Seven women launched their shot put beyond the automatic qualifying mark of 18.20m with four of those even doing so on their first throw of the competition.
In summary
- Jessica Schilder and Yemisi Mabry ease into the women’s shot put final
- Bence Halász confirms spot to fight to finally reach the top of the podium
- Leonardo Fabbri’s title defence campaign off to a perfect start
Reigning champion and European leader, Jessica Schilder, was one of the four with Olympic champion Yemisi Mabry, world indoor bronze medallist Axelina Johansson, and two-time European indoor medallist Fanny Roos also joining her.
Schilder threw 19.00m while Mabry threw 19.25m to lead the rest of the field into the final on Monday evening as the Dutch athlete looks to become just the second woman to win the event three times.
While in the men’s hammer just two men, Volodymyr Myslyvcuk from Czechia and the heavily decorated Bence Halász, threw beyond the automatic qualifying mark of 78.00m.
Halász, who has one European bronze and two silver medals, an Olympic silver, and three world bronze medals, was the first man of the field to secure his spot in the final after throwing 79.58m in the first round.
France’s Yann Chausssinand qualified in third with 77.45m while Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan qualified in fourth with 77.40m, both athletes narrowly ahead of five-time world champion Paweł Fajdek who qualified in fifth with 77.35m.
The biggest shock was that defending champion Wojciech Nowicki failed to make it into the final despite a last round effort of 74.49m, leaving just Fajdek to extend Poland’s hold of the men’s hammer title which they have held since 2016.
It was a similar story in the men’s shot put with just two men, defending champion Leonardo Fabbri and former European indoor champion Tomáš Staněk, throwing beyond the automatic qualifying mark of 20.60m.
However Nick Ponzio, Wictor Petersson and Armin Sinancevic all threw beyond 20m to secure their place in the top five heading into the final.
Qualifying seemed a mere formality for Fabbri who eased over the yellow line, which showed where the automatic qualifying mark was, to 21.29m on his first attempt as he looks to complete his title defence and finally edge beyond 23m.
Ireland’s Eric Favors completed the line up with his first round throw of 19.54m enough to confirm his spot in the final which will see a very tight fight for medals.