Mondo Duplantis in action in Belgrade (© AFP / Getty Images)
Athletics magic stormed through Stark Arena and announced a fantastic script from 18 to 20 March 2022, when the “queen of sport’s” aces will fight for the indoor World Champions titles.
“Belgrade Indoor Meeting”, the competition from the World Silver Series gathered, under the arches of the Serbian sports beauty, 140 contestants from 34 countries of the planet, among whom the skill and ingenuity, which are the reason for them to have the record holders titles, were demonstrated by the best Serbian athlete, the World Indoor Champion in long jump, Ivana Vuleta, the Olympic Champion and World record holder, Armand Duplantis from Sweden who broke the record of famous Sergey Bubka, the Olympic Champion in 100m, the current fastest man on the planet, Marcell Jacobs.
In the real athletics magic, there was no end to enjoyment, THE WORLD RECORD was broken in a new “sky flight” of fantastic 22-year-old Duplantis. The world record which is at the same time his personal best in pole vault was set now by the flying Swede with a height of 6.19m and by doing that moved the limits again and wrote the history of athletics. Numerous national records were broken and happy tears were there as well as the other ones. Belgrade audience could enjoy three-hour-long idyll of “queen of sports” which was a brilliant overture for everything that is to happen in the Arena in 11 days – the World Indoor Athletics Championships Belgrade22.
“I had a lot of luck here in Belgrade. I always want to move limits and I don’t think this is the highest I will jump here. Belgrade is a good place for jumping and this is not the end. I am excited I got back to Belgrade. I felt pretty confident after the first jump. I am trying to do everything the way it is supposed to be done, every little detail. Such a jump demands perfection and everything needs to add up.”, Armand Duplantis, the World pole vault record holder.
The Meeting was opened by Goran Vesic, Deputy Mayor, and Veselin Jevrosimovic, the Athletics Federation of Serbia President.
The World Indoor Champion in long jump, the Serbian athletics queen, Ivana Vuleta, ended first with the result of 6.88m, and right behind Ivana there was also a Serbian National Team member, Milica Gardasevic with the result of 6.69m.
“We should all be happy that we will hold the Championships and that we have a chance to perform. I have a habit to applaud to all the competitors who are my competition, I have friends among them. I always cheer for her (Milica), and she is announced as my successor. She has had my support from the beginning, and there should always be someone to be a successor, it should not come down to one or to contestants, there is Topic, too, and there are a lot of children who are developing into champions. Today I have missed a lot, I have had my hair cut but I need to think of a way for my hair not to represent a problem when I jump. Generally, the results are far from bad, I know what to improve technically. I needed to have all six jumps on this track that I will jump from at the Championships. I am a huge fan of boards and it fits my running style because I am a stronger jumper and I love to use the surface. It means a lot to me and today was a great check-up. When it finishes I will see what to work on. The difference in the surface is felt for us who know how to feel the difference but generally speaking the track is great, fast, good for jumping, I am happy I was here for the world record but there will definitely be more of them in the weeks to come. I thought that one jump will be close to seven but, you see, my hair was on the way and I would have had that jump but everything is ok when I look back at the previous two years, I am glad I am healthy.”, Ivana Vuleta said.
Five most valuable results were awarded with money cheques of our sponsors: Comtrade, Sava Insurance, Vodavoda. The fifth most valuable result was accomplished by our athlete Ivana Vuleta, the fourth most valuable result was accomplished by Elliot GILES in 1500m with the result of 3:37.49, the third cheque was achieved by Miltiadis TENTOGLOU from Greece in long jump with the result of 8.25m, the second most valuable result was achieved in shot put by Nick PONZIO – 21.61m, and the first and most valuable result was accomplished by Armand DUPLANTIS who broke the vault pole World Record – 6.19m.
The Serbian athlete, Anja Lukic, ran the norm for WC Belgrade22after the 60m race result of 8.14s thus becoming the sixth athlete of our team with a new national record achieved.
Yet another norm and national record was achieved in 400m race by Bosko Kijanovic who had a phenomenal result of 46.22s. With this result, Bosko broke 30-year-old record, and the previous one was in the ownership of the CEO of the Athletics Federation of Serbia, Slobodan Brankovic, from 1992 and was 46.23s.
Elzan Bibic again confirmed a great form level and once again this season he broke the national record in 1500m with the result of 3:38.84. Asmir Kolasinac had a result of 21.06m in shot put and ended second at the Meeting.
The fastest man on the planet, Marcell Jacobs from Italy, was in 60m race but had bad luck wanting to break the World Record he had false start and was disqualified.
A young SerbianJunior Champion in high jump, Angelina Topic, was shining in the Senior competition at the “Belgrade Indoor Meeting” by finishing third with the result of 1.87m.
Sava Insurance was the official Insurance of both Belgrade Indoor Meeting and the Athletics Federation of Serbia.
