3rd June 2013 08:59
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| Czech 400m hurdles star Zuzana Hejnova. (Getty Images) |
No surprise that Hejnova is running her way to the top
No athlete wants to peak in the opening week of June when the first major event of the summer is still more than a fortnight away and the major championship is in two months’ time.
But Zuzana Hejnova does not need telling that.
A year ago, with the Olympic Games on the horizon, the Czech athlete had just left the European Athletics Championships disappointed after finishing fourth in the 400m hurdles and saying: “In London I might cause a surprise....
“I think the pressure got to me in Helsinki and I don’t want the same thing to happen at the Games.”
It did not.
London brought her a glorious bronze but maybe the real “surprise” she was hoping for is going to happen this summer, if it is not happening already.
In Eugene on Saturday afternoon, Hejnova produced a run so dominant at the Prefontaine Classic that it was not a case of not seeing the other athletes in front - because there were not any - but not even hearing those behind her.
There were seven, with the Olympic champion from London back in last.
Now that is not so much a surprise. That is a statement.
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THE WEEK JUST GONE
An excellent one for European athletes to show their strength at the top of the field events with world bests for Russia’s Aleksandr Menkov in the long jump (8.39m), Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie in pole vault (5.95m), Robert Harting in the discus (69.75m), Betty Heidler in the hammer (75.80m) and Olha Saladuha in the triple jump (14.85m) at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Pravets in Bulgaria is the setting this Saturday for the European Cup 10,000m with the action packed into three hours in the early evening with A and B races in both the men’s and women’s events. Twenty-three European Athletics Member Federation countries are competing and it could be a good night for Türkiye. Elvan Abeylegesse, their 2010 European champion at the distance and double Olympic silver medallist, is set to take all the beating in the women’s event while her teammate Mert Girmalegese, who has a personal best of 27:28.33, is among the favourites in the men's.
EUROPEAN LEADERS – 400m hurdles
Men
1. Rhys Williams (GBR), 48.90, Loughborough
2. Niall Flannery (GBR), 49.73, Loughborough
3. Mickael Francois (FRA), 49.99, Montbeliard
Women
1. Zuzana Hejnova (CZE) 53.70, Eugene
2. Angela Morosanu (ROU) 53.85, Shanghai
3. Yadisleidy Pedroso (ITA) 54.54, Shanghai
BIRTHDAYS
03.06.2013 - Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) – the most decorated female pole vaulter of all-time turns 31.
03.06.13 – Eddy Ottoz (ITA) – one of the finest European hurdler of all-time, multiple Olympic, European medallist turns 69
04.06.13 – Olha Saladuha (UKR)- reigning world and European triple jump champion turns 30.
06.06.13 – Pawe…‚ Wojciechowski (POL) – defending world champio