Irina Rodrigues enjoyed her day of days on the second day of competition at the European Throwing Cup in Leiria on Sunday (10) afternoon.
The 33-year-old was overcome with emotion after hurling the discus out to 66.60m - a world lead as well as a Portuguese record - in the fourth round of a high quality competition which saw eight throwers surpass the 60 metre-line.
But the experienced Rodrigues regained her composure to conclude her excellent series with 63.13m in the fifth round before concluding her competition with a throw of 63.93m, the second longest throw of the day.
“The best decision I made in my career was to move to the Azores, to Terceira, to be able to work and train with my coach, Júlio Cirino da Rocha, in person. I hadn’t broken the national record in eight years and I didn’t even dream about it anymore.
"It was the best fruit I could have harvested. I managed to work as a doctor, qualify for the Olympic Games and break the national record. This is a result of a lot of commitment and daily discipline," said an emotional but ecstatic Rodrigues.
Germany’s Shanice Craft set a season’s best of 63.70m to finish second while veteran Melina Robert-Michon won an incredible eleventh medal at the European Throwing Cup by virtue of a sixth-round throw of 62.46m to displace Croatia’s Marija Tolj - who also threw 62.46m - on countback.
Robert-Michon won her first medal at the first ever edition of the European Throwing Cup in 2001 - back when it was held under its initial alias of the European Winter Throwing Challenge - and the 44-year-old has her sights firmly set on a seventh successive Olympic appearance on home soil in Paris 2024.
Jacobsen makes throwing history for Denmark
Katrine Koch Jacobsen became the first ever Danish winner of a European Throwing Cup title with victory in the women’s hammer.
Jacobsen threw a season’s best of 71.95m to take a significant victory in the context of the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships as the Dane defeated all three medallists from Munich 2022.
Romania’s reigning European champion Bianca Ghelber was second with 71.66m with European bronze medallist and last year’s winner Sara Fantini third with 70.58m while Finland’s European U23 champion Silja Kosonen had to settle for fifth with 70.30m.
Italy’s Zane Weir won his second European Throwing Cup title in the shot put although his path to victory was eased by the late withdrawal of his teammate and world outdoor silver medallist Leonardo Fabbri.
Weir had already won the competition with 21.35m but the reigning European indoor champion improved to 21.55m on his last attempt to extend his winning margin over Brit Scott Lincoln (20.98m) and Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Mesud Pezer (20.58m).
In the first event of the day, Germany’s Steven Richter retained his title in the men’s U23 discus.
Richter was a model of consistency with his five valid throws, improving gradually with successive efforts of 59.79m, 60.32m, 60.45m and 60.86m before improving to 61.00m with his last throw of the competition.
In a repeat of last year’s competition, Ukraine’s Mykhailo Brudin - the reigning European U18 and U20 champion and still eligible for the U20 ranks in 2024 - was second with a season’s best and world U20 leading distance of 59.95m.
Kosovo’s Muhamet Ramadani, who became his country’s first ever winner at the European Throwing Cup last year, also retained his title in the U23 shot put with a season’s best of 18.54m.
And in the women’s U23 hammer, Thea Löfman produced a lifetime best of 68.08m in the third round to defeat Ireland’s Nicola Tuthill with 67.39m.
Like Ramadani, Tuthill also created history last year by becoming her country’s first ever medallist at the European Throwing Cup, also with silver in the U23 hammer.
But at 20, Tuthill still has another opportunity to graduate to U23 gold at the 2025 edition of the European Throwing Cup which will take place in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia for the first of three years from 15-16 March.
Steven Mills for European Athletics