Congolese shot putter Franck Elemba provided the highlight of the IAAF World Challenge meeting in the Senegalese capital Dakar when he set a national record of 21.01m on Wednesday (25).
The effort added 48 centimetres to the African Games champion's previous best, set indoors in Karlsruhe earlier this year.
He is just the third African putter over 21 metres after South Africa&rsquo;s Janus Robberts, who holds the African record with 21.97m, and Nigeria&rsquo;s Stephen Mozia.
Elemba started the competition in fine fashion, reaching a personal best of 20.82m with his opening effort, and then produced his big put in the fifth round. Brazil&rsquo;s Darlan Romani was second with 20.64m.
The meeting also incorporated the IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge and the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s events were won by Pavel Bareisha from Belarus and Moldova's Zalina Marghieva, who won with 75.29m and 71.91m respectively.
Both contests were close with Bareisha just beating Marghieva&rsquo;s brother Serghei Marghiev by 16 centimetres while his older sister triumphed over Germany&rsquo;s 2007 world champion and former world record-holder Betty Heidler, who threw 71.40m.
US long jumper Jarvis Gotch, who set a legal personal best of 8.24m last month, was blown to a winning distance of 8.31m with the last jump of the competition, aided by a strong 4.0m/s wind on his back.
Gotch had already got the competition well won as the only jumper beyond eight metres, with 8.01m (1.2m/s) in the third round and then reaching a legal 8.17m (1.5m/s) with his fifth effort.
The men&rsquo;s sprints were also wind-assisted with the plaudits in the 200m going to Ivory Coast&rsquo;s Ben Meite, who won in 20.47 (3.5m/s) with Gambia&rsquo;s Adama Jammeh second in 20.53.
USA&rsquo;s Jeff Porter and South Africa&rsquo;s Antonio Alkana were both timed at 13.40 (2.3m/s) in the 110m hurdles with the verdict went to the US sprint hurdler.
By contrast, the wind died down for the women&rsquo;s sprints. USA&rsquo;s Alexandria Anderson won the 100m in 11.26 (0.4m/s) and there was another US winner in the women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles with Christina Manning taking the victory in 12.94 (0.1m/s).
Britain's world 400m finalist Rabah Yusif won over one lap of the track in 46.08 while Botswana&rsquo;s Lydia Jele took 0.39 off her personal best to win the women&rsquo;s event in 52.18.
In the 400m hurdles, Poland's Joanna Linkiewicz won in 56.56, coming home 0.14 ahead of Ukraine&rsquo;s Anna Titimets.
Djibouti's 19-year-old Abdi Waiss Mouhyadin was an impressive winner of the men&rsquo;s 1500m in 3:36.87 while Kenya&rsquo;s Margaret Kipkemboi took the women&rsquo;s 3000m in 8:54.79.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF

Congolese shot putter Franck Elemba provided the highlight of the IAAF World Challenge meeting in the Senegalese capital Dakar when he set a national record of 21.01m on Wednesday (25).

Elemba beyond 21 metres in Dakar

German discus thrower Nadine Muller, the 2011 World Championships silver medallist, was the star of the second day of the European Cup Winter Throwing in the Spanish town of Castellon when she launched her implement out to 66.69m on Sunday (17).Muller opened with her big throw, her fourth best competition of her career, and then followed it up with efforts of 62.39m, 63.97m, 61.81m, 64.62m and finally 63.89m, winning by more than five metres.Russian javelin thrower Mariya Abakumova stunned with an almighty effort of 69.34m on Saturday and her compatriot Valery Iordan was clearly inspired.The 21-year-old 2012 European Athletics Championships javelin silver medallist sent his spear out to 82.89m, which was less than a metre shy of his best. The distance not only won the under-23 event, but it would have also won the senior event as Latvia's 2011 European junior champion Zigismunds Sirmais, himself only 20, threw 82.51m.In the women's Hammer Throw there was an upset as Moldova's Zalina Margieva, eighth at the London 2012 Olympic Games, found her first-round effort of 71.98m was sufficient to triumph and also defeat Russia's 2012 Olympic champion Tatyana Lysenko.Lysenko had four efforts over 71 metres but the best was only 71.54m. France's 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships gold medallist Alexandra Tavernier, still only 19, won the under-23 Hammer contest with 66.20m.Another Barcelona champion, Germany’s Shot Put winner Shanice Craft, who has also not turned 20 yet, won the women’s under-23 Discus with 60.14m. The hosts Spain had to wait until the very last event of the weekend to get underway before tasting victory as shot putter Borja Vivas reached 20.00m to win the men's senior event and bring a smile to the faces of the local crowd.Phil Minshull for the IAAF

Discus thower Muller reaches 66.69m at European Cup Winter Throwing

Discus thrower Muller reaches 66.69m at European Cup Winter Throwing

German discus thrower Nadine Muller, the 2011 World Championships silver medallist, was the star of the second day of the European Cup Winter Throwing in the Spanish town of Castellon when she launched her implement out to 66.69m on Sunday (17).