With restrictions being lifted across many parts of Europe, athletics competitions took place in many countries this weekend albeit on a small scale in order to adhere to infection control rules.
Ivana Spanovic was in action in her hometown of Novi Sad and competing for the first time since 1 September, the reigning world and European indoor champion recorded a world leading mark of 6.80m (0.8) in the long jump on Saturday.
“We are pleased with today's competition and the result of 6.80m. It was necessary to see what sort of shape Ivana is in at the moment and this is a good sign; we are on the right path for her to be read for seven metre-jumps when the Diamond League meetings start,” said her coach Goran Obradovic.
In her first competition of 2020, @IvanaSpaNOv1c jumps out to 6.80m in her hometown of Novi Sad this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/h0j2ciRwiM
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) June 6, 2020
In a throwing meeting in Szombathely in Hungary, world and European bronze medallist Bence Halasz set a world leading mark of 78.86m in the hammer - the second best throw of his career after his lifetime best of 79.57m.
There were also noteworthy performances in the hammer in Somero, Finland. Aaron Kangas set a lifetime best of 77.09m in the men’s competition while Krista Tervo added nearly two metres to the national record on the women’s side with 71.93m.
“I talked with my coach that 72 metres would be good this season. I nearly sis that in my first competition of the season,” she said.
Ahead of the Impossible Games in Oslo on Thursday when he will go head-to-head with world champion Daniel Stahl from Sweden, Norwegian record-holder Ola Stunes Isene extended his season’s best to 64.62m in the discus.
Korte and Raitanen set world leading marks in Lahti; Ceh smashes Slovenian record in Domzale
One day after Finnish hammer throwers made the headlines domestically, Annimari Korte sped to an early season world leading time of 12.84 in the 100m hurdles in Lahti on Sunday (7).
After clocking 13.03 in the heats, Korte sped to a 12.84 clocking to win the final on her season’s debut, just 0.12 shy of his national record which dates back to last summer.
Korte will step up in distance on Thursday when she will contest the 200m hurdles at the Impossible Games in Oslo where Karsten Warholm will also attempt to break the world best in the 300m hurdles.
Olympic qualifying 12.84 in season opener. I qualified last year already but why not qualify multiple years in a row Now Tokyo better come 2021, I don’t wanna keep qualifying 5 years for one Olympics! pic.twitter.com/z3eWqgBwZH
— Annimari Korte (@annimarikk) June 7, 2020
Primarily a 3000m steeplechase exponent, Topi Raitanen won the 3000m flat in a world leading time of 7:52.89, concluding a largely solo run with a closing kilometre of 2:31.8.
Reigning European U23 discus champion Kristjan Ceh made a significant improvement in his first competition of the summer season.
Ceh, who is also eligible to defend his title at the next edition of the European U23 Championships in Bergen next summer, added nearly three metres to his lifetime best and more than one metre to the long-standing Slovenian record of 64.79m, reaching out to 66.29m in Domzale on Sunday (7).
'In the second round, I managed a top throw. I'm very happy, it is hard to sum up. During the throw I felt that it would go very far. But for the throw to be so long, I did not expect that. I thought it would go somewhere up to 64 metres but not over 66 metres. It’s a priceless, extraordinary feeling,” he said.
Double European U23 champion Alina Reh took full advantage of a racing opportunity afforded to elite German distance runners in Berlin on Sunday.
Reh won the Berlin 10K Invitational on the outskirts of the German capital in a fast 31:26 (15:45/15:41) ahead of Katharina Steinruck (32:41) and Catherina Granz (32:47).