In a javelin competition where the top three athletes exceeded a championship record that had stood for 32 years, Moldova’s Andrian Mardare emerged victorious with 83.60m, producing one of the main highlights of the Balkan Championships in Cluj-Napoca.

World silver medallist Liu Shiying and 2015 world bronze medallist Wang Jianan produced the highlights of the Chinese Championships, which drew to a close on Friday (18) after four days of action in Shaoxing.

World champion Malaika Mihambo, competing off a shortened run-up, sailed out to a world-leading 7.03m to win the long jump at Anhalt 2020, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting, in Dessau on Tuesday (8).

Another week, another world record was seriously threatened.

The sport of athletics rarely stands still and this is no more evident than when we scrutinise the journey undertaken by Olympic javelin throw hampion Sara Kolak. 

Germany’s 2017 world champion Johannes Vetter dominated the javelin at the Orlen Kusocinski Memorial, winning with 90.86m at the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting in Chorzow on Tuesday (25).

It may not have been the competition that Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium had originally been set to host in August 2020, but Japan’s leading athletes got a taste of the big time at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, on Sunday (23).

Haruka Kitaguchi, the national record-holder in the javelin, is among the latest group of top Japanese athletes confirmed for the Seiko Golden Grand Prix, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, in Tokyo on 23 August.

Johannes Vetter produced his best throw for more than two years to win the javelin at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku on Tuesday (11), providing the highlight of the first World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting of 2020.

Johannes Vetter produced the world’s best javelin throw since late January to win at the Kuortane Games, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting, on Saturday (1).

Some of the biggest names in Czech athletics are looking forward to competing at the Golden Spike in Ostrava on 8 September when the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting will host its 59th edition.

European U23 bronze medallist Aliaksei Katkavets came out on top in a multi-venue handicap javelin competition in Belarus on Friday (12), winning with a throw of 81.12m.