1st March 2013 12:08
European leader and Czech champion Martin Stasek could only muster a modest best of 18.96m to make a premature exit from the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships that starts on Friday 1 March. The European No.2 Georgi Ivanov of Bulgaria suffered a similar fate with a best distance of 19.52m – to place 15th.
Another athlete who failed to advance was the 2011 European indoor bronze medallist Maksim Sidorov of Russia with 19.58m for 12th.
Leading the qualifiers for tomorrow night’s final – to be held takes inside the main arena - and the only man to achieve the automatic qualification distance of 20.15m was Asmir Kolasinac.
The Serb, who won a European outdoor bronze last summer, launched the put out to 20.31m with his first round effort.
Defending champion Ralf Bartels of Germany progressed into the eight-strong final in fifth with a best of 19.89m. Meanwhile, the host nation celebrated Niklas Arrhenius squeezing into the final in eighth with a best of 19.73m. His younger sibling by four years, Leif, the Swedish champion, was left frustrated in tenth with a best of 19.61m.