The name of Sandra Elkasevic might not be a wholly familiar name yet but under her maiden name, Sandra Perkovic won a record six successive European discus titles and will be aiming to extend her record with a seventh gold medal at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships from 7-12 June.
Now married to her long-time coach Edis Elkasevic, a former world U20 shot put champion, the Croatian will be in the mix again at a championships at which she is yet to suffer defeat, winning every edition of the discus since Barcelona 2010 when she produced a sixth-round effort of 64.67m to begin her run of unbridled discus dominance.
Elkasevic faced one of her biggest challenges to date two years ago in Munich where she won by a mere eight centimetres from Germany’s Kristin Pudenz who rose to the occasion with a lifetime best in front of her home fans with 67.87m.
And while Pudenz is absent this year, a strong cast of continental throwers, including a strong German triumvirate, will take on the respected Croatian for the European discus title.
Jorinde Van Klinken from the Netherlands will expect to be a major force in the, having set the national record of 70.22m in 2021. Later that year she won the European U23 discus title before, going on to finishing fourth at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich.
Van Klinken, who has also finished a tantalising fourth at the last two editions of the World Athletics Championships, has a season’s best of 64.88m – but clearly potential for far more.
The 66.30m thrown by 33-year-old qualified doctor Irina Rodrigues of Portugal to take an emotional win on home soil at the European Throwing Cup on 10 March, led the European season’s list and she will be a clear medal prospect.
But she has dropped a place following the effort of 67.31m produced by Germany’s 32-year-old Tokyo 2020 Olympian Marike Steinacker on 11 May.
There will also be a strong challenge from the German pairing of Claudine Vita and Shanice Craft, both 66 metre-throwers who have reached 64.76m and 64.75m this season and have won medals in past editions of the European Athletics Championships..
Also watch out for Italy’s 28-year-old Daisy Osakue, the 2019 World University Games champion who set a national record of 63.66m at the Tokyo Olympics while French veteran Melina Robert-Michon, who is making a record eighth appearance at the European Athletics Championships, will be a threat to return to the medal rostrum if she reproduces her season's best of 63.26m next week.
Breakthrough shot put star Ogunleye to challenge for gold
Germany’s 25-year-old Yemisi Ogunleye has already produced one shock result this year in taking shot put silver at the World Athletics Indoor Championships. Can she build on that with another podium performance in Rome?
Ogunleye’s first-round effort of 20.19m – far surpassing her personal best of 19.57m - looked for a while as if it might earn her gold in Glasgow. That was until Canada’s Sarah Mitton came through to beat it by a centimetre with her fourth-round effort, confirming her success with a last throw of 20.22m.
But it was still a huge achievement for Ogunleye, whose effort puts her second on this year’s European list behind the 20.24m achieved by reigning champion Jessica Schilder at the Dutch Indoor Championships.
Despite coming into the World Indoor Championships with that mark to her credit Schilder, 25, performed disappointingly in Glasgow, finishing fifth on 19.37m – her only counting throw out of six.
She will be hoping to get back to business as usual as she defends the title she won two years ago in Munich with a national outdoor record of 20.24m.
The year of 2022 was something of an annus mirabilis for the Dutch thrower as she also earned world indoor and outdoor bronze. Will that form be on show in the Stadio Olimpico?
If Schilder falters she will face a number of ready challengers for her title, not least Sweden’s Fanny Roos, who was ninth in Glasgow with 18.21m but has recorded 18.99m this season.
Roos, 29, has a solid record as a championship performer, having earned European indoor silver in 2021 and bronze last year in Istanbul.
Schilder will also be wary of her multi-talented 24-year-old compatriot Jorinde Van Klinken, who took bronze behind her in Munich and states her ambitions to win medals in both the shot put and discus in Roma 2024.
Wide open contests beckon in the javelin and hammer
Two years after taking European javelin silver in Munich behind Greece’s Elina Tzengko, Serbia’s Adriana Vilagos looks ready to step onto the European podium once again as she stands second in this season’s list with the 63.58m she achieved in Offenburg on May 12.
That effort was surpassed on 22 May, however, by Austria’s Victoria Hudson, who finished fifth at the World Athletics Championships, as she threw 66.06m in Eisenstadt.
And Spain’s Yulenmis Aguilar, who has just gained clearance to compete for her adopted country having previously competed for Cuba, is the thrower who comes into this event with the second best effort of the season with a season’s best of 63.03m..
Reigning champion Tzengko, meanwhile, is yet to show her best form this year. She is currently 12th on the 2024 European list having only reached 60.43m so far this season.
Also present in Rome will be one other European thrower who has registered a 63 metre throw this year – Latvia’s Anete Sietina, who threw 63.21 on May 18. Also watch out for Poland’s Olympic silver medallist Maria Andrejczyk, the third longest thrower in history with 71.40m, who is returning to form after a shoulder injury with a season’s best of 62.72m.
At 38, two years after a severe thigh injury sustained while accosting a thief, Poland’s hammer throw legend Anita Wlodarczyk has entered the lists again, although her season’s best of 72.09m is only the tenth best of those involved, and more than 10 metres adrift of her world record of 82.98m.
What can this championship performer par excellence, who has won four European titles among numerous other accolades, produce in Rome?
If she can get close to her best of 2023 - 74.31m - she could be in with a chance of yet another medal against a field where the leading performer this year is Moldova’s Zalina Marghieva with a personal best and national record of 75.95m, followed by Finland’s Krista Tervo and reigning European champion Bianca Ghelber of Romania, who have 2024 bests of 74.63m and 74.06m respectively.
Watch out too for Italy’s 2022 European bronze medallist Sara Fantini, who has a personal best of 75.77m and may give the home supporters cause for joy, as well as reigning European U23 champion Silja Kosonen from Finland.
Another clear threat will be Azerbaijan’s 32-year-old Hanna Skydan, European bronze medallist in 2016, who has since finished fifth and fourth at those Championships and missed the world podium by one place last year. She has a best this season of 73.25m, and has a personal best of 77.10m.
Mike Rowbottom for European Athletics