Christin Hussong and Marvin Bracy were among the winners as the World Athletics Continental Tour moved on to the&nbsp;Palio Citta della Quercia in Rovereto, Italy, on Tuesday (31).
The USA's Bracy won the men&rsquo;s 100m in 9.98, as he became the first sprinter in the 57-year history of the meeting to break 10 seconds for the discipline.
The former American football player made a breakthrough in 2014 when he won world indoor 60m silver in Sopot. Earlier this year Bracy improved his 100m PB to 9.85 in Memphis and won a non-Diamond League 100m race in Paris last weekend in 10.04.&nbsp;
Olympic 4x100m bronze medallist Jerome Blake took the runner-up spot with 10.15, edging Julian Forte from Jamaica (10.16).
&ldquo;I am very happy with this performance. I expected this time,"&nbsp;said Bracy, who&nbsp;improved the meeting record held by Femi Ogunode since 2015. "I am proud that I am the first sprinter in the history of this meeting to break the 10 seconds barrier." 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/612ea24f760b4510ebc386fa.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> (&copy; Valeria Biasioni)
 The Palio Citta della Quercia, a Continental Tour Silver meeting, staged a Wanda Diamond League competition in the women&rsquo;s javelin throw, with athletes earning qualifying points for next week&rsquo;s Diamond League final in Zurich.
Reigning European champion Hussong from Germany produced the best throw of the evening with 66.08m in the fifth round before winning the 'final three' with a throw of 58.14m. Lina Muze and Nikola Ogrodnikova qualified for the final three with 63.42m and 60.87m. Muze took the runner-up spot in the decisive round with 57.44m ahead of Ogrodnikova (55.27m).
Olympic finalist Michael Cherry clocked an impressive 44.55 in in the men&rsquo;s 400m, smashing the meeting record of 44.86 held by Kenya&rsquo;s Samson Kitur since 1992.&nbsp;
Shelby McEwen won the eagerly-awaited men&rsquo;s high jump competition with 2.28m, beating Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi, who had to settle for second with 2.25m. McEwen had a clean sheet at 2.10m, 2.15m, 2.19m, 2.25m and 2.28m before failing three attempts at 2.32m. Tamberi, meanwhile, cleared 2.15m, 2.19m and 2.22m on his first attempts before clearing 2.25m at the second time of asking. The Italian star failed three attempts at 2.30m.
&ldquo;My attempt at 2.30m was very close. I was too tired after winning the Olympic title in Tokyo, but I really want to honour the post-Olympic meetings to thank my fans and all those who supported me during these years. The Olympic gold medal has changed some aspects of my life, but I am always the same person,&rdquo; said Tamberi.
Italian shot putter Zane Weir won the men&rsquo;s event with 21.32m in the sixth round, producing the second best performance of his career.&nbsp;
Weir took the lead with 21.17m in the third round, but former world U20 champion Jacko Gill from New Zealand overtook him with 21.20m in the final round. Weir responded with 21.32m a few minutes later to take the win after a thrilling competition. Josh Awotunde from the USA took third place with 20.59m ahead of Italian indoor record-holder Leonardo Fabbri (20.09m). Weir produced his sixth competition of the year over the 21-metre barrier. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Weir grew up in South Africa and studied at the University of Cape Town, but having listened to his Italian grandfather Mario&rsquo;s sporting tales he made the decision to represent Italy. Weir trains with Fabbri under the guidance of former Italian shot putter Paolo Dal Soglio and completed his finance and accounting degree. He finished fifth in the Olympic final in Tokyo with 21.41m and continued his great season with a solid 21.20 in Lausanne last week.
Thea LaFond from Dominica produced the best two jumps of the evening, bounding out to 14.33m and 14.31m in the first two rounds to win the women&rsquo;s triple jump. LaFond improved her PB to 14.60m in the qualifying round in Tokyo to reach the Olympic final. Hanna Minenko from Israel took second spot with 14.25m, beating Olympic fifth-placer Liadagmis Povea (14.01m).
Svetlana Aplachkina came through in the final straight to win the women&rsquo;s 3000m, improving the meeting record with 8:39.95. The authorised neutral athlete held off Germany&rsquo;s Elena Burkard (8:40.46) and Kenya&rsquo;s Mercy Cherono (8:40.76).
Elzan Bibic from Serbia pulled away in the closing stages to take a surprising win in the men&rsquo;s 3000m, setting a meeting record with 7:39.45 ahead of Abdelaati Iguider from Morocco (7:41.75), George Beamish from New Zealand (7.42.39) and Italian record-holder Yeman Crippa (7:42.81).
Olympic bronze medallist Ronald Levy from Jamaica won the men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles in 13.37 ahead of USA's Michael Dickson (13.50) and Valdo Szucs from Hungary (13.65).&nbsp;
Klaudia Siciarz from Poland took a close win in the women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles in 12.95 into a slight headwind of -0.2 m/s, edging 2021 European indoor silver medallist Cindy Sember by 0.01. US hurdler and heptathlete Taliyah Brooks took third place in 13.01.&nbsp;
Authorised neutral athlete Polina Miller claimed the win in the women&rsquo;s 400m in 51.21 ahead of Junelle Bromfield (51.49) and this year&rsquo;s US Trials fifth-placer Kaylin Whitney (51.78).
Catalin Tecuceanu, a Romanian middle-distance runner who has been based in Northern Italy since he was a child, took a surprising win in the men&rsquo;s 800m in a 1:45.19, beating British indoor record-holder Elliot Giles (1:45.58) and Jake Wightman (1:46.00).
Mary Moraa from Kenya won the women&rsquo;s 800m in 2:00.40, holding off Deborah Rodriguez (2:00.50) and Chanelle Price (2:00.89).
Diego Sampaolo for World Athletics

Christin Hussong and Marvin Bracy were among the winners as the World Athletics Continental Tour moved on to the Palio Citta della Quercia.

Hussong and Bracy make their mark in Rovereto

In a country that loves its throwing, Marcin Krukowski and Wojciech Nowicki put on an exhibition for local fans on the second evening of the Paavo Nurmi Games &ndash; a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting &ndash; in Turku, Finland, on Tuesday (8).
In cool, damp conditions, Krukowski signalled his intent in the second round of the men&rsquo;s javelin with a throw that looked to sail beyond 90 metres, but it was ruled a foul after his hand slipped over the line as he landed on the rain-soaked track.
But minutes later he launched the spear 89.55m to add almost a metre and a half to his Polish record, enough to hand him a comfortable win over 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott (82.84m) of Trinidad and Tobago and Rocco van Rooyen of South Africa (82.55m), along with moving him to 22nd on the world all-time list. 
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 &ldquo;I can throw further, I can add some metres,&rdquo; said Krukowsi. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t feel I hit the javelin hard, it was a smooth and nice throw. Moving forward it&rsquo;s about not doing stupid things. I got a small injury in my knee so I lost some timing recently but now I&rsquo;m getting it back and I feel strong and confident.&rdquo;
His goal for the Tokyo Games?
&ldquo;A gold medal,&rdquo; said Krukowski. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the Olympics and anything can happen.&rdquo;
His Polish compatriot Nowicki took an impressive win in the men&rsquo;s hammer with a series of outstanding consistency, going beyond 79 metres on five of his six throws. His biggest, 80.77m, was a season&rsquo;s best that came in the fifth round and gave him the win by more than a metre from France&rsquo;s Quentin Bigot, who threw a PB of 79.70m.
&ldquo;I felt good, the weather was good, the circle was good so I tried to make a good result,&rdquo; said Nowicki, who will remain in Finland ahead of his next competition in Espoo. &ldquo;For me this circle is a little better when it&rsquo;s wet. Today I didn&rsquo;t imagine I would throw 80 metres; when I woke up I felt 78, 79, but I was happy and I hope to do the same at the Olympic Games.&rdquo; 
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Hammer winner Wojciech Nowicki at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Turku</div>
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Four-time world champion Pawel Fajdek had a night he will be keen to forget, fouling his first five attempts before salvaging third place in the last round with a throw of 78.29m. Sweden&rsquo;s Ragnar Carlsson set a PB of 76.87m in fourth.
Finland&rsquo;s Senni Salminen drew the biggest cheer of the night when soaring out to a national record of 14.51m (0.4m/s) in the third round of the women&rsquo;s triple jump, also smashing the meeting record by 22 centimetres in the process and adding 29 centimetres to her previous best. That handed her victory by a wide margin over Jamaica&rsquo;s Kimberly Williams (14.29m), with Finland&rsquo;s Kristina Makela third with 14.26m.
&ldquo;I knew I was in good shape but 14.51, it&rsquo;s big,&rdquo; said Salminen, who fell to her knees in ecstatic celebration once she saw the distance. &ldquo;I was about to cry during my last jump when I got a standing ovation. The crowd was amazing.&rdquo; 
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 Finland very nearly had another home win in the final race of the evening as Annimari Korte took second in the 100m hurdles in 12.91, edged by Hungary&rsquo;s Luca Kozak who clocked 12.90 (0.7 m/s). Belgium&rsquo;s Anne Zagre was third with 13.13.
There was an impressive home win in the men&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase as Finland&rsquo;s Topi Raitanen came from behind over the last barrier to take victory in 8:19.57, just a second outside the meeting record, ahead of Denmark&rsquo;s Ole Hesselbjerg (8:20.42). Sweden&rsquo;s Emil Blomberg was third in 8:21.38.
Kenya&rsquo;s Cornelius Tuwei outkicked compatriot Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich to win the men&rsquo;s 800m, 1:44.42 to 1:44.59, with Poland&rsquo;s Mateusz Borkowski third in a PB of 1:44.85.
Poland&rsquo;s Malwina Kopron coped with conditions best in the women&rsquo;s hammer, with a thunderstorm raging during the competition and a soaked circle proving tricky for throwers. She opened with a season&rsquo;s best of 75.40m which proved more than enough for victory, a mark she was unable to improve in subsequent attempts. France&rsquo;s Alexandra Tavernier was next best with 72.80m with two-time Olympic champion Anita Wlodarczyk third with 72.42m.
France&rsquo;s Mouhamadou Fall rose to the occasion in the men&rsquo;s 100m, getting the better of USA&rsquo;s Mike Rodgers to win in 10.26 (0.1m/s), with Rodgers clocking 10.33 and Switzerland&rsquo;s Silvan Wicki third in 10.36.
Britain&rsquo;s Imani Lansiquot came from behind to edge victory in the women&rsquo;s 100m, overtaking Finland&rsquo;s Lotta Kemppinen to win in 11.40 (-0.7m/s) to 11.41. Italy&rsquo;s Vittoria Fontana was third in 11.46.
There was another British win in the 110m hurdles as David King set a PB of 13.37 to take victory, with Poland&rsquo;s Damian Czykier next best in 13.50 and Norway&rsquo;s Vladimir Vukicevic third in 13.59.
&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t run quicker than 13.50 since 2017 and I&rsquo;m so happy,&rdquo; said King. &ldquo;In Hengelo [where King clocked 13.57] I had some good signs but tonight I started well and finished well, it all came together.&rdquo;
Ukraine&rsquo;s Vladyslav Mazur took the men&rsquo;s long jump with a best of 7.90m, with Finland&rsquo;s Kristian Pulli second with 7.82m and Colombia&rsquo;s Arnovis Dalmero third with 7.75m. In the women&rsquo;s pole vault Elina Lampela gave the 2,500-strong crowd reason for celebration as she cleared 4.41m to take victory ahead of Fanny Smets of Belgium (4.31m) and Switzerland&rsquo;s Andrina Hodel (4.31m).
Kamila Licwinko of Poland and Australia&rsquo;s Eleanor Patterson took a joint-win in the women&rsquo;s high jump, which was staged during a torrential downpour. Licwinko had the better record at 1.88m and Patterson the better record at 1.85m, and they were equal at other heights up to and including their best clearance of 1.93m. Because they had the same number of overall failures, they shared the spoils, with Ukraine&rsquo;s Yuliya Levchenko third with a season&rsquo;s best of 1.91m. 
<h3>Barr breaks meeting record, Stahl and Hussong dominate throws</h3>
Ireland&rsquo;s Thomas Barr and Sweden&rsquo;s Daniel Stahl produced the standout performances on the first evening of action in Turku.
Barr clocked 48.39 to edge a thrilling race with Estonia&rsquo;s Rasmus Magi in the 400m hurdles, the Irishman clocking his fastest ever time outside a championship and his quickest since winning a European bronze medal in 2018. Magi led until the final barrier before being passed by Barr on the run to the line, but the Estonian was rewarded with a big season&rsquo;s best of 48.58, with Dutch athlete Nick Smidt third in 49.64. 
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Thomas Barr on his way to winning the 400m hurdles at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Turku</div>
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&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t expecting that,&rdquo; said Barr after taking more than a second off the meeting record. &ldquo;I thought if everything went right, 48-mid was where I was at but I&rsquo;ve felt my rhythm come back quickly and I felt really strong over the last few hurdles. It was a brilliant race.&rdquo;
Barr finished fourth in the 2016 Olympic final and he&rsquo;s hopeful he can again challenge for a podium position in Tokyo.
&ldquo;Normally I&rsquo;m still only warming up at this time of year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Considering how compressed this season was, I didn&rsquo;t have much room for error so I&rsquo;m back on the horse just in time. Since Rio the 400m hurdles has gotten a lot harder, but in an Olympic final, or in any major championship final, anything can happen, so if I&rsquo;m there or thereabouts, I&rsquo;ll be ready to mop up the spillage.&rdquo;
Stahl proved a class apart in the men&rsquo;s discus, the world champion &ndash; who spent his summers in Turku through his childhood &ndash; giving himself more happy memories of the Finnish town when launching a throw of 68.11m to in the fourth round, good enough for a comfortable win over rival Andrius Gudzius of Lithuania (66.88m) and Lukas Weisshaidinger (66.77m).
&ldquo;It was pretty good, I&rsquo;m pretty happy with the 68-metre throw,&rdquo; said Stahl. &ldquo;I was a little bit tight and I felt a little slow in the first three rounds but then I hit it better.&rdquo; 
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Daniel Stahl in action in the discus in Turku</div>
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Stahl has a long list of competitions in the weeks before the Olympics in Tokyo, where he hopes to emulate his success at the 2019 World Championships.
&ldquo;I just need to compete more and get that feeling, there&rsquo;s nothing better,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited now about Tokyo. Everyone is going to get the vaccine and I&rsquo;m going to get my second one in a couple of weeks so it feels great. Since I started in 2011 my coach and I said we&rsquo;d target the Olympic Games in 2020 and now that it&rsquo;s going ahead in 2021, I&rsquo;m really, really happy about it.&rdquo;
Christin Hussong continued her fine run of form in the women&rsquo;s javelin, the German putting the competition to bed in the second round with a meeting record of 66.63m. That was enough to hand her victory with ease, with Latvia&rsquo;s Lina Muze next best with 61.34m and Madara Palameika third with 60.04m. 
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Christin Hussong in action in the javelin at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Turku</div>
&nbsp;
&ldquo;It was a really good throw for me,&rdquo; said Hussong. &ldquo;I've thrown over 66 metres five times now (this year) and I think my technique is better than last year &ndash; that's the reason why. I'm really happy with that.&rdquo;
Asked about her hopes for the Tokyo Olympics, Hussong said she has a straightforward mission. &ldquo;My goal is a medal. Which medal, we'll have to see. There are a lot of girls throwing over 65, 66.&rdquo;
Two more meeting records fell on the first day of action in Turku.
Bahrain&rsquo;s Winfed Yavi was a clear winner of the women&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase, coasting to victory in a meeting record of 9:17.55 ahead of Ireland&rsquo;s Michelle Finn, who smashed her PB by nine seconds to run an automatic Olympic qualifier of 9:29.25. Kenya&rsquo;s Fancy Cherono took third with 9:33.49.
Kenya&rsquo;s Mary Moraa was a class apart in the women&rsquo;s 800m, the 21-year-old kicking to victory in 1:59.95, the first sub-two-minute clocking of her career and the first witnessed in Turku.
&ldquo;My aim was to run under two minutes but I was not expecting it,&rdquo; said Moraa. &ldquo;We have national trials next week and I&rsquo;m confident, I&rsquo;m very happy and strong and God-willing, I will make the Olympics.&rdquo;
In the men&rsquo;s triple jump Portugal&rsquo;s Tiago Pereira saved his best for last, jumping 16.91m to take the win in his final attempt, which demoted Tobia Bocchi to second, though the Italian was delighted to set a PB of 16.73m. Sweden&rsquo;s Jesper Hellstrom took third with 16.40m.
Hungary&rsquo;s Anasztazia Nguyen edged victory in the women&rsquo;s long jump, her third-round effort of 6.51m giving her the win ahead of Britain&rsquo;s Abigail Irozuru (6.50m), with Finland&rsquo;s Maria Huntington third with 6.32m.
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

In a country that loves its throwing, Marcin Krukowski and Wojciech Nowicki put on an exhibition for local fans on the second evening of the Paavo Nurmi Games – a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting – in Turku, Finland, on Tuesday (8).

Krukowski and Nowicki secure Polish throws double in Turku

Polish pole vaulter Piotr Lisek climbed to a share of the 10th spot on the world all-time list at the&nbsp;IAAF Diamond League&nbsp;meeting in Lausanne on Friday (5), smashing the Athletissima meeting record with a lifetime best of 6.01m.
The world silver medallist put together a blemish-free series up to and including a meeting record height of 5.95m. But so too did world champion Sam Kendricks, leaving the two men tied for first place.
The bar moved to 6.01m and the duo recorded their first misses of the night, both failing three times. Still tied, the bar remained at 6.01m for the first jump-off attempt. Lisek finally went clear while Kendricks opted against attempting it, giving the Pole his first win at an IAAF Diamond League meeting since Monaco in 2017.
&ldquo;This is one of the best days of my life,&rdquo; said Lisek. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m so happy as I work so hard for these moments. To beat Sam and Armand today is a dream.
&ldquo;I think one of the main factors today is that my body is in great shape and I was so focused on that last jump,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I have the meeting record, the world lead, the national record and a personal best. I know all my competitors will be motivated by this and are out to beat me now.&rdquo;
European champion Armand Duplantis finished third with a best of 5.81m but had a close attempt at 6.01m. World record-holder Renaud Lavillenie enjoyed a big improvement on his season&rsquo;s best, finishing in equal third place with 5.81m.
<h3>Ibarguen and Lasitskene keep their cool</h3>
IAAF Female Athlete of the Year Caterine Ibarguen came under some serious pressure in the triple jump, but pulled out a season&rsquo;s best of 14.89m in the penultimate round to take a seven-centimetre victory over world champion Yulimar Rojas. 
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Another triple jump victory for Caterine Ibarguen at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne</div>
&nbsp;
Jamaica&rsquo;s Shanieka Ricketts took an early lead with 14.65m, only to be surpassed by Rojas&rsquo;s second-round leap of 14.82m, taking off 14 centimetres behind the board. Cuba&rsquo;s Liadagmis Povea jumped 14.66m in round two and a lifetime best of 14.77m in round four.
Going into the fifth round, Ibarguen was down in fourth place with a best of 14.57m but then unleashed her winning leap to maintain her lead at the top of the Diamond League triple jump standings. For the first time ever outside of a major championship, eight women jumped beyond 14.35m.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy with my victory tonight and with the quality of my jumps,&rdquo; said Ibarguen. &ldquo;Even if not all were valid, they were all pretty good technically speaking.&rdquo;
Two-time world champion Mariya Lasitskene notched up another IAAF Diamond League win, this time clearing 2.02m. But she had world U20 champion Karyna Taranda for company up to and including that height.
Taranda, just 20 years old, cleared 2.00m on her first attempt to equal the Belarusian record but bowed out of the competition with three misses at 2.02m. Lasitskene managed to get over that height on her third try and then moved the bar up to 2.07m, exiting the competition with a couple of close attempts.
Despite struggling to hit the board, world indoor champion Juan Miguel Echevarria came away from the long jump victorious. 
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Juan Miguel Echevarria in the long jump at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne</div>
&nbsp;
The young Cuban sailed out to 8.32m in round two, taking off 30 centimetres behind the plasticine. He followed it with a leap of 8.11m, this time 42 centimetres shy of the plasticine.
His second-round leap proved sufficient to win, though, as Greece&rsquo;s Miltiadis Tentoglou finished second with 8.19m.
<h3>Hussong and Schwanitz land German throws double</h3>
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Christin Hussong, winner of the javelin at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne</div>
&nbsp;
Barbora Spotakova set the javelin alight in the first round with a throw of 63.79m, but the multiple world and Olympic champion didn&rsquo;t take any further throws after experiencing some discomfort in her achilles. European champion Christin Hussong capitalised in the second round with a season&rsquo;s best of 66.59m, which remained the best mark of the competition and gave the German the first Diamond League win of her career.
Australia&rsquo;s Kelsey-Lee Barber, fresh from winning the Oceanian title, moved into second place with 65.08m in round three and then set a lifetime best of 65.63m in the final round. Spotakova&rsquo;s first-round throw was ultimately good enough for third place. 
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Christina Schwanitz wins the shot put at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne</div>
&nbsp;
Christina Schwanitz made it a German throws double. The 2015 world champion led the shot put from the first round, opening with 18.68m and improving to 19.04m in round four. All five of her valid throws would have been enough to win.
World champion Justin Gatlin was a clear winner of the men&rsquo;s 100m, a non-scoring race, clocking 9.92 with Michael Rodgers finishing second in 10.01.
Although the women&rsquo;s 200m in Lausanne was a non-scoring event this year, Gabrielle Thomas returned to the scene of her first IAAF Diamond League triumph from 12 months ago and once again came out on top, winning in a season&rsquo;s best of 22.69.
In other non-scoring disciplines, Nelly Jepkosgei won the 800m in 1:59.54 and Luke Campbell held off a fast-finishing Rasmus Magi to win the 400m hurdles by 0.002 in 49.54.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

Polish pole vaulter Piotr Lisek climbed to a share of the 10th spot on the world all-time list at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne on Friday (5), smashing the Athletissima meeting record with a lifetime best of 6.01m.

Lisek tops six metres in Lausanne – IAAF Diamond League

Two-time defending champion Barbora Spotakova is aiming for a third gold medal in the women&rsquo;s javelin at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and if Tirunesh Dibaba, Valerie Adams and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce all fall short earlier in the athletics programme then the Czech thrower could become the first woman ever to get three individual athletics gold medals in the same event.
Spotakova, then a newly-minted world champion, threw a European record of 71.32m in 2008 to win the Beijing final in the last round and then threw the still-standing world record of 72.28m at the end of the season in Stuttgart.
In 2012, she dominated the competition from the beginning in London, but Spotakova&rsquo;s uneven record at the IAAF World Championships is evidence that she is beatable.
After her 2007 victory, she was second in 2009 and 2011, then skipped the 2013 season on maternity leave. After returning in 2014, the world record-holder struggled at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015 and finished ninth.
Her form this year has been somewhat mixed. She finished sixth on her season debut at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome, but rebounded to win in Prague four days later. She then threw a world-leading 66.87m to win the Czech title, but finished fifth at the European Championships and third at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco.
But on 4 August, just a few days before heading out to Rio, she threw 66.06m in a low-key competition, showing that her form is picking up again at the right time.
Should Spotakova not deliver in Rio, the cast of challengers is broad and the event competitive.
<h3>No Molitor among German trio</h3>
The German team is so deep, world champion Katharina Molitor was not even selected for Rio; 2011 world U18 champion Christin Hussong, second on the 2016 world list at 66.41m, and 2010 European champion Linda Stahl, fifth at 65.25m, lead that team, along with 2013 world champion Christina Obergfoll.
Tatsiana Khaladovich of Belarus was the surprise winner of the European title earlier this summer, and followed up with a victory in Monaco. Khaladovich is the only woman to have thrown beyond 65m three times this year.
The Chinese duo of Lyu Huihui, a silver medallist last year in Beijing, and Li Lingwei were surprisingly competitive last year but their cover is blown now and it will be no surprise should they appear among the medalists in Rio. They will be joined in Rio by Liu Shiying.
Another perennial contender is South Africa&rsquo;s Sunette Viljoen, the 2015 world leader who took bronze in Beijing and finished just outside the medals in London.
Also worthy of consideration as a potential medal contender is Latvia&rsquo;s Madara Palameika, the current Diamond Race leader after having shown good early season form when winning at the IAAF Diamond League meetings in Rabat and Birmingham.
Palameika finished eighth in London four years ago but it should be noted she didn&rsquo;t reach the final of either the 2013 or 2015 World Championships and was only seventh at the European Championships last month.
Parker Morse for the IAAF

Two-time defending champion Barbora Spotakova is aiming for a third gold medal in the women’s javelin at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and if Tirunesh Dibaba, Valerie Adams and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce all fall short earlier in the athletics programme then the Czech thrower could become the first woman ever to get three individual athletics gold medals in the same event.

Preview: women's javelin – Rio 2016 Olympic Games

The weather may have been unpredictable, but Germany&rsquo;s leading Olympic medal hopes turned in a consistent series of classy performances at their national championships in Kassel over the weekend (18-19).
It was unsurprisingly that it was the throwing events which served up the best contests inside the Auestadion, with team selectors for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and upcoming European Championships left, in their own words, selectors with a &ldquo;luxury problem&rdquo;.
On Saturday, the men&rsquo;s javelin certainly promised headaches for the selectors, with German throwers occupying three spots in the global top 10, topped by Thomas Rohler&rsquo;s world-leading mark of 89.30m.
With an opening effort of 83.71m, Rohler virtually ensured victory, but behind him the podium spaces were hotly contested.&nbsp;After two rounds, four athletes had gone beyond the 80-metre mark, with Andreas Hofmann leading the pursuit.
However Rohler, the 2014 IAAF Diamond Race winner, didn&rsquo;t leave anything to chance and hurled his implement an impressive 86.81m in the second round, the longest throw of the day.&nbsp;
It proved vital as Julian Weber, who had entered the competition with a personal best of 82.69m, improved to 83.73m to move into second. Andreas Hoffman&rsquo;s best of 81.98m secured him bronze.
&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t easy today, but that is the javelin,&rdquo; said Rohler. &ldquo;I think my experience in competitions helped a lot and I threw every attempt differently. You&rsquo;ve got to dip into various options and discuss things with your coach. Of course 90 metres is my main motivation right now.&rdquo;
<h3>Harting brothers dominate the discus</h3>
On Sunday the 'luxury problem' continued in the men&rsquo;s discus and the women&rsquo;s javelin.
Every German title in the men&rsquo;s discus since 2007 has been won by a Harting &ndash; eight of them by three-time world champion Robert, one by his younger brother Christoph, who led the field based on season&rsquo;s bests.
As the crowds gathered in the stadium corner near&nbsp;the discus cage, the throwers, of which five had already surpassed the Olympic A standard, began their quest for the three available spots on the Olympic team.
Robert Harting, gradually returning from his injury woes of the past 18 months, was out to regain the crown his younger brother had inherited in his absence last year, and the reigning Olmypic champion improved&nbsp;with every round to take the lead.
It wasn&rsquo;t until the final round that brother Christoph, currently ranked second in the world, challenged Robert with a 66.41m throw. However the&nbsp;elder Harting, who was the final thrower in the field, took a deep breath before hurling the discus to 68.04m to take victory, an effort which moved him&nbsp;to number three in the world this year and within two centimetres of his brother&rsquo;s season&rsquo;s best.
<h3>Hussong victorious in world-class field</h3>
The knowledgeable crowd didn&rsquo;t have to wait long for things to heat up again as&nbsp;a world-class women&rsquo;s javelin field took to the runway.
Christin Hussong wasn&rsquo;t disturbed by the changing winds or by her top-notch opponents, which included reigning world champion Katharina Molitor, Christina Obergfoll and Linda Stahl, the London 2012 Olympic Games silver and bronze medallists respectively.
The 22-year-old Hussong lofted&nbsp;the javelin perfectly to set&nbsp;a German under-23 record of 66.41m, which would have been a world lead if Barbora Spotakova hadn&rsquo;t claimed that spot earlier in the day at the Czech championships.
Elsewhere in the throws, the usual suspects delivered in both the men&rsquo;s shot put and women&rsquo;s hammer.
David Storl won his sixth national shot put title with 20.75m, while former hammer throw world record holder Betty Heidler also took the honours with a best of 75.32m. World shot put champion Christina Schwanitz won her fifth title with a season&rsquo;s best of 19.49m.
In the women&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase Gesa Felicitas Krause was one of the safe bets of the championship and the world bronze medallist duly obliged,&nbsp;clocking 9:31.00 to win the title in a championship record.
Teenage star&nbsp;Konstanze Klosterhalfen put on an equally impressive performance in the women&rsquo;s 1500m. The 19-year-old had more than a 20-metre advantage as she crossed&nbsp;the line to win her first national title in 4:07.52, the fastest time at the German championships for 20 years.
&ldquo;In Ostrava I ran well with a pacemaker so I wanted to prove I can run well on my own as well. I won&rsquo;t be racing in Amsterdam, but at the world U20s instead; then I&rsquo;ll turn my attention to Rio,&rdquo; she said before setting off on possibly the day&rsquo;s fastest victory lap.
In the men&rsquo;s 1500m, Homiyu Tesfaye was the favourite but with 100 metres to go it was Timo Benitz who surprised him with a lethal kick to take the win in 3:40.28.
Having ticked off the Olympic 800m qualifier from her to-do list in the heats, Fabienne Kohlmann was looking to defend her national title from last year. in Sunday's final. However, Christina Hering took charge after 400m and secured the crown in 2:02.19.
<h3>New generation takes&nbsp;command in sprints</h3>
Germany&rsquo;s women are currently outshining their male counterparts in the sprints, and in Kassel it was rising star Tatjana Pinto who again showed her vast potential, winning the women&rsquo;s 100m title with 11.22 into a 2.0m/s headwind.
However it was the 200m that really provided the fireworks on the track. Only two weeks ago, a German quartet including Pinto had recorded a world-leading 42.00 4x100m, and now the remaining three were lining up against each other in the 200m final.
Lisa Mayer entered the home&nbsp;straight in front, but was clawed back in&nbsp;the final metres by Gina Luckenkemper. Running into a slight 0.5m/s headwind, the 19-year-old took the title in 22.84, just 0.03 ahead of her relay partner, who improved her personal best by 0.17 in second placer.
On the men&rsquo;s side Julian Reus won his fourth 100m title in 10.30 (-2.3m/s), while Robin Erewa struck 200m gold in 20.60.
In the women&rsquo;s pole vault Martina Strutz improved her season&rsquo;s best to 4.70m, while on the men&rsquo;s side a gamble at 4.65m paid off for Tobias Scherbarth as he won with 5.70m.
Michelle Sammet for the IAAF

The weather may have been unpredictable, but Germany’s leading Olympic medal hopes turned in a consistent series of classy performances at their national championships in Kassel over the weekend.

Rohler and Harting lead the way at German Championships 

The 2015 European Under-23 Championships in Tallinn ended in much the same way as it started, with Germany&rsquo;s Rebekka Haase taking another gold medal as the event drew to a close on Sunday (12).Following her 100m triumph on Friday, Haase led a German 1-2 in the women&rsquo;s 200m on Saturday. The 22-year-old ran a great bend to just hold off younger team-mate Anna-Lena Freese down the home-straight, as the duo clocked 23.16 and 23.22.On Sunday, the pair then teamed up with Alexandra Burghardt, who had finished second to Haase in the 100m, and lived up to expectations as the outstanding favourites in the 4x100m. The team duly won by seven metres in 43.47 as Haase became the first athlete in history to win three gold medals at the same European Under-23 Championships.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t even believe this, I won again,&rdquo; Haase said after her 200m victory. &ldquo;I came here with a bad feeling, because I lost here in Tallinn at the 2011 European Junior Championships.&rdquo;Haase was responsible for almost half of her country&rsquo;s gold medal count as Germany topped the medals table with seven gold, four silver and five bronze.Their most successful event was the women&rsquo;s discus at the start of the final session of the championships, as Shanice Craft went one better than the silver she won in the shot put on Thursday.A season's best of 63.83m with her final throw was enough to beat compatriot and pre-event favourite Anna Ruh by more than two metres, reversing the finishing order from two years ago, with fellow German Kristin Pudenz taking bronze.It was Germany&rsquo;s first ever medal sweep at the European Under-23 Championships and the first time in the history of the championships that all three medals in a field event had been won by the same country.Christin Hussong continued Germany&rsquo;s dominance of the throws. Any of her three valid efforts in the women&rsquo;s javelin would have been enough to win, but her best came in the fourth round as she threw a championship record of 65.60m to win by exactly seven metres.The eventual top two in the women&rsquo;s long jump was a carbon copy of the results from the European Junior Championships two years ago. Germany&rsquo;s Malaika Mihambo led from the outset with 6.73m, but the other podium places changed with regularity.Britain&rsquo;s Jazmin Sawyers produced a personal best of 6.71m in round five to move from fifth to second, overtaking Romania&rsquo;s Alina Rotaru by two centimetres.<h3>Two records and a gold for Zbaren</h3>Just like Mihambo, Swiss sprint hurdler Noemi Zbaren followed up her 2013 European junior triumph with gold in Tallinn at the under-23 level.After equalling the championship record with 12.88 in the semi-finals, she smashed that mark in the final with a lifetime best of 12.71, winning by two-and-a-half metres.All three medallists in the men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles produced lifetime bests, led by Poland&rsquo;s Patryk Dobek who clocked 48.84 to take gold. Silver went to Jussi Kanervo in a personal best of 49.66, while Nicolai Hartling set a Danish national record of 50.02 to clinch bronze.In the women&rsquo;s equivalent, Sweden&rsquo;s former heptathlete Elise Malmberg set a 55.88 personal best to catch Stina Troest just metres before the line.Russia's Dmitriy Chizhikov was the class of the triple jump field and his first-round leap of 17.05m was enough to win comfortably, while compatriot Ilya Ivanyuk cleared a PB of 2.30m to clinch gold in the men&rsquo;s high jump.Fellow Russian and world indoor champion Mariya Kuchina had been tipped to triumph in the women&rsquo;s competition, but she uncharacteristically bowed out after three failures at 1.81m. Italy&rsquo;s defending champion Alessia Trost eventually prevailed with a first-time clearance at 1.90m as silver went to heptathlete Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium with 1.87m.<h3>Gold for Braun and bronze for hosts</h3>Pieter Braun of the Netherlands took gold in the decathlon, with a tally of 8195. Coming into the competition as the only man with a personal best in excess of 8000 points, he had a solid start, running 11.04 in the 100m, long jumping 7.38m and setting a shot put PB of 14.19m before winning the 400m in another PB of 48.02.But it wasn&rsquo;t until the discus (42.69m) when he overhauled overnight leader Yevgeniy Likhanov. The Dutchman went on to clear a 4.90m PB in the pole vault, produce a season&rsquo;s best in the javelin (58.55m) and finish second in the 1500m (4:36.19) to wrap up the title. Spain&rsquo;s Jorge Urena took silver, while Janek Oiglane gave the crowd something to cheer about as he took bronze, Estonia&rsquo;s only medal of the championships.Amela Terzic has won European titles on the track and cross country over the past few years and she lined up as defending champion in the 1500m. In then end, though, it took a Serbian and championship record of 4:04.77 for her to edge out Sofia Ennaoui who also set a PB of 4:04.90.Marc Alcala continued Spain&rsquo;s tradition of fast-finishing 1500m runners as he ran a 53.38 last lap to take the men&rsquo;s 1500m title in 3:44.54.Poland&rsquo;s Kacper Oleszczuk produced one of the biggest surprises of the championships to win the men&rsquo;s javelin. The 21-year-old added almost five metres to his PB to win with 82.29m.<h3>Kaya does the double</h3>As in the 10,000m, the men&rsquo;s 5000m was all about Ali Kaya. The Turk was never challenged as he ran a solo 13:20.16 to set another championship record, winning by more than half a minute.Turkey added to their medal tally in the women&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase as Tugba Guvenc put in a brilliant front-running display to pull away from Maeva Danois of France with 500m to go. With 300m remaining, Guvenc hit a barrier with her trail leg, but she managed to scoop herself off the track just as quickly as she had fallen and sprint to a 9:36.14 championship record.The men's 200m looked like it was going to be a two-horse race, after impressive performances from Karol Zalewski and Leon Reid in the previous two rounds. In the end it was defending champion Zalewski who prevailed in 20.49, with European junior silver medallist Reid clinching silver.A sharp performance by Bianca Razor saw her reign supreme in the women's 400m final, just as she had done on the same track in 2011 when winning the European junior title.With five athletes in a line coming off the final bend, the Romanian judged her race the best, moving away in the final 50 metres to equal the 51.31 PB she had set in the heats two days earlier.The two athletes who had finished behind Razor in the heats once again took second and third, albeit in the reverse order. Russia&rsquo;s Yekaterina Renzhina took silver in a personal best of 51.51 from lane one, while Poland&rsquo;s Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz took bronze.Interestingly, the same trio took the medals at the 2013 European Junior Championships with Wyciszkiewicz winning gold on that occasion.<h3>Jordier leads late French gold rush</h3>After equalling his personal best to qualify for the men&rsquo;s 400m final, Thomas Jordier did it again, running an outright PB of 45.50 to take gold. The battle for silver was a good one, with a photo-finish needed to separate Pavel Ivashko and Luka Janezic, who both ran 45.73.It was one of six gold medals won by France on the last two days of the championships, having not won any titles on the first three days.France's Alexandria Tavernier won the women&rsquo;s hammer. In the final she was unable to match the championship record of 72.98m she had set in qualifying, but she led for the duration, opening with 71.68m and ending with 72.50m to finish more than a metre ahead of Alena Sobaleva of Belarus.There was further French success in the women's 800m as Renelle Lamote judged her race to perfection to pass long-time leader Anastasiya Tkachuck in the final 30 metres. Coming off the bend it look like gold would be Ukraine&rsquo;s as there was daylight between the pair, but Lamote finished strongest to stop the clock at 2:00.19. With a late charge, Germany&rsquo;s Christina Hering took bronze with a PB of 2.00.88.Like all of the women's distance events at these championships, it took record-breaking performances to get among the medals in the 5000m. Forcing the pace all the way, France's Liv Westphal was rewarded with gold as she crossed the line in 15:30.61 ahead of Belgium&rsquo;s Louise Carton and Viktoriya Kalyuzhna who clocked 15:32.75 and 15:38.38 respectively with all three medallists setting national under-23 records.France was victorious in both the men&rsquo;s 4x100m and 4x400m, adding two more gold medals to their count at the end of the final day.Britain triumphed in the women&rsquo;s 4x400m, adding to the gold medals won earlier in the championships by Nick Miller in the hammer and David Omoregie in the 110m hurdles, the latter clocking 13.63 to win by a clear margin.Pete Matthews for the IAAF

The 2015 European Under-23 Championships in Tallinn ended in much the same way as it started, with Germany’s Rebekka Haase taking another gold medal as the event drew to a close on Sunday (12).