Osleidys Menendez (CUB) (© Getty Images)
Osleidys Menendez of Cuba and Ekaterini Voggoli of Greece head the impressive line-ups for the women’s javelin and discus competitions of next weekend’s Tsiklitiria Super Grand Prix that will take place in the newly built stadium at Heraklion, Crete.
Both women head the year’s performance lists in their respective disciplines, with Menendez holding the top three marks in the javelin, with a leading 68.23 metres putting her well clear of her compatriot Sonia Bisset and Germany’s Steffi Nerius who follow her in the performance lists. Nerius will be challenging the Cuban here on the island of Crete, where Menendez set the current world record in the Rethymno meeting in 2001.
Home favourites Aggeliki Tsiolakoudi (62.80 to win this year’s European Cup Super League competition) and the veteran Greek national champion Savva Lika, who leads the Greek performers for 2004 with 62.89 in the National Championships, will be defending the national honours in this event.
Topping the discus lists with 67.72 metres – the Greek national record, thrown during the National Championships on 10 June, Ekaterini Voggoli will be lining up against another leading performer, Czech Republic’s Vera Pospisilova, who has thrown 66.42 so far this season, but who also threw her personal best (67.71) on the island, in Rethymno, last year. Another key contender will be the 1999 World Champion, Germany’s Franka Dietsch, with a season’s best of 64.93, and backing up the home squad will be Stiliani (Stella) Tsikouna, whose personal best of 65.25 came in this same stadium in May this year.
Fresh from her new world record 4.87 metre vault in Gateshead, Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva will be going head-to-head in Heraklion against her compatriot Svetlana Feofanova, the reigning world champion. Just 2 centimetres separate the two in record terms: Feofanova’s best being 4.85 metres and the contest will be fierce.
Making up a strong supporting cast are two more Russians, Tatyana Polnova with a personal best (indoors) of 4.71 and Yelena Belyakova (4.60 PB) and Poland’s Monika Pyrek, with a 4.65 PB and 4.60m so far this season.
