Asafa Powell powers to 9.82 sec in cold of Szczecin, Poland (© Marek Biczyk)
Szczecin, PolandThe fourth edition of Pedro’s Cup meet, which took place yesterday (15) in Szczecin’s Wieslaw Maniak Stadium, once again boasted an impressive lineup of major names.
For most of them, it was their last European competition of the year, but some showed they were still capable of top results. Asafa Powell’s 9.82 in the 100m provided the highlight of the meet. Also noteworthy was the 4.70 vault by World champion Anna Rogowska, Virgilijus Alekna’s win in the top-quality Discus Throw competition with 68.53 and Christian Cantwell’s 21.49 in the Shot Put.
Season’s fastest for Powell; Gay wins 20.21
For Powell, Pedro’s Cup is a regular stopover on the European tour. In each of the previous three editions, he was the comfortable winner, with his 9.89 from last year the only sub-10 ever run on Polish soil. This time, undeterred by cool weather (16 degrees C at the time of the race) and lack of close competition, he went even better. Helped by a tail wind of 1.4 m/s, the Jamaican shot out of the blocks and was never headed, finishing a full 0.28 ahead of his compatriot Nesta Carter. The time of 9.82 was not only a new Polish all-comers record, but also Powell’s fastest run of the season.
Tyson Gay, the man who finished with silver ahead of Powell in the recent World Championship final, was also in Szczecin, but opted for the longer sprint. Despite a sluggish start, he won easily in a time of 20.21.
The women’s 100 metres also had a clear winner in Sherone Simpson, who ran away from her rivals to finish in 11.29.
Alekna wins again
A much closer competition was expected in some of the field events, which featured multiple global championship medalists. One of the expected highlights was the men’s Discus Throw, with four out of the Berlin top six in attendance. And the competition did not disappoint. The veteran Virgilijus Alekna was the leader after one round with 65.70m, which World champion Robert Harting then improved on with 66.58 in round two.
But the big Lithuanian was far from finished. Proving his recent World Athletics Final win was no fluke, on his third throw he improved to 68.53, a distance that nobody could match. Harting’s throw held up for second place, although Zoltan Kovago came very close with 66.42 in round five. Berlin silver medalist Piotr Malachowski could do no better than fourth on this occasion, although he, too, threw beyond 65 metres.
Cantwell on his last
Just as eagerly awaited was the Shot Put contest, featuring another rematch between the World Championships top two, Christian Cantwell and Tomasz Majewski. For much of the competition things looked very close. The Pole set the pace with 20.77m in round one, with Cantwell at 20.60.
Then, surprisingly, 2003 World champion Andrey Mikhnevich showed he was still a force to be reckoned with, reaching out to 20.74 in round two, and taking the lead with 20.83 on his next attempt. It was not until round five that Majewski wrestled the lead back with a put of 20.91.
The final round brought more changes. First, Mikhnevich improved yet again, nearly overtaking the leader with 20.90. This was immediately followed by Majewski’s attempt, which was significantly over 21 metres, but the Pole was unable to avoid stepping out of the circle. Last in the throwing order, Cantwell, third with 20.71 at that point, finally got it right, spinning much faster than on the previous attempts and sending the metal ball out to 21.49, further underlining his superiority this season.
Heidler as expected; Ziolkowski a surprise
Both Hammer Throw competitions featured many top names as well. On the women’s side, with the World record holder Anita Wlodarczyk out due to injury, the Berlin silver medalist Betty Heidler won with 72.22, over 2 metres ahead of second-placed Darya Pchelnik, with Kathrin Klaas down in third.
The men’s contest ended with a surprise, as Szymon Ziolkowski’s 77.01m proved sufficient to beat the World and Olympic champion Primoz Kozmus back into second place. Olympic runner-up Krisztian Pars finished third, one place ahead of another Berlin medalist Aleksey Zagornyi.
Rogowska close to polish record; Dennison succeeds at UK mark
The jumping events provided plenty of good action, too. In the women’s Pole Vault, three women got over 4.60 – World champion Anna Rogowska, Russia’s Aleksandra Kiryashova and Kate Dennison, for whom this height represented a new British record. At this point, Kiryashova was the only one with no failures, and when all three women failed twice at 4.70, it looked like she just might cause an upset. But it was not to be – on her final attempt, Rogowska cleared the bar with plenty to spare. Her three attempts at a new national record of 4.84 proved unsuccessful, although she did get close on her second.
World Championship silver medalist Monika Pyrek, a Szczecin resident, was less than happy with her showing, as she cleared only 4.40, and bowed out at her next height of 4.60, which left her back in fifth position.
Rybakov over Bednarek
The men’s High Jump featured an exciting duel between World champion Yaroslav Rybakov and sensational bronze medalist from Berlin Sylwester Bednarek. Both men had identical cards up to first-time clearances at 2.30m. They then decided to skip 2.32 and move directly to 2.34. Neither managed to clear, although two of the Russian’s attempts and one of Bednarek’s were close. No jump-off was ordered, so the two were declared joint winners.
The high-hurdle races, aided by helpful winds, also produced good results. In the men’s 110m race, Poland’s Artur Noga, despite a slow start, produced a season’s best of 13.35, finishing 0.06 ahead of Hungary’s Daniel Kiss, with Berlin finalists Petr Svoboda and William Sharman in third and fourth. In the women’s 100m race, with World champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton a late withdrawal, her fellow Jamaican Nickiesha Wilson scored a clear win with a personal best of 12.79.
The winds that helped the sprinters, were less favourable to the competitors in the races covering the entire lap. World and Olympic champion at 400 metre Hurdles, Melaine Walker, easily beat a strong field in her specialty event despite a stumble on the eighth barrier, but was unable to go faster than 54.86 sec. Berlin bronze medalist Josanne Lucas finished second with 55.48, ahead of Natalya Antyukh and Anna Jesien.
In a battle between two World Championship finalists, Nick Symmonds won the 800m race in 1:46.33, nearly half a second ahead of Marcin Lewandowski. In the women’s 1500 metres, Berlin silver medalist Lisa Dobriskey made her attack in the last 200 metres, but was unable to respond when Christy Wurth-Thomas attacked in the final straight. In the end, the American was the winner in a time of 4:07.31, 0.32 ahead of the Briton.
Pawel Jackowski for the IAAF
