Another sprint double victory by Matic Osovnikar and a 2.30m leap by high jumper Rozle Prezelj highlighted the Slovenian Championships (22-23) over the weekend.
Osovnikar, a three-time World Indoor Championships finalist, essentially ran alone en route to 10.35 and 20.71 victories just a few days after producing a notable 10.12 (w +2.2)/20.63 double at a Slovenian Grand Prix meeting in Maribor on Wednesday(19). Along with his relay victory over the weekend, the 26-year-old has now collected 16 national titles to equal long jumper Gregor Cankar for the most national championship wins.
Prezelj's 2.30m High Jump was his highest since his 2.31 national record indoors in January 2004. Last month, the 26-year-old won the European Cup competition in Thessaloniki with a 2.27 leap.
Just a few days after qualifying for the European Championships thanks to her 11.45 season's best in Maribor, 46-year-old Merlene Ottey won her second title in the 100 metres for her adopted country, clocking 11.50 to edge training partner Pia Tajnikar's 11.57. Ottey has confirmed that she will compete in the European Championships, but at the moment, her appearance in the 4 x 100 metre relay is up in the air.
The battle of the country's top 800 metre aces was waged over the 400 metre distance on Saturday, with Brigita Langerholc prevailing over Jolanda Ceplak, 52.73 to 54.31. While never really a match for Langerholc over the long sprint, the performance was a personal best for Ceplak, the reigning European 800m champion.
Marija Martinovic-Sestak won her first national title, leaping to a 6.50m victory in the Long Jump, a personal best. Earlier this month, the 27-year-old leaped into the world top-ten in the Triple Jump with her 14.52 in Lausanne.
Shot putter Miran Vodovnik, who was consistently throwing beyond 20 metres this season, has been hampered of late by a nagging finger injury, but still managed a 19.26 effort for an easy win. Elsewhere, Primoz Kosmus won the Hammer Throw (75.76) and Beijing-bound Tina Sutej raised her own national junior record in the Pole Vault to 4.25m.
The only Gothenburg-bound athlete not to compete was distance ace Helena Javornik, who will contest the marathon in the Swedish city. On Wednesday, the 40-year-old Javornik set a European record * in the rarely-run 25,000 metre race, clocking 1:28:22.60, to better the previous mark of 1:29.29.2 set by Hungary's Karolina Szabo in 1988.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
* pending ratification
