Europeans Not So Weak

MUCH better than I expected---or predicted in my Preview!---the 2017 European Championships produced several World-leading marks, plus its usual assortment of National Records!
A HUGE plus was the livestream coverage by EuroVision, allowing me to see the ENTIRE meet--even if some of it was after midnight, Pacific time!!
(And yes, I mean EVERY attempt of every field event, as well as every heat, semi, and final on the track!)

Laura Muir won the 1500 and 3000 in Meet Record times, winning both easily!
But maybe her best moment came AFTER her 1500 win!
Wanting to take her victory lap, a female official tried to stop her, saying there was no time for such trivial nonsense!
Well, la-de-dah!!
Faking a walk-away, she suddenly spins around, then side-steps the official, and sprints off for her lap!!
That woman is still alive--as she let Muir go her merry way!
Aah, those British!!

Back to the meet!
Muir's 1500 went in 4:02.39, after a slow start!
She got the Meet Record, and the National Record of Great Britain!
She's 19th A-T World!
In 2nd came Konstanze Klosterhalfen, whose PR improved to 4:04.45!
But she misses the World DDD by 1.36 seconds!
Knocked OFF the list was Gabriela Szabo, whose mark dated from 1999!

Muir's 3000 time was a modest (for her!) 8:35.67, but still got the Meet Record!
Yasemin Can's 8:43.46 in 2nd  (after she took the lead, and sped things up!) gave her Turkey's National Record!

Nuria Fernandez finished well back, but her time of 8:58.20 got her the Age 40 record!

Another Age 40 record fell to Men's TJ 2nd placer Fabrizio Donato!
His record is now 56-2.50!
This was actually his SECOND Age 40 record of the meet, as his Qualifier of 54-9.50 was his first!
The TJ winner was Nelson Evora's 56-5.25!
Max Hess, however, went 57-5.50 in the Q round!
Mel Raffin also measured out to 56-5.25, giving him the Age 18 record!!
This was in Qualifying!

Ivana Spanovic had an AMAZING Long Jump series!
She opened with 23-6.25!
(She'd Q'ed with 23-0.75, reportedly the longest LJ Qualifier EVER!!)
Then she spanned (sic!) 23-9 (7.24), breaking her own National Record of Serbia!
This moved her from 10th to 3rd on the A-T World list!
She followed that with a 23-6 leap!
On her final attempt, she landed in the sand at what appeared to be close to her other big jumps--but already having secured the win, she let herself fall back on the sand, thus losing several inches!
She was laying there, laughing!!
(She had the Belgrade, Serbia crowd mesmerized!!)

Second to Spanovic came Lorraine Ugen, who leapt 22-10.50, breaking her own (and Katerina Johnson-Thompson's!) National Record of Great Britain!
But she missed the World list by one-quarter inch!!
In a great competition, Claudia Salmon-Rath jumped 22-9.25, while Darya Klishina represented Russia well, her best a 22-5.25!

The British got another big win, in the Women's 60.
Asha Philip's 7.06 nabbed herself the National Record, though she missed the World list by 0.03 seconds!
Ukraine's Olanya Povh finished 2nd in 7.10, with Ewe Swoboda also running 7.10 in 3rd!

Konrad Bukowiecki REALLY came of age, as he exploded out to a massive 72-1 in the Shot Put, destroying the Age 19 record by almost THREE FEET!!
In fact, his mark is better than anyone under the age of 22!!
He got Tomas Majewski's National Record, and is now 10th All-Time World!!

Tomas Stanek was 2nd with a Put of 70-3.75, with David Storl reduced to 3rd place!
Tsanko Arnaudov threw the ball 69-2 in 4th, but got Portugal's National Record!

Both Multi's had solid marks, and decent competition!
Nafissatou Thiam seemed on course for a possible 5000-pointer, but fell off pace in the final events.
Her 4870 points was still a PR, and put her on the World list in 10th position!
Her HJ reached 6-5, a European Pentathlon record!
Ivana Dadic scored 4767 points, giving her Austria's National Record.
But she misses the World list by 8 points!

France's Kevin Mayer moved closer to Ashton Eaton territory!
He scored 6479 points, moving him from 16th A-T World, all the way to 2nd---behind Mr Eaton!!
He also got the Age 25 record, the Meet Record, and France's National Record!
Jorge Urena finished 2nd with a non-PR total of 6227 points!

Both PV's were good.
And both were won by Greeks!
Konstadina Filippidis took the Men's title with a jump of 19-2.25.
He broke his own National Record!

Ekaterina Stefanidi won her title with 15-11,
She got the Age 27 record!
Second was Lisa Ryzih's 15-7.
She moves from 18th A-T World, tied with 2 others, to 17th, tied with 1 other!
In 6th came 17 year old Lisa Gunnarsson.
She jumped 14-11, her 2nd PR of the season!!

Other events weren't bad!
Anita Marton eclipsed Raven Saunders as the World leader, her SP winner measuring 63-3.25!
High Jump winner Airine Palsyte got up to 6-7, breaking her own National Record of Lithuania!
She's 19th A-T World, tied with 6 others!
Ruth Beitia was 2nd with 6-4.25!
Kristin Gierisch won a weak TJ with 47-1.75!
Izmir Smojlaj took another weak event, the Men's LJ, his winner measuring 26-6.25!
But he got the National Record of Albania!!
Michel Torneus took 2nd!
Richard Kilty sped the 60 in 6.54 for an expected victory!
In 2nd came Jan Volko, his 6.58 giving him the Slovak Republic's National Record!
Pavel Maslak ran the 400 in 45.77 for the win.
Floria Guei took her 400 in 51.90, with Zuzana Hejnova in 2nd with 52.42.
Marcin Lewandowski jogged the 1500 in 3:44.82 for the win.
Poland's Sylwester (correct spelling!!) Bednarek HJ'ed 7-7.25 for the win.
Selina Buchel's 2:00.38 gave her both the 800 victory, and Switzerland's National Record!
Anita Hinriksdottir got the Bronze!
The 4X400 Relays finished off the 3 days of action!
Poland got both, their Women running 3:29.94, with Great Britain 2nd in 3:31.05.
The Men won in 3:06.99, taking measure of Belgium's Borlee's, their time being 3:07.80!!

All in all, a good meet!
I wish a FREE American livestreamer was around!
We could use great coverage of our favorite sport here, without having to pay out for Flotrack or USATF-TV!!

I'll have my USATF report in a few hours!!