Ukrainian hammer thrower Mykhaylo Kokhan continued his prodigious progress when he won at the 11th Istvan Gyulai Memorial meeting in Szekesfehervar, Hungary with a personal best of 80.78m on Monday.
Not only did Kokhan go over 80 metres for the first time in his life at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, his big throw coming in the fourth round, he set a world age-20 best for the event and beat a host of illustrious names.
Behind him was the reigning European champion, Poland’s Wojciech Nowicki, who finished second with 80.58m, with fellow Pole and four-time world champion Pawel Fajdek third with 78.78m.
“Eighty metres was my goal for this competition and I’m pleased that I did it,” reflected Kokhan. “It’s good to beat Pawel and Wojciech, but they’re probably in heavy training at the moment.”
Kokhan’s effort was also the best by a European U23 thrower since 2004. He has been on an upward trajectory ever since he took the world U18 title in 2017.
The following year he set a world U18 best of 87.82m with the 5kg implement when winning the European U18 title and in 2019 he won the European U20 title with a continental record of 84.73m before finishing an astonishing fifth at the World Athletics Championships later that summer at the age of 18.
His next competition will be later this week at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, with the hammer throw qualifying on Thursday and final on Friday.
All eyes will be on whether Kokhan can improve further and beat the long-standing championship record of 80.88m which has stood to France’s Nicolas Figere since the 2001 edition in Amsterdam.
Poland’s world record holder and two-time defending Olympic champion Anita Wlodarczyk continued her return to form after surgery.
She threw 74.76m in third round in Szekesfehervar to secure her second successive win. Three women threw over 74 metres in a close and exciting competition with French record-holder Alexandra Tavernier reaching 74.69m with her last throw and Poland’s Malwina Kopron finishing third with 74.02m.
Belgium’s Cynthia Bolingo improved the Belgian 400m record for the third time in five weeks when she ran 50.29m at the Meeting Stanislas in Nancy, France.
The time at the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting is also the best by a European in 2021 and the fastest by a European since Christine Ohuruogu in 2013. Second was Authorised Neutral Athlete and European U20 champion Polina Miller who clocked a personal best of 50.76.
Reigning European indoor champion Wilhelm Belocian got a home win in the 110 m hurdles with 13.16 (-0.6), just 0.01 shy of his personal best and European-lead set when winning the French national title last month.
Greece’s Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou cleared a season’s best of 4.70m to win the pole vault and provide the other meeting highlight.