Irving Saladino leaps to 8.39m in Rio (© Freelance)
Panamanian Irving Saladino, the 2007 World Long Jump champion, opened his outdoor season recording the most significant performancesof the “Grande Prêmio Rio Caixa de Atletismo”, held at the “Estádio Célio de Barros” in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday (18 May).
On a nice and warm day, and in front of good crowd of 4000, Saladino jumped 8.39m (wind +1.2) currently the best outdoor performance of 2008 in his season’s premiere. The 25 year-old from Colón reached the mark in his sixth attempt. Saladino opened with a foul, followed with 8.30, another foul, a pass, and 8.37 (-0.2), before launching his best jump of the day.
The Rio meet, is also one of a select group of Area meetings at which points can be acquired by athletes to qualify for the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, to be held on 13-14 September in Stuttgart.
Saladino, who couldn’t compete at the 2008 World Indoor Championships in Valencia due to an injury, has jumped further indoors this year (8.42m, 13 February in Athens, Greece). “I was expecting to break my own meet record (8.56 from 2006), but this is a good victory anyway”, said the Panamanian.
Maggi reaches 6.91m
The infield events were very strong in Rio, and a proof of that was the 6.91m (-0.2 wind) performance by Brazilian Maurren Maggi. The silver medallist from Valencia had a very strong day: 6.62, 6.74, 6.82, 6.76, pass and 6.91 in her final attempt. “I believe 6.95 is the mark I need to jump in Beijing in order to win an Olympic medal, so I’m very happy with today’s result. I wasn’t expecting such a performance yet,” said the 31-year-old from São Carlos.
Maggi had jumped 6.75m outdoors twice this season, and 6.89 indoors – in Valencia – so, this mark puts her right behind the world season leader (6.93 by American Brittney Reese).
Her compatriot Keila Costa was second with 6.55 (0.4), while another Brazilian, Eliane Martins, was third with 6.43 (0.7).
Giralt wins Triple Jump battle
Cuban David Giralt won a very interesting Triple Jump competition, highly contested, with 5 men over the 17m barrier.
Giralt jumped 17.28m (-1.4 wind) in his second attempt to beat the 2007 World silver medallist Jadel Gregório, from Brazil, who came back in his final jump to reach 17.27 (-0.2).
Gregório was only fifth until then, with a best result of 16.65, and although he was beaten, he still remained optimistic about the future. “I didn’t think I was ready for a mark like this. It is a great sign that we are going in the right direction,” declared Gregório.
Giralt, the 2008 world leader with 17.50 was “happy with the victory in Brazil, but I thought I could jump 17.40 today”, as he expressed afterwards.
Bahamian Leevan Sands was third with 17.16 (-0.3), Cuban Osniel Tosca fourth with 17.12 (-1.5) and American Kenta Bell fifth with 17.04 (wind nil).
Good putting (19.02m) and hammer throwing (71.06m)
Although they didn’t record their best performances of the year, Cuban Misleidis González and Slovakian Martina Danisová-Hrasnová have to be pleased with their results in Rio.
González put the Shot to 19.02m to beat compatriot Mailín Vargas (18.82 PB), Trinidad and Tobago’s Cleopatra Borel-Brown (18.73), American Elizabeth Wanless (18.19) and Cuba’s Olympic champion Yumileidi Cumbá (18.13).
González set a PB of 19.29 in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, on 11 May, and reached her best throw of the day in Rio on her second attempt. Taking sixth place was 19 year-old Chilean Natalia Ducó, who with her 17.97 performance set a new South American Junior record.
The 25 year-old Hrašnová won the Hammer Throw with a meet record of 71.06m (second attempt). The Slovak, who possesses a SB of 73.11 had 2 throws over 70m (also 70.48 in her third). In Rio, she beat the two best South American specialists, Colombian Eli Johana Moreno (65.39), and the area record holder, Argentinean Jennifer Dahlgren (63.70).
Ahmed and Walker produced the best track results
Twenty-three year old Ethiopian Zemzem Ahmed set a PB while taking the victory at the 3000m Steeplechase in 9:32.53. Zemzem, recent winner at the African Championships in Addis Ababa, showed significant improvement from the 9:44.58 clocked in her native country.
The Ethiopian posted a solid victory over Jamaican Mardrea Hyman (9:41.68) and Brazilian Zenaide Vieira (9:42.10), who set a new South American record, improving the 9:46.52 she clocked in 2006.
Another Jamaican, Melaine Walker, set a SB of 55.48 to capture the victory in the 400m hurdles over Trinidad and Tobago’s Josanne Lucas (56.42), leaving Brazilian Gisele Cruz in third place with a PB of 57.34.
The rest of the event winners were: American Chris Hargret at 100m (10.32/-1.1), Brazilian Sandro Viana at 200m (20.55/+0.5), Kenyan Ismael Kombich at 800m (1:46.04), Brazilian Anselmo Gomes da Silva at 110m hurdles (13.67/+0.7), Jamaican Adrian Findlay at 400m hurdles (49.72), Brazilian Ronald Julião in the Discus (56.52), American Mike Hazle in the Javelin (81.23), Jamaican Shelly-Ann Frazier at 100m (11.32/-0.4), American Debbie Dunn at 200m (22.90/+0.9), and Ethiopian Meskerem Assefa at 800m (PB of 2:02.12).
The next Brazilian meet will be on 22 May in São Paulo, while Belém, on 25 May, shall host the “Grande Prêmio Brasil Caixa de Atletismo”, which is part of the IAAF World Athletics Tour, and closes the series of events in the South American nation.
Eduardo Biscayart for the IAAF
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