Jolanda Ceplak of Slovenia celebrates winning bronze in the 800m (© Getty Images)
Jolanda Ceplak’s return to the track after a near year-long absence and a surprise 4.60 leap in the Pole Vault by Russian Yuliya Golubchikova were the highlights of the 11th MinersFest EAA meeting in the athletics-crazed northern city of Velenje on Friday (23).
On an ideal evening for athletics, an enthusiastic capacity crowd filled the city’s intimate municipal stadium for Slovenia’s premiere annual athletics meeting, set beautifully among rolling hills, lush valleys and thick forests at the city’s northwestern edge.
Most turned out to watch the local gal Ceplak, the World Indoor record holder in the 800m, making her first two-lap appearance since 11 July of last year. After cruising to a 2:01.83 win, they shared their overwhelming appreciation for the woman whose road to a pair of European titles and an Olympic bronze medal began in this very stadium.
“I’m still missing some training,” said Ceplak, the reigning European champion, whose 2005 campaign was frustrated to nagging Achilles tendon problems which were finally corrected with surgery last October. “But I’m pleased with the result after just three months of training. I can’t do everything at once.”
Primarily a solo effort, Ceplak cruised through the first lap in 59.27 before comfortably distancing herself from the relatively modest field by the 500 metre mark. “I have yet to begin any speed training, so I’m happy with tonight. It’s just one race at a time.”
Ceplak’s next race is yet to be decided, but she is mulling over several options, including the Cork City Games in Ireland on 1 July and perhaps Rome’s Golden Gala Golden League race on 14 July.
While Ceplak provided the fireworks for the locals, Russian Yuliya Golubchikova produced the evening’s biggest surprise. The 23-year-old pole vaulter, who began the evening with a 4.45 best, improved to 4.50 with a second attempt clearance, before storming onwards through 4.55 and 4.60, both on her first try, and both with some room to spare. The Muscovite, who began her track career at age ten, took one more jump at 4.65 before giving in to her tired legs, ending the evening tied in the No. 3 spot on the early-season world list.
Behind her, 18-year-old Tina Sutej raised the Slovenian junior record to 4.20, finishing second.
Primoz Kozmus, who threw beyond 80 metres to win last weekend’s European Cup First League match in Thessaloniki, won for the fourth time in six competitions this spring with a 77.88 third round effort. The 26-year-old, sixth at the Olympics two years ago, underwent back surgery last year to repair a herniated disc. In Thessaloniki, he reached a surprise 80.38, the fourth farthest of the year.
Arriving on the heels of his world-leading 8:11.36 performance on Tuesday in Huelva, Spain, Bahraini Tareq Mubarak Taher’s appearance in the Steeplechase made an assault on Josephat Kapkory’s 8:30.86 meeting record from 1999 a distinct possibility. But apparently the malady that caused officials to miscount laps in the event at Ostrava’s Golden Spike last month moved westward. This time, instead of sounding the bell a lap early, the bell didn’t sound until the runner’s reached the finish after the full distance was run. Ukraine’s Vadym Slobodenyuk tracked the laps and timed his kick perfectly en route to a 8:33.12 win; Taher, Moroccan Jamel Chabti and Kenyan Bisluke Kipkurir did not, and took the minor positions. Despite protests, the finishing order stood while the performances were annulled.
Another crowd pleaser was World indoor championships finalist Matic Osovnikar’s commanding win the 100. The national record holder in the100 and 200 led from the start en route to a satisfying 10.25 win, 25/100s of a second ahead of Nigerian Uchena Emedolu, who was fourth in the short sprint at the Commonwealth Games in March.
In the women’s 400, Croatia’s 17-year-old Danijela Grgic overtook Slovenia’s Brigita Langerholc with 170 metres to go en route to a season’s best 52.45, this year, the fourth fastest among juniors in 2006. In Marrakech last year, the Zagreb native sped to a 51.30 national junior record when she finished second at the World Youth Championshpis.
Marija Martinovic-Sestak, who earlier this season extended her Triple Jump personal best to 14.51, made a hefty improvement in the Long Jump as well after her 6.45 win, adding more than 30 centimetres to her previous outdoor best. Another crowd-pleaser was the runner-up, Nina Kokot, an 18-year-old from the local club who extended the national junior record twice over the course of the evening, first to 6.24 in the fifth round, than again to 6.36 in the sixth.
Shot putter Miran Vodovnik, who extended the Slovenian national record to 20.76 in Thessaloniki, was bothered by a badly swollen throwing hand, but nonetheless reached 19.89 for a hefty win over Croatia’s Nedzad Mulabegovic (19.50).
Elsewhere, Slovenia’s Rozle Prezelj won the High Jump over Russian 2.30 jumper Mikhail Tsvetkov, 2.24 to 2.22.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
