Record attempts and rematches in store as stars zone in on Zagreb

Multiple Olympic rematches and an attack on the men’s world 1000m record indicate that the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold season should end on a high at the Boris Hanzekovic Memorial in Zagreb.

Three days of action in the Croatian capital kicks off with the long jump events on Friday (6) before the men’s shot put on Saturday (7) and the main in-stadium programme on Sunday (8).

Highlighting the rematches is the shot put, in which the top six from the Paris Games will clash again in a contest at the Zagreb Fountains, while two-time Olympic champion Valarie Allman will renew her rivalry with home favourite and Olympic bronze medallist Sandra Elkasevic in the women’s discus.

On the track at the city’s Sports Park Mladost on Sunday, Canada’s world 800m champion Marco Arop will take a step up to target the world 1000m record. The 25-year-old currently sits fourth on the world all-time list for his specialism, having run a North American 800m record of 1:41.20 to secure Olympic silver in Paris. Now he aims to improve his 1000m PB of 2:14.35 set in Monaco in 2022, to challenge the world record of 2:11.96 set by Kenya’s Noah Ngeny in Rieti in 1999.

“After some great 800m races, I will be running 1000m at the meeting in Zagreb, and I want to break the world record in the event,” he told organisers. “After that, I am heading to Brussels to break the 800m world record as well. The record is definitely going down.”

Arop has dipped under 1:42 for 800m three times this season and ran 2:14.74 for 1000m indoors in February. Joining him in action will be Olympic 800m finalist Max Burgin and 1500m finalist Stefan Nillessen.

Canada’s Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, who ran 4:51.54 in Brussels last year, features alongside USA’s Cooper Teare, Belgium’s Isaac Kimeli and Kenya’s Daniel Munguti in the field for the men’s 2000m, while Kenya’s world fourth-place finisher Leonard Bett races the 3000m steeplechase against Olympic finalists Ahmed Jaziri of Tunisia and Morocco’s Mohamed Tindouft.

Australia’s Linden Hall and Ethiopia’s Hirut Meshesha, who have respectively run 3:56.40 and 3:56.47 this season, line up in the women’s 1500m alongside Meshesha’s compatriots Axumawit Embaye and Habitam Alemu, plus USA’s Elise Cranny and Italy’s Sintayehu Vissa. In the women’s 800m, Jamaica’s Natoya Goule-Toppin races Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir and USA’s Sage Hurta-Klecker.

Titans at the fountains

The top two athletes on the men’s world shot put all-time list – Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs – will clash on the eve of the main meeting, for the Ivan Ivancic Memorial held at the Zagreb Fountains.

USA’s Crouser and Kovacs respectively claimed Olympic gold and silver in Paris and they will be joined by bronze medallist Rajindra Campbell of Jamaica as the full Olympic podium does battle again.

In fact, it is a clash of the top six from Paris, as the three medallists are joined by Payton Otterdahl, Leonardo Fabbri and Chukwuebuka Enekwechi. World record-holder Crouser returns on the hunt for a sixth shot put victory in Zagreb, where he set the meeting record of 22.84m in 2021. Since winning an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic men’s shot put title despite a series of injury struggles this year, he has won at the Diamond League meetings in Rome and Zurich, and finished second to two-time world champion Kovacs in Silesia.

Another throws highlight is the women’s discus, which will see Olympic gold and bronze medallists Allman of USA and Elkasevic of Croatia compete again, against their fellow Olympic finalists Vanessa Kamga, Daisy Osakue and Melina Robert-Michon.

The Olympic champion is also in action in the men’s event, as Jamaica’s Roje Stona – who is coached by shot put star Crouser – faces bronze medallist Matthew Denny and 2022 world champion Kristjan Ceh, who finished fourth in Paris but won at the Rome Diamond League a week ago ahead of Stona, with Denny finishing fourth.

Another event starring the Olympic champion is the men’s hammer, which returns to the Boris Hanzekovic Memorial for the first time in 11 years. Canada’s Ethan Katzberg threw 84.12m to add the Olympic title to the world gold he claimed in Budapest last year and become, at the age of 22, the youngest men’s world and Olympic hammer champion. The meeting record stands at 81.77m, set by 2008 Olympic champion Primoz Kozmus.

Katzberg will compete against Ukraine’s Olympic bronze medallist Mykhaylo Kokhan and Poland’s five-time world champion Pawel Fajdek.

Olympic silver medallist Jo-Ane van Dyk of South Africa heads the women’s javelin entries, along with Croatia’s fourth-place finisher in Paris, Sara Kolak, who won the 2016 Olympic title. Two Olympic medallists feature in the men’s pole vault, as silver medallist and two-time world champion Sam Kendricks renews his rivalry with bronze medallist Emmanouil Karalis.

USA’s double Olympic bronze medallist Jasmine Moore tops the women’s long jump field and she’s joined by Shanieka Ricketts, who got triple jump silver ahead of Moore in Paris, as well as the recently crowned world U20 heptathlon champion Jana Koscak. Home stars Filip Pravdica and world U20 winner Roko Farkas will be among those fighting for the title in the men’s event during the street competition.

Sprint showdowns

After securing Olympic 100m hurdles silver in front of a home crowd in Paris, Cyrena Samba-Mayela goes on the hunt for victory as she forms part of a field that also features Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent, who won in Rome and Silesia.

The 110m hurdles Boris Hanzekovic memorial race includes two Olympic gold medallists in Jamaica’s Tokyo winner Hansle Parchment and Rio champion Omar McLeod, as they race against their compatriot Rasheed Broadbell, the bronze medallist in Paris, and USA’s Freddie Crittenden, who ran a PB of 12.93 at the US Olympic trials.

Olympic finalist Tia Clayton, who ran 10.86 to win the Jamaican title, heads the women’s 100m entries alongside her compatriots Kemba Nelson and Shashalee Forbes, while the men’s 100m includes USA’s Courtney Lindsey, Brandon Hicklin and Kyree King, plus Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala.

The men’s 200m features two men who have dipped under 20 seconds this season – USA’s Olympic fourth-place finisher Erriyon Knighton and King – plus Liberia’s Olympic finalist Joseph Fahnbulleh, the 2022 winner in Zagreb. Like King, Fahnbulleh is doubling up and also runs the 100m.

Three athletes who have gone sub-50 seconds this season clash in the women’s 400m, as two-time world bronze medallist Sada Williams of Barbados races Norway’s Henriette Jaeger and Bahrain’s Olympic silver medallist Salwa Eid Naser.

Jess Whittington for World Athletics