Antonietta Di Martino clears 2.03m in Milan (© Lorenzo Sampaolo)
Italian women Antonietta Di Martino in the High Jump and Chiara Rosa in the Shot Put set new national records to steal the show and contribute to the host nation’s win at the European Cup, 1st league, Group B match which gained them promotion to the main SPAR European Cup next year.
The Italian men’s squad bounced back from last year’s relegation in Malaga beating Slovenia by 30 points. The Italian women beat runners-up Romania by 16 points.
WOMEN
Di Martino improved her own Italian outdoor record by one centimetre to 2.03m, which ranks her second in the 2007 world outdoor list behind Blanka Vlasic’s 2.04 in Doha. She clinched the win at 1.91, then cleared 1.96 on the first attempt before jumping 2.00 and 2.03 at the third time of asking.
“Last week I was mentally tired after many celebrations following the Italian record in Turin and this explains my sixth place with 1.90m in Oslo,” commented said Di Martino.
“Today I had a good feeling at 1.96. I don’t want to set limits. When I jumped 2.03 I thought I can win a medal in Osaka, but the main thing is to repeat this performance in Osaka. Staying calm is my strength. I will take part in a competition in Sweden organized by Kajsa Bergqvist on Wednesday, then in the Golden League in Paris and Rome.”
The big joy for the Italian team some minutes earlier came from shot putter Chiara Rosa who grabbed the national outdoor record from European Indoor champion Assunta Legnante. Rosa improved it by 11 centimetres to 19.15m, a massive increase from her previous PB of 18.71 set in 2005. Rosa who is from Padua produced the fifth best European performance of this summer. It was the third Italian record of the weekend after Elena Romagnolo’s 9:41.11 in the women’s 3000m Steeplechase.
“Milan is a lucky city for me,” said Rosa. “Here I set a national junior record in 2002. I thank national shot put coach Giovanni Tubini who is a great motivator. Our group of Italian shot putters is a big family. Our work is reaping fruits as shown by three Italian shot putters in the European Championships final in Gothenburg.”
European Indoor 3000m bronze medallist Silvia Weissteiner made it a double after yesterday’s win in the 3000m scoring a total of 16 points which proved decisive in the fight to gain promotion. Weissteiner was pushed by the supportive Milan crowd to win a 5000m battle against Portugal’s Jessica Augusto in 15:30.96.
“I did not expect that Augusto would push the pace at the beginning but I always remained in control of the race launching my attack with 700 metres to go,” said Weissteiner who improved her PB to 15:14:11 in Oslo last week.
The Italian triumph was completed by World and European finalist Clarissa Claretti who took the win in the women’s Hammer Throw with 68.68 metres on her opening attempt. Former World record holder Michaela Melinte of Romania finished second with 66.22 metres.
Gomes near to PB with 6.80m
Naide Gomes, Portugal's European Indoor champion and outdoor silver medallist in the Long Jump set her seasonal best by jumping 6.80m, so missing her PB by just two centimetres.
“An injury problem in my leg stopped my training but I now feel good. I am training very hard to break my PB,” said Gomes.
Bulgarian Ivet Lalova completed a sprint double winning today’s 200 metres in 23.01 after yesterday’s first place in the 100m.
Italian 100m Hurdler Micol Cattaneo lowered her PB to 13.08 (missing the national record by 11 hundredths of a second) finishing runner-up behind Hungarian Edit Vari (13.06).
MEN
Italy's men collected two more individual wins today thanks to young Stefano La Rosa in the 3000 metres in 8:06.40, in what was a tactical race, and via the 4x400m relay squad who won in 3:05.11.
Evora's 17.35m competes impressive double
Portugal’s Nelson Evora highlighted the day in the men’s match by jumping a wind-assisted 17.35m in the men’s Triple Jump to complete an impressive double in the Long and in the Triple Jumps after yesterday’s upset win over Italy’s European champion Andrew Howe in the former.
“This year I am injury-free. I hope I will continue training hard and jumping well. In Osaka it will be very hard for me. I will face the best specialist in the world in Paris (IAAF Golden League) on 6 July”, said Evora who comes from the Cape Verde Islands. His parents went to live in Ivory Coast before moving to Portugal when Nelson was five.
Gabor Mate from Hungary won the men’s Discus Throw with a solid 65.96m on his second attempt. Hannes Kirchler from Italy (PB 65.01m set in 2007) confirmed his recent good form taking second place with 61.51.
The men’s 200m went to European 100 metres bronze medallist Matic Osovnikar from Slovenia in 20.85.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
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