2022 European Championships

 Munich put on a GREAT show for the European Championships, but in a year when we've had OUTdoor Champs in just about EVERYthing, I hesitate to measure one against the other!
So let's just see what this one had to offer!

Subjectively or objectively, no one was more brilliant than Femke Bol.
Just her finals races alone have to make her the star of the show!
She runs 49.44 to take 0.31 off her own Netherlands National Record!!
Add 10 hurdles, and while there are no records (not even a PR), she wins by well over a second!
(Actually, she got the Meet Record with her 52.67!)
Finally, she comes from behind in the 4 X 400 Relay, her 48.52 winning it for her Nation, again in a National Record!
In the flat 400, Natalia Kaczmarek ended 2nd in 49.94, with Anna Kulbasinska following in 50.29.
In 5th came Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke, whose 50.53 became the National Record.
In the Relay, the Netherland's 3:20.87 makes them 9th A-T Nation!
Poland was 2nd in 3:21.68 (Kaczmarek ran 49.28), with Great Britain 3rd in 3:21.74.
In 4th came Belgium's 3:22.12, making them 14th A-T Nation!!

Antigoni Mtrismbioti of Greece took BOTH Walks, the 20K in 1:29:03, then the 35 in 2:47:00!!
Mondo Duplantis nipped his own Meet Record by a quarter inch, clearing 19-10.50 for an easy win over Bo Baerhe's 19-2.25!

Karsten Warholm ran his best 400H time of the year---47.12---enough for an easy victory!
Also enough to break Harold Schmid's 40 year old Meet Record of 47.48!!
It's also the Age 26 Record!!

So, what about Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the one who was SUPPOSED to be the show's star??
Well, he did win the double---5000 in 13:21.13, and the 1500 in 3:32.76.
And the 1500 is the new Meet Record, and beat Jake Heyward's 3:34.44 rather substantially.
But the 5000 MR is only 13:10, while Inge has run 22 seconds faster!!
So, a partial disappointment!!

The Discus Throw Meet Record went down in the Qualifying round!
Kristjan Ceh's 226-7 became the new Meet Record!
But in the Final, Ceh could reach just 224-0, leaving it to the teenager (He turns 20 on September 18th!) Mykolas Alekna to win in 228-11, beating Ceh's MR!!
Lawrence Okoye was 3rd with 220-3.

Wilma Murto had her Day of Days at the right time!!
When she cleared 15-7 in the Pole Vault, it broke her own National Record of Finland.
She broke it again by topping 15-9.
That Vault also gave her the Gold over Kat Stefanidi's and Tina Sutej's 15-7's (with Stefanidi taking 2nd).
But then she got yet another PR---and Finland NR--with her 15-11 clearance!!
She first moved to 21st A-T World, tied with 2 others, then to 12th A-T World!!

There were some close battles also!
Ivana Vuleta finally prevailed over Malaika Mihambo in the LJ, 23-2 to 23-0.75!!
Mihambo just couldn't pull off a 6th round winner!
Sandra Perkovic's 222-11 edged out Kristin Pudenz's 222-8 in the Discus Throw.
It was a PR for Pudenz!
Despite falling off 7000 point pace in her 2nd day, Nafi Thiam still managed to defeat Adrianna Sulek, 6628 to 6532 in the Heptathlon.
Annik Kalin took 3rd with her 6515, but getting the National Record of Switzerland!!
Noor Vidts was 4th with 6467, while Xenia Krizsan scored 6372 in 5th!

Talk about close battles, none were closer than the Men's 110H and the Women's 100!
It came down to photo finishes and thousandnths of a second!!
Asier Martinez got the 110H win over Pascal Martinot-Legarde, both getting rounded off 13.14's!
In the 100, German star Gina Luckenkemper shocked everyone--including herself!!-- by winning in 10.99!!
Mujinga Kambundji was given the same time in 2nd, with Darryl Neita just a hair back in 3rd, but given 11.00 as her time!

Other Men's events---
Lamont Jacobs took the 100 in 9.98 over Zharnel Hughes's 9.99!
But Hughes won the 200 in 20.07.
Matthew Hudson-Smith's 44.53 won the 400, as expected!
Mariano Garcia's 1:44.85 beat out the highly hyped Jake Wightman, who ran 1:44.91!
The 3000SC, the 10000, and the Marathon all missed Meet Records, despite the 10K's being from 1978, and just 27:30!!
It's weird, but they began at sub-27 pace, then slowed.
Tapi Raitenen won the Steeple in 8:21.80, while Yemani Crippa took the 10000 in 27:46.13.
Richard Ringer pulled out the 26.2 for the Germans, his time being 2:10:21 off a strong finishing kick!!

Great Britain got the Meet Record in the 4 X 100 Relay with their 37.67.
They beat France's 37.94.
Poland's 38.15 in 3rd makes therm 20th A-T Nation.
In 5th came Switzerland's 38.36, making them 23rd A-T Nation.
Germany's 37.97 in the heats makes them 12th A-T Nation!
Miguel Angel Lopez's 2:26:49 in the 35K Walk became an automatic Meet Record, as it was the 1st time that distance was included in the program!
He beat Christopher Linke's 2:29:30!
Alvaro Martin's 1:19:11 took the 20K Walk over Perseus Karlstrom's 1:19:23.

Milt Tentoglou Long Jumped 27-11.50 for the Meet Record!
Great Britain (2:59.35) beat Belgium (2:59.49), and France (2:59.64) in the 4 X 400 Relay!
In 4th was Spain's 3:00.54, making them 24th A-T Nation!
Pedro Pichardo had an easy time of it in the Triple Jump, his best measuring 57-5.

After Kevin Mayer left the Decathlon after the first event, Niklas Kaul's 8545 overcame the 8468 by Simon Ehammer, who broke his own National Record of Switzerland!
His 8.31 in the LJ would have taken 2nd in the open event!!
Janik Oiglane took 3rd with 8346 points, beating Marcus Nilsson's 8327, and the 8234 by Maicel Uibo!!
Filip Miheljevic took the Shot Put with 71-9.50.
Gianmarco Tamberi was flashy as ever in winning the High Jump with a modest 7-6.50!

Julian Weber won the Javelin Throw for the home team, his 287-7 prevailing over Jakob Vadlejch's 286-4.
Wojciech Nowicki took the Hammer Throw with a solid 269-0.
Second was the 265-6 by Bence Halasz.
Pawel Fajdek's 259-8 was relegated to 4th!!

Other Women's events---
Some "expected to win" folks came through as, um, expected!
Laura Muir set off a strong change of gears just before the bell rang in the 1500, her 4:01.08 beating the 4:02.56 by Ciara Mageean!
Keely Hodgkinson ran just to win, so her 1:59.04 maybe wasn't too impressive, but it did the job, as Renelle Lamote took 2nd in 1:59.49.
Mujinga Kambundji took the 200 in 22.32, beating the 22.43 by Dina Asher-Smith!
Luiza Gega took the race by its neck, setting off at 9 minute pace in the 3000SC.
She held on to win in a Meet Record 9:11.31.
Lea Meyer took 2nd in 9:15.35.

Aleksandra Lisowska beat the heat, humidity, and everyone else in the Marathon, her time being 2:28:36.
The track distances were interesting.
Not-so-voluntary rabbit Eilish McColgan led both the 5000 and 10000 for a bit!
However, Yasemin Can's 30:32.57 beat McColgan's 30:41.05 with relative ease once she took off!
Lonah Salpeter ran 30:46.37, good for the National Record of Israel!
Konstanze Klosterhalfen--the local hope--was 4th in 31:05.21.
But in the 5000, after McColgan led for awhile, Can went ahead and looked invincible!!
Then KoKo went!
And kept going!
She kicked hard over the last lap, her 14:50.47 taking the Euro title!
Can ran 14:56.91, while McColgan ended in 14:59.34!

Pia Skrzezowska wasn't the best known 100H'er before the meet began, but her 12.53 was more than enough to hold off everyone else!
Lirca Kozak was 2nd in 12.69, beating Mujinga Kambundji's younger sister Ditaji, who ran 12.74, just nipping the 12.75 by Nadine Visser!
The German Women's 4 X 100 team made up for their Men's team's fiasco by winning in 42.34!
Poland came 2nd in 42.61, making them 21st A-T Nation!!
Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchukh wasn't at her top game, but still won the High Jump, her 6-4.75 beating the same height by Marija Vukovic!!

Another popular athlete--Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk--found 15 meters (15.02) for the 1st time in the Triple Jump, her 49-3.50 making her 23rd A-T World, tied with 1 other!
Kristina Makela's 48-0.50 was far behind, but good for the National Record of Finland!!
Jessica Schilder broke her own National Record of the Netherlands, her 66-5 in the Shot Put beating Auriol Dongmo's 65-0.50, which broke her own National Record of Portugal!
Getting "just" a PR was 3rd placer Jorinde Van Klinken, who reached 62-1.75!
Bianca Ghelber's 238-7 was an UNDERwhelming victor in the Hammer Throw, missing (among others) Anita Wlodarczyk!!

Finally, we have an interesting scenario in the Javelin Throw.
Super veteran Barbora Spotakova was going good---for age 41!!--and wound up taking Bronze with her 199-1.
The Silver went to Adriana Vilagos, who threw 203-5!
And Gold went to phenom Elina Tzenggo, who reached 215-11.
As noted, Spotakova is 41.
Tzenggo is 19, and Vilagos is just 18!
Add their ages together, and their 37 years is 4 LESS than Spotakova!!

Overall, an excellent meet, but we'll wait for another time to measure it against the recent Commonwealth Games and World Championships, not to mention the NACAC, USATF, and NCAA!!

See you soon with results from that selfsame NACAC meet, as well as the Lausanne Diamond League!!