Bianca Perie (ROM) (© Mark Shearman)
Romania's Bianca Perie and the Netherlands's Melissa Boekelman added continental titles, in the women's Shot Put and hammer respectively, to the their gold medals from the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics but they were virtually the only events which ran to form on the second day of the European Athletics Junior Championships on Friday (20).
Perie gets early start
Perie, who also won the World Youth title in Ostrava last week, threw 64.35m in the third round to set her seal on the competition, and also had a 63.10m effort in the fifth round which would also have sufficed as the winner.
"It was wonderful winning a gold medal but throwing so early in the morning, with the competition starting at 10 o'clock, was a problem for me. I was actually quite nervous before this competition because I knew that other women had been throwing well this year," said Perie.
Her route to the top of the podium was made easier by the fact that Russia's Anna Bulgakova was off-form. This year's European list leader with 68.49m, and the 2006 World Junior silver medallist silver medallist, could throw no better than 62.14m and had to settle for fourth place.
In the women's shot, local heroine Boekelman was not near the 17 metres-plus form she produced in Beijing last summer but the appreciative Hengelo crowd, who returned to the stands of the famous FBK-Stadium after a torrential thunderstorm interrupted proceedings for nearly two hours in the afternoon, didn't care as she still won by 41cm with her opening effort of 16.51m.
Her two other valid attempts, 16.39m in the second round and 16.43 in the fourth round would have also won her the gold medal.
"First place counts, that's the most important thing. I was a little disappointed with the distance, however I'm the sort of person that responds well when there is some good competition and I know I'm in good physical shape to throw further if necessary," said Boekelman, who was one of the most overwhelming favourites of the championships.
Sprint shocks
By contrast to Perie and Boekleman's triumphs, both the men's and women's 100m finals saw big upsets.
The shock disqualification of British favourite Leevan Yearwood for a false start left Julian Reus an easier route to becoming the first German winner of the event for 26 years, winning in 10.38.
"I was really sad that Yearwood got disqualified. It was clear from the earlier rounds that the real battle for the gold medal was going to be between the two of us. Even though it made winning easier, any true athlete wants to test himself against the best opposition. I think I would have run faster if he had been in the race," said Reus.
Norway's Ezinne Okparaebo, who was born in Nigeria but came to her adopted country at the age of nine, edged in front of Bulgaria's highly-favoured Inna Eftimova the final 10 metres to win the women's 100m in a national junior record of 11.45.
"At first I didn't know that I'd won, I thought it was the other girl, because I didn't have any idea what she was doing. I was just focussed on my own race, looking ahead, even though I was in the lane beside her," explained Okparaebo while shedding tears of joy at her country's first ever gold medal in the history of the Championships.
Holusa hits top gear
Jakub Holusa, from the Czech Republic, only lead the men's 3000m Steeplechase for two metres but they were the last two as he sped past Romania's Alexandru Ghinea just before the line to clock a personal best 8:50.30, while Ghinea was also rewarded with a personal best of 8:50.42.
"I am more of a 1500m runner so I suppose my speed in that event helped me even though the first kilometre was much faster than I expected," commented Holusa.
There was an equally thrilling finale to the men's Triple Jump with the fireworks commencing in the fourth round when Russia's Lyukman Adams bounded out to 16.50m to go from third to first.
Adams had plenty of anxious moments in the final round though with Russia's Ilya Yefremov and Belarus's Dzmitry Platnitski both leaping 16.49m for the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Natalya Popkova added to the Russian gold reserves when she won the women's 5000m by pulling away from Norway's Ingunn Opsal at the bell to win in 16:08.95 while France's Manuela Galtier was a surprise winner of a low-key women's Long Jump when she went out to 6.44m in the fourth round, improving her personal best by nine centimetres.
German decathlete Matthias Prey started the day in first place in and never relinquished pole position to post a winning total of 7908 points.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF
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