2023 OUTdoors

[Occasional Hope]

Issam Asinga has broken Tebogo’s WJR, 9.89.

[Occasional Hope]

I guess we'll see at Euro u20s if Herczeg can back up that monster throw.

[LuckySpikes]

In the Men's Javelin at the Austrian Open in Eisenstadt, György Herczeg (HUN) threw 84.98, a 5m+ PB and European U20 Record, adding 29cm to Sirmais's record. It was also a senior Hungarian NR, taking down Rivasz-Toth's 83.42. Herczeg turns 19 in 2 weeks' time.

It was very blustery so possible that he got a bit lucky just catching the wind at the right time? It was 9m further than the best of his other 3 valid throws.

Alexandru Novac (ROU) second with 81.61 SB and Rivasz-Toth, 80.39 SB. Joe Dunderdale couldn't take advantage and was 5th with 72.83.

[LuckySpikes]

Some more results from Day 1 of the Balkan Championships ...

Women
400: 1 Andrea Miklos (ROU) 51.75 - winning by over a second from the 2 Ukrainians, Karpiuk & Melnyk
800: 1 Olha Lyakhova 2:01.82, 2 Nina Vukovic (CRO) 2:02.63 PB - Vukovic improved the PB she set at the U23s last week by 2 seconds! Balan (ROU) & Sadek (SLO) were a bit disappointing in 6th & 8th
Triple Jump: 1 Tugba Danismaz 14.00 ... 7 Aleksandrija Mitrovic (19yo SRB) 13.43 - a PB by 20cm ... 9 Hanna Minenko 13.01
Javelin: 1 Adriana Vilagos 60.62, 2 Martina Ratej 58.58 ... 5 Elina Tzengko 55.47

Men
400: 1 Oleksandr Pohorilko (UKR) 45.36, 2 Bosko Kijanovic (SRB) 45.50 NR - the Serb improving his own NR by 0.09s
400H: 1 Yasmani Copello 48.71, 2 Berke Akcam (TUR) 48.97 PB - a 0.4s PB for the 2021 World U20 champion
High Jump: 1 Alperen Acet (TUR) 2.28, 2 Tihomir Ivanov (BUL) 2.25

[LuckySpikes]

I always enjoy a Balkan Championships - I think they're under-rated. There's a lot of good athletes and a good number of familiar faces at this 76th annual edition in Kraljevo, Serbia ...

In recent years the Balkan Athletics Federation has expanded and allowed membership by an additional 8 or 9 geographically-close countries such as Cyprus, Moldova, Ukraine, Austria & Israel.

The live streaming has been a bit ropey (especially for the field events) but it's just about watchable for the track events! The Indoor championships are always in Istanbul and the Turkish Federation does a very good job of streaming them.

Results of the 3 finals this morning ...

No surprise, Luiza Gega won the Steeple in 9:21.53 from Tugba Guvenc (TUR), 9:29.75. Gega is tripling up here, also in the 3000 flat & 5000. It's high 20s / 30 degrees there so not ideal for super-fast times in the distance races.

Christos Frantzeskakis (GRE) won a good Hammer comp with 74.62 from Serghei Marghiev (Moldova), 73.52.

Dmitra Gnafaki made it a second gold for Greece, winning the two section Final of the Women's 400m Hurdles in 56.45 from Mariya Buryak (UKR) & Agata Zupin (SLO).

There's some good match-ups here, especially on the Women's side, e.g., Tzengko , Vilagos, Ratej & Tugsuz in the Javelin and tomorrow Vukovic, Stanciu & Gusin in the High Jump.

[marilyn1]

Ama Pipi a PB in 50.75 but AHW a poor 5th in 46.03.

[marilyn1]

10.82 for SAFP in Lucerne.

She made everyone else in the race look ordinary - but she's still a bit behind Jackson and Richardson. Definitely a promising sign for her.

i hope that she keeps fit and she will be hard to beat in Budapest

[LuckySpikes]

Ha, I knew she'd equalled her hurdles NR but didn't realise her 11.26 was a NR.

[jjimbojames]

Just a +0.3 wind. Start still needs work - but with a few weeks to WC, she has time to fix that and be in 10.6 range

[Grassmarket]

Big afternoon for Slovakia’s Viktoria Forster.

11.26 NR in the 100m flat.

20 minutes later

12.82 =NR in the 100m hurdles!

[Occasional Hope]

10.82 for SAFP in Lucerne.

She made everyone else in the race look ordinary - but she's still a bit behind Jackson and Richardson. Definitely a promising sign for her.

[philipo]

Kyron McMaster is back in the frame ... 47.26 at the P-T-S Meeting in Slovakia.

Great stuff by McMaster!!

[LuckySpikes]

Kyron McMaster is back in the frame ... 47.26 at the P-T-S Meeting in Slovakia.

[LuckySpikes]

... Cheers! 😁

[Ursus]

The Power of the Continental Championships

This is a bit nerdy but I hope you find it interesting ...

I've been calculating the Road to Budapest benefits that Japanese athletes have received from their performances at the Asian Championships (Bangkok) which finished on Sunday. The message to athletes is clear ... If you haven't got the standard for a global championships you need to be busting a gut to compete in your Area Championships. In Europe athletes do want to compete at their Area Championships and, from the evidence of last week, they've got the message in Asia too.

In total, of the 37 Japanese women & 37 Japanese men competing in individual events in Bangkok, 10 women & 13 men either confirmed (with a WA standard) or significantly improved their chances of qualifying for Budapest. A further 4 women & 4 men slightly improved their existing place within the World Rankings quota positions ...

Getting the WA Budapest standard:
W Long Jump: Sumire Hata 1st, 6.97 (was previously 23rd on the Road to Budapest, out of a quota of 36)
M 400: Kentaro Sato 1st, 45.00 (was previously outside the 48 quota on the Road to Budapest at 50th)

Moving into a World Rankings quota position:
W 400 Hurdles (40 athlete quota): Eri Utsunomiya 2nd, 57.73 - up from 57th to 39th
W 400 Hurdles (40): Ami Yamamoto 3rd, 57.80 - up from 47th to 38th - raises the prospect that this 21yo could compete at 4 big championships this year: the Asian Champs, the World University Games, the World Championships & the Asian Games!
W Triple Jump (36): Maoko Takashima 4th, 13.63 - up from 42nd to 29th
M 200 (48): Koki Ueyama 3rd, 20.53 - up from 63rd to 44th
M 400 (48): Fuga Sato 3rd, 45.13 - up from 52nd to 37th
M 5000 (42): Hyuga Endo 1st, 13:34.94 - up from 43rd to 32nd
M 3000SC (36): Seiya Sunada 3rd, 8:39.17 - up from 42nd to 33rd
M High Jump (36): Naoto Hasegawa 4th, 2.23 - up from 39th to 28th
M Pole Vault (36): Tomoya Karasawa 4th, 5.51 - up from 43rd to 34th
M Long Jump (36): Shoutarou Shiroyama 6th, 8.01 - up from 38th to 29th
M Triple Jump (36): Hikaru Ikehata 2nd, 16.73 - up from 47th to 34th
M Decathlon (24): Yuma Maruyama 1st, 7745 - up from 31st to Qualified, if accepted by WA, as Asian Champion (also highest ranked in Asia)

Significantly improving a previously precarious World Rankings quota position:
W 5000 (42): Yuma Yamamoto 1st, 15:51.16 - up from 39th to 31st
W 100H (40) - Asuka Terada 2nd, 13.13 - up from 30th to 25th
W Javelin (36): Momone Ueda 6th, 57.25 - up from 31st to 27th
M 100 (48): Hiroki Yanagita 1st, 10.02 - up from 47th to 33rd
M 5000 (42): Kazuya Shiojiri 2nd, 13:43.92 - up from 40th to 33rd
M 3000SC (36): Ryoma Aoki 1st, 8:34.91 - up from 34th to 24th

Moving to within 6 places of being in the World Rankings quota positions:
W 800 (56): Ayano Shiomi 5th, 2:04.24 - up from 63rd to 59th
W 3000 SC (36): Reimi Yoshimura 3rd, 9:48.48 - up from 58th to 42nd
W Hammer (36): Joy McArthur 2nd, 66.56 - up from unranked to 38th

There were 3 other JPN athletes competing in Bangkok who were already within 6 places of being in the World Rankings quota and they stay there - Yukiko Umeno & Miyu Naito (both Women's 20km Race Walk) and Maki Saito (Women's Discus). However, there's no opportunities for the race walkers to compete before the end of July.

Athletes slightly improving their position within the World Rankings quota:
W 1500 (56 athlete quota): Nozomi Tanaka 1st, 4:06.75 - up 1 to 34th
W 1500 (56): Yume Goto 2nd, 4:13.25 - up 2 to 44th
W 100H (40): Masumi Aoki 3rd, 13.26 - up 2 to 28th
W Triple Jump (36): Mariko Morimoto 1st, 14.06 - up 6 to 16th
W Javelin (36): Marina Saito 1st, 61.67 - up 5 to 14th
M 100 (48): Ryuichiro Sakai 6th, 10.26 - up 1 to 27th
M 200: (48): Towa Uzawa 1st, 20.23 - up 2 to 28th
M 400 Hurdles (40): Yusaku Kodama 2nd, 48.96 - up 2 to 28th
M Javelin (36): Roderick Genki Dean 1st, 83.15 - up 1 to 12th

Two Japanese men who won Asian titles here already had the WA standard before the championships - Shunya Takayama (110 Hurdles) & Yutaro Murayama (20km Race Walk).

Even if the athletes currently in the World Rankings quota hang on to those spots it doesn't necessarily mean they'll be selected by the Japanese federation. Japan has several events where there's currently 4 or more athletes in a position to be selected. However, the federation's policy is to select as many athletes as possible.

With the South American Championships at the end of this month, this is a worry for those athletes just inside the World Rankings quota spots. For the Japanese there are two good domestic sprints, hurdles & field meetings on the last weekend of July but distance runners need to look to Europe.

Incidentally, if the 19th July Road to Budapest standings were those used for the final selections, Japan would be able to select (excluding relay team members) the following number of athletes for Budapest:
25 Women (10 track, 6 field, 9 road)
41 Men (19 track, 11 field, 1 Decathlon, 10 road - including 20km RW champion's wildcard)

They would have full teams of three in 5 women's events and 11 men's events:
Women - 100H, Javelin, Marathon, 20km RW (subject to Kumiko Okada wanting to double), 35km RW
Men - 100, 200, 400, 110H, 3000SC, High Jump, Long Jump, Javelin, Marathon, 20km RW (team of 4), 35km RW

Hats off to you Lucky, but nerdy’s definitely the word!