European Athletics (EA) – Doha review: Filippidis makes mark and Bondarenko is flying high

As the sun set over Doha on Friday, and the opening IAAF Diamond League meeting of the season closed, athletes from Europe could hold their heads high.

An evening which started with Croatia's Sandra Perkovic winning the discus led to victories for Abeba Aregawi, of Sweden, in stunning style in the 1500m, Vitezslav Vesely, of the Czech Republic, in the javelin, Konstadinos Filippidis in the pole vault and, Bohdan Bondarenko.

While the first three of those triumphs were not a surprise, the latter two perhaps were. In fields including the medallists from last summer's Olympic Games in London, both Filippidis and Bondarenko produced the performances of their careers.

Filippidis had showed the type of form he might bring into the summer when he finished fourth at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Göteborg in March.

He had a best then of 5.76m, but this time his 5.82m brought him victory in a field including Bjorn Otto and Raphael Holzdeppe, the two Germans who took silver and bronze respectively both at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki and the Olympic Games in London last summer.

Greek vaulter Filippidis broke the national record with his effort and has set himself an impressive benchmark. When the Diamond League reconvenes in Shanghai next Friday night, the pole vault will now have a new twist with a name that not too many might have expected would be the leader after round one.

Assessing the field for the high jump, the sprinkling of potential winners was huge: Robbie Grabarz, the European champion and joint-Olympic bronze medallist from Britain, Mutaz Barshim, of Qatar, who shared third place in London, and Aleksey Dmitrik, the Russian who won silver in Göteborg.

But was this night the time when Ukraine's Bondarenko finally came of age?

In the five years since he won the World Junior title in Bydgoszcz with 2.26m, Bondarenko has not made the podium at the major events.

Now 23, that could be about to change.

There was a hint of it last summer after a personal best of 2.31m on home soil in Mykolaiv in June but a few weeks later in Helsinki he was only 11th in the final, clearing 2.15m at the second attempt and failing on all three jumps at 2.24m.

At the Olympics, he threatened to make his mark as he put himself in contention for a medal when he cleared 2.29m.

But he ended up seventh on countback, despite matching the heights that took Grabarz, Barshim, and Canada's Derek Drouin to an equal share on bronze.

There was no need for countback to play its part in Doha as Bondarenko executed an excellent programme with successful, first-time jumps at 2.19m, 2.24m, 2.27m and 2.30m.

Chasing a personal best at 2.33m, he missed out with his initial effort before going over second time to record a meeting record.

Barshim could not match him, finishing second with 2.30m while Grabarz, the defending Diamond League champion, was fourth with 2.24m and Dmitrik seventh with the same height.

Onward bound to China with Bondarenko in pole position. Early days? Yes.

But breaking barriers can do wonders for any sportsman and now, for arguably the first time in his career, it is Ukrainian who has the upper hand.

 

European Athletics (EA) – News