-time European 400m champion Matthew Hudson-Smith also won in a European lead of 44.69.
In the women’s 200m, four-time European champion Dina Asher-Smith edged out Cote d’Ivoire’s Jessika Gbai for a popular victory in her first race on Jamaican soil, the pair timed at 22.51 to 22.53 respectively.
Fellow Brit Amber Anning broke the 50 second-barrier for the first time in the 400m and closed in on Christine Ohuruogu’s revered British record with a 49.51 clocking at the SEC Championships in Gainesville, Florida on Saturday.
And double Olympic champion Sifan Hassan returned to the track with a 14:58.83 5000m clocking at the Sound Running Track Fest in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Steven Mills for European Athletics