Manuela Montebrun in action (© IAAF)
Zagreb, CroatiaA near world leading Hammer Throw performance by Manuela Montebrun and another two-metre High Jump effort for Kajsa Bergqvist ensured that the field events would take center stage at the 55th edition of the Hanzekovic Memorial IAAF Grand Prix in the Croatian capital.
Moreno in fine form but still defeated comprehensively
Competing under constantly threatening skies, Montebrun opened the evening with a sterling series to take top honours in the women’s Hammer Throw. The 25-year-old reigning World championship bronze medallist reached beyond 74 metres with three of her five efforts, topped by her fourth round 74.66, to move to the number two spot on the season’s list.
Displaying razor-sharp consistency, the French student threw 74.61 in the fifth round and 74.17 with her opening throw, all better than runner-up Yipsi Moreno’s 73.88 season’s best. The Cuban, the two-time defending World champion, put together a strong series of her own, backed up by a 73.22 throw in the second round. For Montebrun, this was her fifth win in six competitions. Croatian national record holder Ivana Brkljacic was a distant third, with a 68.93 best effort.
Bergqvist - first time clearance at 2m
Signalling yet again that her return from surgery last year is on the right track, Kajsa Bergqvist took home the victory in the high jump with a first attempt clearance at two metres. The world leader after her 2.01 effort at the European Cup First League competition in Gavle last month, Bergqvist cruised through the competition without a miss through two meters, before bowing out at 2.02.
“I’m very happy with the win,” the 28-year-old Swede said, “but I’m a little mad that I couldn’t get over 2.02.” Her tantalisingly close second attempt suggested that that height is certainly within reach. “I’m pleased that I’ve been very consistent. But it’s time to start making higher heights.”
Behind her, Venelina Veneva of Bulgaria and Ukraine’s Vita Palamar each cleared 1.95, finishing second and third respectively.
One fair effort for Phillips
Satisfied, but not necessarily content would be the most apt manner in which to describe World and Olympic champion Dwight Phillips after his win in the Long Jump. After a mediocre opening round 7.98 leap, enough to take the win, Phillips fought through his lingering “fouling issues” to manage just one more fair effort, a fourth round 8.14.
“I’ll take the win,” Phillips said, “but I really have to work through the fouling problems I’ve had all season.” After his next appearance at this weekend’s Super Grand Prix in Madrid, Phillips said, he’ll return home for a solid training stint to work out those kinks prior to his world title defense in Helsinki. “I’m sure I’ll work it all out.”
Jamaican James Beckford, the meet record holder here, was a distant second with a 7.92 last round effort.
Kirkland very much back in frame for World Champs medals
Croatia’s finest annual gathering of athletics talent has become synonymous with strong hurdles races. With a pair of tight races, this year’s edition was no exception, with the women’s sprint hurdles that provided the fireworks.
From the fourth hurdles, 2001 World champion Anjanette Kirkland and fellow American Danielle Carruthers raced stride-for-stride, before Kirkland, the surprise winner in Rome on Friday, took command off the final hurdle to capture a narrow 12.67 win over Carruthers’s 12.72.
The men’s race was even closer, with Brazilian Redelen dos Santos given the edge over 2004 Olympic finalist Maurice Wignall, 13.46 to 13.47. For Wignall, it was a season’s best.
Kemel Thompson held off the two-pronged late race charge of Czech Jiri Mizik and Hadi Al-Somaily of Saudi Arabia to win the full-lap hurdles in 49.16, just ahead of the strong-finishing Mizik’s 49.20. Al-Somaily, who briefly led heading into the final turn, was third in 49.27.
Boost for Ceplak
Fighting back from a ten metre deficit in the late stages, Slovenia’s Jolanda Ceplak won a hotly contested 1000 metre race in 2:36.33, a more 1/100 of a second ahead of Ukraine’s Nelya Neporadna.
“This is good for my self-confidence,” said Ceplak, the Olympic bronze medallist in the 800, who is still slightly hobbled by an Achilles injury. “To be able to come back from that deficit was very positive for the rest of the season.”
American Jen Toomey, who took command of the race at the 800 metre point, ran out of steam in the final 40 metres to finish third in 2:36.46.
In the 1500, Americans Sarah Schwald and Amy Mortimer fell short in their bid to capture Helsinki ‘A’ qualifiers, but did manage, along with Jenelle Deatherage, to score a rare American podium sweep. Schwald, fourth at last month’s U.S. trials, won here in 4:07.86, nearly a second ahead of Mortimer (4:08.77), who was third in Carson last month.
Zorko’s farewell
After a blistering final lap, Uganda’s Moses Kipsiro won the 3000, besting Ethiopian Bado Worku in a thrilling sprint finish in 7:44.57 to 7:44.83. In a close finish, four others dipped under 7:46. The event proved to be a crowd favorite, with Croatia’s Branko Zorko, the national record holder in all events from the 1500 to 3000, making his final farewell competition as an honorary pacesetter. After his formal final competitive appearance in Athens last summer, Zorko set the pace for the first half lap, urged on by the appreciated crowd.
The performances in the sprints, perhaps affected as much by the gradually cooling conditions as by the athlete’s hectic recent travel schedules, were less-than-inspired.
In the men’s 100m Bernard Williams was given the nod over Monzavous Edwards in a blanket finish, both credited with a 10.30 clocking. After a sluggish start, reigning World champion Kim Collins managed to work his way into third, stopping the clock in 10.33. In his first race since early May, Australian Patrick Johnson won the B race in 10.28, the evening’s fastest performance.
Italy’s Manuela Levorato won the women’s short dash in 11.43, before doubling back a little more than an hour later with a narrow defeat to Ukraine’s Marina Mindarieva (22.97) in the 200, clocking 23.01. The men’s 200 was closer, with Australian Daniel Batman getting the best of Jamaican Omar Brown, 20.60 to 20.62.
In the men’s Shot Put, Mikulas Konopka scored an upset over Croatian national record holder Edis Elkasevic with his second round 20.44 toss. Elkasevic, this year’s NCAA and Mediterranean Games champion, couldn’t reach beyond his second round 20.17 throw, an effort he equaled in the sixth round.
Elsewhere, U.S. champion Aretha Hill-Thurmond won the Discus Throw competition with a 61.08 fifth round effort, besting Cuban Yania Ferrales, who couldn’t manage better than 60.53, well off of her 64.52 season’s best from Prague. Cuba’s Misleydis Gonzales had little trouble dispensing with the field in the women’s Shot Put, with an 18.92 effort that left her nearly three and a half meters ahead of her opposition.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
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