Polish Olympic champions Anita Wlodarczyk and Wojciech Nowicki were both in exceptional form at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, where they produced huge throws in the hammer on Saturday (7) at the Kasarani Stadium.
Wlodarczyk returned from knee surgery to win her third successive Olympic title in Tokyo last August and the Pole doesn’t seem in any mood to relinquish her grip on the event this summer in which she will be targeting her fifth titles at the World Athletics Championships and European Athletics Championships.
Wlodarczyk mustered up an effort of 78.06m in the third round and she also produced the second best throw of the competition in the fifth round with 76.94m. In doing so, Wlodarczyk has notched up an incredible ninth season in which she has surpassed the 78 metre-line - a distance surpassed by only four other throwers in event history.
“Age is just a number,” wrote Wlodarczyk, 36, on her Instagram account after the competition. “This is the best ever result obtained in Africa.”
In the men’s hammer, Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki had an easier path to victory with his compatriot and reigning four-time world champion Pawel Fajdek a withdrawal from the competition due to a missed flight.
Nowicki, who will be seeking to defend his European title in Munich this summer, produced the five best throws of the competition and he capped off an excellent series with a world lead of 81.43m in the sixth round.
Ukraine’s reigning European U23 champion Mykhayko Kokhan, who came to prominence five years ago with his victory in the hammer at the World Athletics U18 Championships, finished second with a season’s best of 77.80m.
Full results here.
Ehammer nails 8.30m in the long jump en route to Swiss decathlon record
Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer broke one of the longest standing Swiss records on the books at the Ratingen Combined Events meeting on Sunday (8).
Propelled by an incredible world decathlon best of 8.30m in the long jump on the first day, Ehammer scored 8354 points to surpass the previous Swiss record of 8334 points which was set by Stephan Niklaus all the way back in 1983.
“Those were two incredibly beautiful days; a great start to the season in a great atmosphere. Just awesome. The long jump was - of course - the best because I didn't think I could jump 8.30m at such an early stage. It was my first decathlon since 2020, so of course it's awesome to start with a Swiss record and a World Championships qualifying standard. That's extremely cool and I can build on that,” said Ehammer.
Tim Nowak was second with 8160 points but his more esteemed German compatriots Niklas Kaul, the reigning world champion, and Kai Kazmirek both withdrew from the competition on the first day.
In the heptathlon, former European U23 silver medallist Sophie Weissenberg achieved a significant victory over European bronze medallist Carolin Schaefer - 6273 points to 6170 points.
Elsewhere this weekend…
Olympic 1500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen opened his summer campaign with a world leading 5000m time of 13:02.03 at the Sound Running Track Meeting in Stanford on Friday evening (6).
“I just wanted to run the qualification of 13:13 but when I’m here racing, I don’t want to let anyone else win,” said Ingebrigtsen.
Ingebrigtsen outsprinted Mohamed Mohamud on the last lap with the German moving to second on his domestic all-time list with a big lifetime best of 13:03.18.
At the German 10,000m Championhsips in Pliezhausen on Saturday (7), reigning European bronze medallist Alina Reh returned from injury to win her domestic title in 32:06.63 to seal the qualifying time for the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships.
Reh won by just over 100 metres from marathon specialist Katharina Steinruck in 32:26.27 while Simon Boch won the men’s title in 28:11.69, also under the qualifying standard for Munich.
Recently crowned world indoor champion Mariano Garcia won the 800m at the Spanish University Championships near his hometown of Murcia in a tactical 1:51.15 while reigning European 20km race walk champions Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez won the 10,000m and 5000m race walk titles in 39:35.11 and 20:51.55 respectively.
Only 21, Alperen Karahan set a Turkish shot put record of 20.81m in Bursa on Sunday (8).