By Yavuz YAVUZ from Istanbul
The morning session on the second day of the European Athletics Indoor Championships began with qualification events. While favourites safely sailed through to the next round, several notable results were also obtained.
In men’s long jump qualifications, world indoor titlist and defending champion Miltiadis Tentoglou booked his place in the final with a jump of 8.03, but he trailed behind Swede favourite Thobias Montler who leapt to 8.14. Jaime Guerra of Spain, who was among the three long jumpers alongside Tentoglou and Montler who leapt beyond the eight-meter threshold this season, failed to do so and cruised to the final in fourth place with a jump of 7.99.
Women’s triple jump saw host nation’s Tuğba Danışmaz leaping to a dashing first place before defending champion Patricia Mamona. While both jumped 14.09 meters, Mamona’ s fault in her second attempt gave a glimmer of hope to the crowd who are expecting Turkey’s first field medal in Euro Indoors history.
In women’s 1500m round 1, all non-automatic qualifiers were from the very fast first heat where Romanian former Balkan (outdoor) champion Claudia Mihaela Bobocea of Romania topped the list ahead of Poland’s two-time Euro Indoor medallist Sofia Ennaoui. While Bobocea’s 4:07.63 was the fastest 1500m winning time in heats of European Indoor history, gold medal favourite Laura Muir of Britain ran a safe 4:23.20 which was one of the slowest winning times in the same category.
In the night session both title favourites in 400m, Karsten Warholm and Femke Bol, eased into the final. A remarkable result of the semi-finals came in men’s section where Julian Watrin set a Belgian national record with 45.82.
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER IN ATAKÖY
The night session of the second day in Istanbul 2023 was laden with records. However, the most impressive one was without doubt was Nafi Thiam’s world record-breaking 5055 points in pentathlon. Belgian pentathlete improved the previous world record by 42 points, which was also set in Ataköy Arena 11 years ago during World Indoors. Thiam’s personal best mark of 2:13.60 in 800m was enough to put her over the top. The level in pentathlon races was so elevated that silver-medallist Adrianna Sulek’s 5014 points also exceeded Natalia Dobrynska’s previous world record, while she also put a dashing 154 points over her own Polish record. Sulek also ran a championship best mark of 2:07.17 in the 800m race.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen began his campaign in Istanbul by winning the men’s 1500m title with a championship record of 3:33.95, a mark that trumped the previous record set by Ivan Heshko in 2005. While British record holder Neil Gourley came in second, Azeddine Habz, who brought France the country’s first Mediterannean Games title in men’s 1500m last year, stepped on a continental podium for the first time in the distance with bronze.
Mujinga Kambundji won her first Euro Indoors title in women’s 60m with a staggering 7.00, a mark that equals the championship record set by Nelli Fiere 37 years ago in Madrid.
TAKEAWAYS FROM THE FIRST FINALS' NIGHT
Hanna Klein stunned fellow countrywoman Konstanze Klosterhalfen in women’s 3000m with 8:35.67 and won Germany its first 3000m title in 29 years, since Brigitte Kraus stood on the top step of the podium in 1994. Klosterhalfen came in second with 8:36.50 whereas Britain’s Melissa Courtney-Bryant won bronze.
Pedro Pichardo remained unchallenged in men’s triple jump by leaping to a world leading 17.60. No other athlete managed to jump beyond 17 meters. Nikolaos Andrikopoulos became Greece’s first medallist in men’s triple jump with a leap of 16.58 that catapulted him to silver medal. Max Hess won his fourth consecutive Euro Indoors bronze with a jump of 16.57.
In shot put, Zane Weir won the men’s gold medal by improving his own Italian record twice. His 22.06 throw sealed the deal and became a continental leading mark. The defending champion Tomas Stanek came in second with 21.90 and Ukraine’s Roman Kokoshko set a national record with 21.84 and became the bronze-medallist.
Auriol Dongmo won the women’s title, which was also Portugal’s second gold medal of the night. The 32-year-old’s 19.76 throw led the European marks of the season as Fanny Roos who won Sweden its first women’s shot put medal ever at Euro Indoors two years ago with a silver settled for bronze in Istanbul. Germany’s Sara Gambetta stunned the field by coming in second with a 18.93 throw as Dutch favourite Jessica Schilder suffered an upset by coming fifth.
