Home hope Iosif Kesidis got the European Throwing Cup in Nicosia, Cyprus underway in style on Saturday (15) with a brilliant personal best to win the men’s U23 hammer competition.
In the opening discipline of the two-day event, all eyes were on the exciting Cypriot prospect who won world U20 gold in Lima, Peru last year. In just his second round throw, he added 27cm to his personal best with 72.50m.
The 19-year-old then improved with a fourth round 72.96m and finished with a sixth round 72.78m for a solid card that sets out his stall for the year ahead, which could include July’s European Athletics U23 Championships in Bergen, Norway and September’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
Revelling in perfect warm conditions, Hungary’s Miklós Csekő also produced a lifetime best, finishing second with a third round 71.54m, an improvement of 55cm. In a high quality competition, third place went to Greece’s 2022 world u20 gold medallist Ioannis Korakidis with a fifth round 71.08m.
Janseen gets better of Ceh in discus
In the senior men’s discus, there was a surprising defeat for current European champion and former world champion Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia. He produced a solid, if not spectacular, series of throws just over the 65 metre line, the best being a fifth round 65.69m effort.
But he was narrowly beaten by Germany’s Henrik Janssen with a fourth round best of 65.77m, an early season European Lead. It was arguably a career best result for the German who was fifth in last year’s Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships.
Third place went to Martynas Alekna, elder brother of world record holder Mykolas. The Lithuanian produced a best of 63.96m.
Finest margin decides U23 shot
The men’s U23 shot put produced a great tussle between Germany’s Tizian Lauria and the Netherlands’ Jarno van Daalen.
The Dutch athlete, the world U20 champion, looked to have a firm grip on the competition when landing a third round 19.54m, adding a chunky 1.11m to his lifetime best. He couldn’t quite squeeze out something further still and logged three consecutive fouls.
But Lauria, 2023 European U23 champion, drew confidence from a fourth round 19.21m and with his final throw, landed a superb 19.55m to sneak the victory by a single centimetre. Finland’s Miika Lahtonen was third with a personal best of 18.70m.
European Athletics President Dobromir Karamarinov was in attendance at the venue, which is hosting the European Throwing Cup for the first of three successive years.
He took part in the Opening Ceremony and also took the opportunity to meet with the President and Vice President of the Cyprus Sports Organisations, the Ministry of Education and the Mayor of Strovolos.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics