European Athletics (EAA) – News – German discus thrower Harting impresses in windy Hengelo

Four European athletes tasted victory in the international events at the 29th FBK Games in Hengelo, the Netherlands, on Sunday with arguably the best performance coming from German’s current discus world champion Robert Harting.

Harting won the competition at the IAAF World Challenge meeting with a third round effort 68.23m effort, just shy of his world-leading mark of 68.99m that he produced a week ago on home soil in Halle.

“It was very tough out there, we had a very strong winds out there. You just had to take your chance with every throw,” reflected the 26-year-old Harting.

The Netherlands’ 2003 European Athletics Junior Championships gold medallist Erik Cadee, cheered on my friends and family, took second with a throw of 66.16m, the fourth best performance of his career.

Poland’s 2010 European Athletics Championships gold medallist Piotr Malachowski got back into his familiar rhythm after an indifferent start to the season with his first two competitions and was third with a season’s best of 65.25m.

In the women’s 800m, Great Britain’s Jenny Meadows got in front at the bell, to claim a win in 1:59.76, her race below two minutes this season. Emma Jackson made it a British one-two with her personal best of 2:00.24 for second place.

Poland’s Adam Ksczot, the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships 800m gold medallist, took the honours in the men’s event over two laps of the track, winning with a sustained sprint down the home straight which took him from third to first and clocking 1:45.31.

Germany’s 38-year-old Tim Lobinger defied the difficult winds for pole vaulting to clear a season’s best of 5.62m.

There were also two other significant performances by British athletes, even if they didn’t managed to come home in front, which could augur well for their country’s chances in the forthcoming SPAR European Team Championships in Stockholm next month.

Panama’s Irving Saladino took the top slot in the long jump with a wind-aided (+3.1 mps) 8.38m leap but Britain’s Greg Rutherford took third place with a legal effort of 8.18m, the best jump by a European so far this year.

American hurdler Danielle Carruthers won the women’s 100m hurdles in 12.64 but in a closely faught race, Great Britain’s 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships Tiffany Ofili clocked 12.77 when finishing in fifth place, breaking the long-standing British national record of 12.80 set by Angela Thorp at the 1996 Olympics Games.

European Athletics (EAA) – News