European Athletics – News – Holzdeppe is the high-flying star of Rome

It was a night of shocks in Rome on Thursday at the fifth IAAF Diamond League meeting of the season.

And while most of the huge crowd of 52,305 would have gone home talking about how Usain Bolt was beaten in the 100m, it was the men's pole vault that produced its own surprise.

Renaud Lavillenie, the Olympic and European champion, is a master of the big occasion.

But this time the Frenchman he failed at his three attempts at 5.91m – having cleared 5.86m – and the door opened for Germany Raphael Holzdeppe to step in.

And in some style.

Holzdeppe was third both in Helsinki and London last summer but his delight was there for all to see this evening.

He equalled his personal best to win the event with 5.91m, and the moment he landed on the mat after clearing it, he was in the air again – jumping about with joy and punching his fists as he celebrated one of the best wins of his career with fellow German Malte Mohr third with 5.86m.

He moved the bar to 6.02m but failed at that. But it did not matter because the glory was his.

The event might not have the speed that the man this night was dedicated to would have been used to, but Pietro Mennea no doubt would have admired the performance.

The Golden Gala was honouring the late, great Italian 200m star who died in March with the meeting named after him and the quality was outstanding.

Three Diamond League appearances, three wins. It is proving quite a time for Croatian discus thrower Sandra Perkovic.

Her victory on Thursday night in the Olympic Stadium came with her second round effort of 68.25m, even though she had the event won from the opening round.

She was challenging the Diamond League record of 68.77m but there is enough time for that to happen in the weeks ahead.

Her 66.24m would have been enough for victory in a programme where she also threw 65.71m and 67.25m.

Second was Cuba's Yarelis Barrios with 64.41m and in third was Lithuania's Zinaida Sendriute with 62.85m.

Sweden's Abeba Aregawi was also impressive as she, too, won her third Diamond League 1500m race of the season.

The European Athletics Indoor champion took control of the race with 300m left and though she was challenged by Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba, the Swedish star just had too much.

What a year she is having.

She has such control and has a punishing kick which her rivals just cannot match.

Aregawi won in 4:00.23 from Dibaba in 4:01.62 with American Jenny Simpson third in 4:02.30. Great Britain's Hannah England, the World Championship silver medallist, was fourth in 4:03.91.

England's British teammate Dai Greene, the 400m hurdles champion, ran his first race of the season and was happy, even though he finished fifth.

Greene had to battle through injury last season and was fourth in the Olympics and now on returning made an impression as the race reached the final 100m but he ran out of steam.

American Johnny Dutch, who leads the world rankings, won in 48.31m from Javier Culson, of Puerto Rico, who was second in 48.36 with Senegal's Mamadou Kasse Hanne third in 48.56.

Greene crossed the line in 48.81 and said: "I wanted to start my season in at the deep end. I am lacking a little bit of race practice but I am where I expected to be at this stage."

Germany's David Storl had only two legal shot puts but it was still enough to win the event.

His first was 20.63m but he took victory with his fourth round effort of 20.70m as he beat America's Cory Martin with 20.54m and Canada's Dylan Armstrong with 20.29m.

Frenchman Pierre-Ambroise Bosse, who won bronze at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki a year ago, produced another fabulous run as he broke his personal best to finish second in the 800m in 1:43.91.

Ethiopian Mohammed Aman was always in charge as he won in 1:43.61 with Bosse charging through in style ahead of South Africa's Andre Olivier who was third in 1:44.37.

The high jump went to a jump-off after leading Russians Anna Chicherova, the world champion, and Svetlana Shkolina, both ended on 1.98m with identical countback records.

The bar then went back down to 1.97m up to 1.99m and the back down again.

In the end there was no winner, and with the two women looking tired, they shared first place.

But it shows the strength Russia will take into the event at the World Championships in Moscow in August, by which time Croatian Blanka Vlasic will hope to be close to her best.

Thursday night was the next step of her comeback and the double world champion finished third with 1.95m, the furthest she has jumped since returning to the sport from almost two years out with injury and illness.

Christina Obergfoll once more had the edge in the javelin as she beat Russia's world champion Mariya Abakumova.

The second throw came in the second round as the German reached 66.45m. Abakumova responded with her best being 64.03m from round four, but it was not enough.

Outside of the noise for Bolt, who was surprisingly beaten in the 100m by Justin Gatlin – the American triumphed by 0.01 in 9.94 – the biggest noise from the crowd came for Daniele Greco, the European Indoor champion, who is fast becoming one of Italy's top athletes.

In an event with American Olympic champion Christian Taylor, Greco led with a third round 17.04m.
But Taylor then came back in round five to triumph with 17.08m.

Teddy Tamgho had lost in Montreuil on Monday night to his French teammate Benjamin Compaore but not this time.

Tamgho finished third by equalling his season's best with 17.01m with Compaore in fifth with 16.81m.

Russia's European 110m hurdles champion Sergey Shubenkov produced his quickest time of the season to bring the track events to a close as he won in 13.20 with personal best runs behind him from Pascal  Martinot-Lagarde, of France, who was second in 13.31, and Hungary's Balazs Baji, who was third in 13.44.

 

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