There were fast times, Olympic qualifying standards and national records en masse in the men’s race in the Barcelona Marathon on Sunday (19).
Former European marathon record-holder Kaan Kigen Ozbilen from Türkiye, 37, made the podium again with a third-place finish in 2:05:37 while 40-year-old Tadesse Abraham finished sixth in 2:06:43 - only five seconds shy of his Swiss record.
After the disappointment of missing the SPAR European Cross Country Championships on home soil in December due to coronavirus, Iliass Aouani rebounded by finishing ninth in an Italian record of 2:07:16 while Filimon Abraham went to second on the German all-time list with 2:08:22 in his first completed marathon.
In the women’s race, Kenyan-born Romanian Delvine Meringor finished an excellent third in a lifetime best of 2:20:49 to move to sixth on the European all-time list.
Atkin approaches European 5km record in Lille
In a fast road 5km in Lille on Sunday, Sam Atkin finished sixth in a British record of 13:16 to move to third on the European all-time list behind Jimmy Gressier (13:12) and Yemaneberhan Crippa (13:14).
Ethiopia’s former world indoor champion Yomif Kejelcha won the race in 12:50, missing the world record by just one second.
European 3000m steeplechase champion Luiza Gega set yet another Albanian record, finishing seventh in the 5km in 15:16. Gega holds every Albanian record from 800m (2:01.31) to the marathon (2:35:34).
Two-time European cross country champion Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal from Norway stepped up in distance to finish third in the New York Half Marathon in 69:53 in a race won by Kenya’s Hellen Obiri in 67:21.
Fast 200m for Hughes in Kingston
Four-time European champion Zharnes Hughes sped to a fast 20.25 in the 200m into a 1.4 m/s headwind at the Jim Wolmer’s Sprint Festival in Kingston on Saturday (18).
Fellow four-time European champion and British teammate Matthew Hudson-Smith dropped down in distance for his outdoor season’s debut and sped to a 20.70 clocking over 200m at the Annual Spring Break Classic in Carolina, Puerto Rico on Saturday (18) - just 0.11 shy of his lifetime best.
Two-time world U20 javelin champion Adriana Vilagos from Serbia threw 57.92m at the Serbian U20 Throwing Cup in Belgrade on Sunday (19).