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| Defending discus champion Sandra Perkovic will face a stiff challenge from world season-leader Nadine Müller of Germany in Helsinki. |
A titanic competition is on the cards in the women's discus where Croatia's defending champion Sandra Perković will take on Germany's world championship silver medallist Nadine Müller.
Perković threw a national record of 68.24m at last month's Diamond League meeting in Shanghai, but even that did not displace the 26-year-old German from the top of this year's listings thanks to her monster effort of 68.89m at the European Cup Winter Throw in Bar on March 18 – the best women's discus throw since 2004.
Through their healthy rivalry Müller and Perković have ensured the Europe is leading the way in the discus. Cuba's Olympic silver medallist Yarelys Barrios, with an effort of 68.03, is third in the 2012 lists, followed by China's world champion Yanfeng Li and Stephanie Brown Trafton of the United States.
The 20-year-old Perković became the youngest ever European champion in the women's discus in Barcelona thanks to a final round effort of 64.67m which moved her up from the silver medal position. It was another indicator that this Croatian competitor should never be written off. In July 2009, Perković had won the European junior title with the best performance in 20 years despite having had to take three months out earlier in the year following an operation for a near-fatal infection following a burst appendix.
Perković followed up her success in Shanghai by winning at the Eugene Diamond League with a meeting record of 66.92.
Müller has a particular reason for wanting to do well in Helsinki given that she entered the last European Championships as favourite but was unable to manage better than eighth place. She said earlier this season she was hoping to reach 70 metres within the next two years, but added: 'My targets are medals and golds this year,' said Müller. 'It's great throwing long distances and setting personal records but medals are the most important thing.'
Should either of the two favourites falter, there are numerous world class performers ready to take advantage, led by Germany's Julia Fischer, whose personal best of 64.88m this season – achieved in Wiesbaden last month – puts her at 11th in the world list, and fifth in the European list.
Also in the field will be Lithuania's Zinaida Sendriute, whose 64.03m puts her one place behind the German in the European list, along with two other medal challengers – Nataliya Semenova of the Ukraine, who has a season's best of 63.56m, and Russia's Yekaterina Strokova, who has a personal best of 63.52m this year.
Obergföll's moment of glory
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| Will it be Christina Obergföll's turn to claim the top prize in Helsinki? |
In the javelin, there are rich possibilities of medals for a group of hugely talented throwers led by Germany's Christina Obergföll, who now has a big chance to add a major gold to the bronze she won at the last Olympics and the silvers she has collected at the 2005 and 2007 world championships and at the last European Championships.
Obergföll, whose 2007 personal best of 70.20m makes her the fourth furthest thrower of all-time, registered a season's best of 67.04m in St Wendel on June 10, which put her third in this year's listings behind the 69.35m reached by South Africa's Sunette Viljoen and Czech Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova's 68.73m.
With both Spotakova and world champion Mariya Abakumova of Russia opting out of Helsinki, Obergföll appears to be the strongest contender for gold – but she will not have it easy given the presence of other proven competitors such as Britain's Goldie Sayers, whose British record of 65.75m in the last Olympic final saw her miss out on a medal by just one place and who recorded 64.73m at the Rome Diamond League on May 31 to move to sixth in the season's European listings.
For the 29-year-old Suffolk-born athlete, these championships offer the chance to earn a well-merited first major championship medal.
Obergföll won the German national title at the weekend in 65.86m, but was challenged closely by the 2010 European champion Linda Stahl, whose effort of 64.35m indicates she could find herself on the podium again.
Vera Rebryk of the Ukraine will also fancy her medal chances, having thrown a national record of 66.53m in Yalta last month, as will Slovenia's Martina Ratej, who reached out to 65.24m in February.
Battle of the biggest throwers in history
The hammer throw offers a similarly top level meeting of talents to the discus as the two furthest throwers of all time – Germany's Betty Heidler, the world record holder, and Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland, who have efforts of, respectively, 79.42m and 78.30m to their credit – dispute European gold.
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| Hammer world record Betty Heidler of Germany. |
Heidler, world champion in 2007, is the defending European champion in Helsinki, but Wlodarczyk, who succeeded the German as world champion in 2009 with what was then a world record of 77.96, can never be discounted as a competitive force.
Heidler's effort in Ostrava last month of 78.07m has only been bettered this year by the 78.19 achieved by Oksana Miankova of Belarus, who will not be in Helsinki, with Wlodarczyk, on 75.60m, her closest challenger in Helsinki in terms of world and European listings.
But the hammer field has great strength in depth – Germany's Kathrin Klaas has thrown 75.13m this year, Zalina Marghieva will seek to become the first woman from Moldova to stand on the podium at the European Championships having raised her personal best to 74.47m this season, Anna Skydan of the Ukraine has managed a personal best of 74.21m this year and Tugce Oahutoglu of Türkiye has also thrown a best ever this season of 74.17m.
Britain's 20-year-old former world junior champion, Sophie Hinchon, is also improving fast, having broken her national record three times this year, raising it to 71.61 in California at the end of April. She will be seeking to move even closer to the podium in Finland.
An open field in the shot
In the shot put, the absence of the 2012 world leading athlete Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus opens up the event for a field which includes Russia's Olesya Sviridova, third in the 2012 European listings thanks to her effort of 19.72m in Adler on May 27, and Germany's Nadine Kleinert, who has a best of 20.20 and has managed 19.67 this season, ranking her fifth in Europe.
These two have powerful team mates – Irina Tarasova of Russia has a 2012 personal best of 19.35, while Germany also field Christina Schwanitz, who reached 19.15 in the indoor season, and Josephine Terlecki, who has thrown 18.87 this year.