Spotakova supreme in Strasbourg

World and Olympic Javelin champion Barbora Spotakova (CZE) as anticipated provided the top result of the 11th edition of “Meeting de Strasbourg & DNA” on Wednesday evening (3).

However the expected close dual with and World silver and Olympic bronze medallist Christina Obergföll (GER), the current world season leader, never really materialised as the Czech killed off the competition on the first attempt with a 66.31m, her season’s best. Spotakova fouled the second attempt and skipped the 3rd one.

Meanwhile, the German threw 60.36, 62.33 (eventually her best effort of the day) and 57.07, showing signs of frustration after each throw.

Spotakova threw 60.06 at her 4th try, and sat out the 5th. Her last attempt was, 61.88.

“I didn’t try my 3rd and 5th attempt in order to save a little power for my next competitions, Prague (8 June) and Ostrava (17 June) which will be contested in my home country,” confirmed Spotakova.

“My aims for today were to not get hurt and to improve my season best, so I’m satisfied overall. It was a nice competition, the weather was good and I threw well. I was a kind of tourist here; I did a lot of visits downtown in Strasbourg with my boyfriend and I’m delighted of my trip!”

Making a lot of people happy

In Strasbourg, World record holder (72.28m in 2008) Spotakova has positioned herself as a leading force once again for 2009.

“I have won almost everything already (in her career), and I realised that it made a lot of people happy. Thus, I find my motivation in trying to make them happy again. This year, the World Championships will be held in Germany (Berlin, 15-23 August) and since it’s quite close to my country, a lot of friends will come to encourage me. This is for me a great source of inspiration.”

Obergföll who opened her year with a very promising 68.40m throw in Halle on 23 May, a performance that currently heads the world season lists, also has the highest ambitions for Berlin in front of her home public, though in Strasbourg, she didn’t managed to improve in her last three attempts (60.48, foul, 62.30).

“The result it’s not so good for me today, however, I felt well during the warm-up. I don’t know why but my legs were heavy tonight”, explained Obergföll the former European Record Holder.

“Strasbourg is only 30km away from my hometown, so I couldn’t miss that meeting. I’m now eager to win in Kassel on Friday, the first of the four meetings of the German Credit Bank tournament.”

Pognon “not bad” in his own words

The men’s 100m was the occasion for French Record holder Ronald Pognon (9.99) to confirm his recent results. Fourth in Doha (10.21), winner in Babat (10.30), Pognon indicated that he wanted to post a better time and run a clean race. In Strasbourg, he overcame a lazy start to catch Phil de Rosier (USA) in the later stage of the race and maintain a small margin over the finish line (10.23 for Pognon and 10.24 for de Rosier, with a +0.4 wind).

“I’m very deceived by my execution of the race; I was upright after only 15m and couldn’t run tall,” analysed the winner. “The time is still not bad considering those factors. I came back from Martinique only five days ago and was still jet-lagged, so I’m looking for a better result in my next competitions, Montreuil (11 June), Berlin (14), Ostrava (17) and European Team Championships (20-21).”

Compaoré - 16.98m off a reduced approach

Triple Jumper Benjamin Compaoré provided the other main French result of the day. Competing in his club’s town, the 2006 World Junior Champion jumped 16.98 (wind +0.9) for his first attempt, signing an impressive comeback after a heel injury six weeks ago.

“I was using a reduced run-up, 15 strides instead of 17, and was focusing on running extremely relaxed”, explained Compaoré.

His second try was 16.79 and he slightly fouled his 3rd one, estimated at 17.40. His 4th attempt was a clear foul, around 17.30.

“I stopped after my fourth attempt in order to preserve my healed foot. Those big jumps give me confidence that good things can happen in the future, maybe as soon as 11 June in Montreuil,” concluded Compaoré.

Training partner Karl Taillepierre placed 2nd with 16.78 (wind +0.8) and Colomba Fofana was 3rd in 16.66 (wind +0.7).

Russia displayed a near domination of the women’s events. Ksenia Zadorina won the 400m in 51.64 sec, Yuliz Kondakova ran the 100m Hurdles in 13.03 sec (wind +0.7), Yuna Mekhty-Zade was the fastest at 100m (11.56, wind +0.6) and Tatyana Polova pole vaulted 4.35m.

Elsewhere, Czech Iva Strakova high jumped 1.93m and Austrian Gehrard Mayer threw the Discus to 62.60m.

P-J Vazel for the IAAF

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