News24 Jun 2005


Ceplak goes under 2 minutes in Velenje

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Jolanda Ceplak of Slovenia in the women's 800m (© Getty Images)

A solid performance by Olympic bronze medallist Jolanda Ceplak and a near 21-metre effort in the Shot Put by Croatia’s Edis Elkasevic were the highlights of the tenth MinersFest EAA meeting on an ideal evening in the athletics-crazed northern city of Velenje.

An enthusiastic capacity crowd filled the city’s intimate municipal stadium for Slovenia’s premiere annual athletics meeting, set beautifully among rolling hills, lush valleys and thick forests at the city’s northwestern edge.

Running a largely solo effort after passing compatriot Brigita Langerholc entering the second lap’s backstretch, Ceplak cruised to a 1:59.98 win, her first sub-two minute effort of the season, to the thorough delight of her hometown crowd.

“The first lap was a little too slow, and I ran a little conservatively at the end, but I was pleased with the effort,” said Ceplak, the World Indoor record holder in the event. Her cautious approach, Ceplak said, stems from a ligament injury that was finally diagnosed earlier this week. “I had plenty of strength left in the last 200 metres.”

Ceplak said races at the Gaz de France Golden League meeting in Paris, Lausanne’s Atletissima, Rome’s Golden Gala and the Zagreb Grand Prix are penciled into her schedule, before making her final preparations for the World Championships in Helsinki.

Langerholc, the former NCAA champion who finished fourth in the Sydney Olympics, was a distant second in 2:02.61, a season’s best.

Elkasevic picked up where he left off less than two weeks ago with his win at the NCAA championships with a first-round 20.94m effort that added six centimetres to his own Croatian national record.

“I was a little surprised,” the soft-spoken 22-year-old Zagreb native and Auburn University student said, adding that he only returned from the U.S. on Sunday, and still battling fatigue and jetlag.

“But this was a lot more relaxed than the NCAAs, where I had to throw all four days.” Elkasevic said that technically he was not up to par in Velenje, boding well as Helsinki approaches.

His series also included a final round 20.57m throw. He will next compete at the Mediterranean Games, before taking a brief competitive break. “I’m still very young, so I feel really good about the way things have been going.”

Dragutin Topic of Serbia, still the co-World junior record holder in the High Jump, added a centimetre to his season’s best with a hefty second attempt 2.28m clearance.

Elsewhere, Zita Ajkler of Hungary won the Long Jump with a 6.35m leap, Slovenian national record holder and Olympic semi-finalist Matic Osovnikar won the 100 metres unchallenged in 10.20, and 19-year-old Rogerio Bispo (1985) of Brazil, who leaped a personal best 8.15m in April, won here, but with a much more modest 7.63m effort.

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

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