There could be another golden chapter in the career of Anita Wlodarczyk whose comeback from a broken leg gathered pace at the P-T-S Meeting in Banska Bystrica, a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting, on Thursday (20).
Approaching her 38th birthday, Wlodarczyk has struggled to break the 70 metre-line in her early season competitions but the Pole added more than three metres to her season’s best yesterday evening with a winning throw of 74.81m.
Not only was this the best throw by a European in 2023, it also surpassed the qualifying standards for the 2023 World Athletics Championships and 2024 Olympic Games in Paris where Wlodarczyk will be in contention for her fourth successive gold medal.
“After last year’s health problems, I am happy to see that I am slowly improving. I am very joyful to be back. I really enjoyed it here in Banská Bystrica,” said Wlodarczyk.
Fresh from defending his European U23 hammer title in Espoo last weekend, Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan won the men’s hammer with 78.62m ahead of his long-time Greek rival Christos Frantzeskakis with 74.98m.
Folorunso’s victory highlights European one-lap success
Two-time European finalist Ayomide Folorunso came close to her Italian record in the 400m hurdles.
Folorunso was pushed to the line by Morocco’s Noura Ennadi but carved out a narrow victory in 54.44 to win by 0.04 and come within one-tenth of her Italian record which she set at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene last summer.
“I achieved a great time, but I value even more that I managed to fulfill everything I came here for. I wanted to deliver a performance without any mistakes, and I succeeded, except for minor details. Next week, I have the national championships, and this was a great preparation,” said Folorunso.
Her teammate Rebecca Sartori was rewarded with a lifetime best of 55.07 in third.
Great Britain’s Ama Pipi broke the 51 second-barrier for the first time in her career with victory in the 400m in 50.75 ahead of Lithuania’s Modesta Morauskaite in 51.19 and France’s Gilles Biron won the men’s 400m in 45.49
Two Slovakian records for Forster, two victories for Volko
It was also a good evening for emerging Slovakian sprint hurdler Viktoria Forster who set two national records on home soil.
Putting the disappointment of the European Athletics U23 Championships in Espoo where she clattered a hurdle and didn’t progress out of the heats, Forster finished third in the 100m in a Slovakian record of 11.26 and second in the 100m hurdles in 12.82 to equal her national record.
“It’s something unbelievable. The flat 100m was amazing. I felt good during the warm-up, and thanks to the atmosphere, I was excited and looking forward to the start.
“The hurdles didn’t go perfectly; I was still in euphoria from the 100m, and I had various thoughts before the race. After the last few days, I was afraid of how I would handle it. However, I proved to myself that I can do it, and I’m really thrilled about that,” said Forster.
And Slovakia’s long-time standard bearer in the sprints Jan Volko delivered a sprint double. The 2019 European indoor 60m champion, who recently captained Slovakia at the European Athletics Team Championships 2nd Division, won the 100m in 10.21 and the 200m in 20.58.
Other European highlights included Slovenia’s Anita Horvat defeating Ethiopia’s pre-race favourite Hirut Meshesha in the 800m - 1:59.91 to 2:00.24 - and Poland’s Cyprian Mrzyglod winning the javelin with 82.04m.
Full results from Banska Bystrica here.