Fanny Roos fell short of the medals in the shot put at the Glasgow 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships but the Swedish record-holder had the beating of two athletes who finished ahead of her at the European Throwing Cup in Samorin, Slovakia on Sunday (10).
On a cool and drizzly morning at the x-bionic sphere, Roos was the only thrower to surpass the 18-metre line - a feat she achieved four times in succession. After starting with 18.30m, Roos surpassed that early benchmark with 18.44m in the second round before 18.36m in round three and then 18.05m in round four.
Roos, who finished sixth in Glasgow last weekend, didn’t improve with her last two throws but any of her first four efforts would have taken victory ahead of Moldova’s Dimitriana Surdu (17.99m) with two-time reigning champion Anita Marton from Hungary having to settle for third with 17.85m.
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While Roos dominated the shot put, all six of Quentin Bigot’s throws in the hammer would have sufficed for victory.
Despite the inclement conditions, Bigot didn’t have any problems navigating the throwing circle with four throws in excess of the 77-metre line - also the qualifying standard for the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar which begin in late September.
His best throw hit the turf at 78.14m in the fourth round and he also eclipsed the 78-metre line with his final attempt which landed at 78.09m. Only neutral athlete Denis Lukyanov - who had to settle for fifth-place with a best of 74.33m - has surpassed Bigot’s winning distance at this early juncture of the season.
Greece’s Mihail Anastasakis finished second with 76.38m, three centimetres ahead of another neutral athlete Yevgeniy Korotovskiy. Marcel Lomnicky just missed the podium on home soil, finishing fourth with 76.01m.
Germans dominate the women's discus in Samorin
The women’s discus went to form with Germans taking a one-two although the order from the European Championships was reversed with bronze medallist Shanice Craft taking victory ahead of silver medallist Nadine Muller.
Craft took the lead with 59.24m in the second round and regained it immediately after Muller recorded 59.74m in the fifth round courtesy of a winning effort of 59.79m with the very next throw of the competition.
Portugal’s Irina Rodrigues moved up to third with a fourth round throw of 58.05m while France’s Olympic silver medallist Melina Robert-Michon finished fourth on her return to international competition with a best of 56.57m.
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In the other senior competition on the second day, Hungary’s Norbert Rivasz-Toth recorded the best throw of his pool with 76.11m but this proved insufficient to surpass Slovenia’s Matija Kranjc who topped the overall standings with 76.17m from Group B.
The four best marks of the weekend all came in the U23 competition the previous day which was headed by Belarus’ Aliaksei Katkavets who recorded three throws in excess of the 82-metre line, including a national U23 record of 82.45m.
Mujaridze breaks championship record in U23 shot put
Georgia’s Giorgi Mujaridze had already set championship records of 19.70m and 19.77m in the first four rounds of the U23 shot put but the 20-year-old saved his best for the very end, improving the championship record for a third time with a lifetime best of 20.27m.
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There were national records elsewhere in the U23 competitions. In the discus, Slovenia’s Kristjan Ceh set a national U23 record of 62.90m to win the title and Italy’s Sara Zabarino won the javelin with a national U23 record of 58.62m to defeat 17-year-old European U18 champion Aliaksandra Konshyna from Belarus with 55.27m.
Neutral athlete Sofiya Palkina, the former world U18 champion, won the U23 hammer with 69.18m ahead of Belarus' Nastassia Maslava (68.13m) and Norway's Beatrice Nedberge Llano (67.89m).
In terms of the overall standings, Poland and Germany won the men’s and women’s titles and Belarus and Ukraine won the U23 titles.