Germany’s Robert Farken made an emphatic return at his specialist distance at the 58th edition of the Pfingstsportfest Rehlingen, a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting, on Sunday (28) evening.
Contesting his first 1500m since the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Farken powered to victory in a lifetime best of 3:32.10. Not only did Farken slash more than two seconds from his previous lifetime best of 3:34.64, the long-standing German record of 3:31.58 set by Thomas Wessinghage in 1980 now very much within his sights.
"I'm definitely satisfied, even if in retrospect it was close to the record. I've had the toughest year and a half of my life and I'm happy that I won here," said Farken as quoted by Leichtathletik.de.
In a fast race en masse, training partner George Mills from Great Britain was second in a lifetime best of 3:33.16 while Ossama Meslek also improved his best ever time to 3:34.70 in third - the fastest time by an Italian since 1995.
While Farken was forced to miss his home European Athletics Championships in Munich last summer due to injury, Julian Weber delighted the crowds in the Olympic Stadium with his victory in the javelin on the last day of the championships.
And Weber has taken that vein of form into the 2023 season, winning the javelin in Rehlingen with a season’s best of 88.37m, the third best performance of his career so far.
His two other valid throws - 81.59m and 83.52m - would have also sufficed for victory over Belgian record-holder Timothy Herman who was second with 79.47m.
The breakthrough performer of the meeting was Yemisi Ogunleye who added almost one metre to her lifetime best in the shot put during the course of the competition.
The 24-year-old improved her best ever mark from 18.53m to 19.04m and 19.08m with her first and fourth attempts respectively before struggling to hide her disbelief when she reached out to 19.31m with her fifth attempt.
Luxembourg’s Patrizia Van Der Weken also revised the record books twice in the 100m.
Only four days after setting a national 100m record of 11.18 in Savona, Van Der Weken improved to 11.17 in the 100m heats before winning the 100m final in 11.12 - her third Luxembourgish record in the space of four days.
The meeting was also highlighted by two fast 800m races. In the women's race, reigning European U20 champion Audrey Werro from Switzerland, who is eligible to defend her title in Jerusalem this August, won the women's 800m in 1:59.67 while Ben Pattison won the men's 800m in 1:45.45 ahead of British teammate Ethan Hussey who set a lifetime best of 1:45.71.
13.23 for Belocian in Forbach
Wilhem Belocian produced one of the highlights from a domestic perspective at the Meeting International de Forbach, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting, on Sunday (28) afternoon.
On the comeback from injury which forced him to miss the majority of the 2022 season, Belocian ran a slick 13.23 in the 110m hurdles heats. The 28-year-old made a few more visible errors in the final but still won easily in 13.40.
Fourth at the World Athletics Championships last summer, Wilfried Happio won the 400m hurdles in 49.22 ahead of European U20 champion Berke Akcam from Turkey in 50.08 while David Sombe ran a big lifetime best of 45.47 in the 400m.
Multiple world champion Pawel Fajdek from Poland won the men's hammer with 76.42m while Finland's Silja Kosonen won the women's hammer with 71.04m.