It has taken a handful of races for reigning world 110m hurdles champion Sergey Shubenkov to approach his best form but his performance at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Szekesfehervar, a European Athletics Classic Permit Meeting, on Tuesday (4) will undoubtedly shorten his odds ahead of the World Championships in London.
Shubenkov, who will be competing as an Authorised Neutral Athlete in the British capital next month, pushed Olympic champion and world-leader Omar McLeod from Jamaica right to the line in Szekesfehervar. McLeod stopped the clock at 12.96 while Shubenkov was rewarded with the second fastest time of his career at 13.01 - just a fraction shy of his lifetime best of 12.98 set at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing.
The standard of sprint hurdling in Europe has been very high this season with eight European athletes ranked inside the top-15 on the season’s lists. Balazs Baji broke new ground on home soil last night, improving his Hungarian record - his fifth of the season - from 13.23 to 13.15 to finish fourth, and just inches behind world record-holder Aries Merritt in 13.11.
From an international perspective, the 100m hurdles produced the highlight of the meet. Kendra Harrison, who shares the same coach as McLeod, stopped the clock at 12.28, just 0.08 adrift of the world record which she set in London last year.
Tamberi adds eight centimetres to his season's best
After no-heighting in the Paris Diamond League on Saturday night, Gianmarco Tamberi was competitive with two athletes with 2.40m-plus lifetime bests just three days later in Szekesfehervar.
It has been nearly a year since Tamberi was stretchered off the infield at the Monaco Diamond League after tearing ligaments in his ankle but the reigning European champion, who only made his return to competition less than a month ago, is beginning to rediscover some good form ahead of the World Championships.
Tamberi needed three attempts at 2.20m to equal his season’s best but after an early competition wobble, the 25-year-old then went clear at 2.23m and 2.26m before clearing 2.28m on his first attempt.
Former world champion Bogdan Bondarenko from Ukraine claimed victory on countback with a first-time clearance at 2.30m - a height beyond Tamberi’s capacity yesterday - ahead of teammate Andriy Protsenko. Bondarenko also had one attempt at a season’s best of 2.34m before retiring from the competition.
Wlodarczyk and Fajdek extend unbeaten streaks
Anita Wlodarczyk hasn’t lost a competition in over three years and barring disaster, the world record-holder looks poised to claim her third gold medal at the World Championships next month after winning her 37th successive competition in Szekesfehervar.
Wlodarczyk was some five metres down on world record form but despite not being at her very best, the two-time Olympic champion was still more than four metres ahead of the rest of the field. She produced four throws in succession in excess of the 77m line - the best being 77.77m in the third round - to defeat China’s Wang Zheng (73.54m) and Poland’s Joanna Fiodorow (72.66m).
Kasyno rozbite 38 zwycięstwo 7⃣7⃣7⃣7⃣ m dzisiaj pokochałam 7 ale mam nadzieje , Ōe te 7 przyniosą szczęście w kolejnych startach pic.twitter.com/xU4Vw3F5b4
— anita wlodarczyk (@AnitaWlodarczyk) July 3, 2017
While Wlodarczyk has the five best marks of the season to her name, teammate Pawel Fajdek now holds the seven best marks of the year in the men’s hammer. The reigning world and European champion produced his second best throw of the season of 82.64m to defeat his teammate Wojciech Nowicki (77.98m) with Pavel Bareisha from Belarus third (76.76m).
Poland took a third win of the meet in the men’s javelin with Marcin Krukowski producing a season’s best of 83.71m to defeat Moldova’s Andrian Mardare (80.99m), who is arguably the favourite for the European U23 title in Bydgoszcz next week.
Marton near her best at home
Two-time European indoor champion Anita Marton produced one of the best throws of her career in front of her home supporters last night. The Olympic bronze medallist produced the five best throws of the competition, including three in excess of 19m - 19.23m, 19.23m and 19.48m - to defeat Jeneva Stevens (18.31m) by more than a metre.
In the discus, veteran Zoltan Kovago produced a season’s best of 65.67m in the discus to defeat a strong field on home soil. Reigning world champion Piotr Malachowski was second (65.08m) with Lithuania’s Andrius Gudzius third (64.58m).