Another win for Blanka at the Golden Spike Grand Prix in Ostrava – – NEWS

The stars were out in force last night for the Golden Spike Grand Prix in Ostrava (CZE), where European Athlete of the Year Blanka Vlasic registered another win to increase her World leading clearance to 2.05m.

The Croatian World Indoor and Outdoor Champion cleared 2.05m in her first attempt and then went on to make three more attempts at the 2.10m World record – two of which were particularly encouraging.

Vlasic now boasts the longest winning streak in the World at the moment, with her 27 competitions comfortably beating Steeplechaser Saif Saeed Shaheen's 24-streak, however the 24-year-old has seven more competitions to go before she will equal Stefka Kostadinova's (BUL) 34-competition winning streak – judging on last nights performance she may smash Kostadinova's World record first.  

The women's Javelin field provided a veritable who's who of European throwing talent, with Germany's European record holder Christine Obergfoll finally over throwing the Czech World Champion Barbora Spotakova with her fifth round 67.72m throw. Spotakova's opening 66.91m won her second place ahead of Germany's Steffi Nerius who threw a season's best of 65.71m, and Britain's Goldie Sayers (63.66m).

On the track British World 400m Champion Christine Ohuruogu made her season debut over the long sprint distance, taking a solid 51.06 victory over American Ebonie Floyd (51.44), while 21-year-old World Junior bronze medallist Martyn Rooney won the men's 400m in 45.32 to complete the British double.
 
America's 400m super star Jeremy Wariner won his first ever attempt over the unusual distance of 300m in 31.72, with Ireland's Paul Hesian next over the line in 32.47 setting a new Irish record.

The women's 400m Hurdles saw a nail biting battle down the home-straight between Jamaica's Melaine Walker and Poland's World bronze medallist Anna Jesien.  Walker eventually clinched the top spot in 54.42, with Jesien crossing the line in 54.71.

In the middle distances, Slovakia's Lucia Klocova (1:59.54) successfully held off Italy's Elisa Cusma Piccione (2:00.00) and Russia's European Champion Olga Kotlyarova (2:00.09) in the 800m.

Russia's World Indoor Champion Yevgeniy Lukyanenko won the men's Pole Vault with a meeting record of 5.77m, while Ukraine's Denys Yurchenko cleared a season's best 5.72m to take second.

The home crowds had a chance to celebrate with Vitezslav Vesely's season's best Javelin throw (78.00m) that saw the mighty Czech win over event favourite Robert Oosthuizen of South Africa (76.27m).

European Athletics (EAA)