Antonio Manuel Reina (ESP) in Vaasa (© Hasse Sjögren)
Spain’s men and Great Britain & Northern Ireland’s women won the European Cup 1st League, Group A in Vaasa, Finland, and will compete in the main SPAR European Cup next year.
The Spanish men were, as expected, strong enough in the running events and Spain’s points total was 111. Sweden had a very good second day and lost by only 4 points, while the Netherlands got 101.5. Then came the Czech Republic 93.5, Finland 88.5, Switzerland 81, Ireland 76, and the Slovak Republic 59.5.
The British women’s team did not get a serious challenge from any opponents: 131 points for GBR, 110 for Sweden and 102 for the Czech Republic. Then came Finland with 98, the Netherlands 78, Ireland 76, Norway 73, and the Slovak Republic 50.
The second day didn’t offer any real drama on a sunny and warm (23 degrees) Sunday. Spain was simply too strong in the men’s running events and found no real disaster anywhere else, either. Great Britain dominated the women’s track events just as clearly and had the same winning recipe in the field, too.
MEN
Antonio Manuel Reina brought a very important 8 points for Spain by kicking strongly in the last 200m in the men’s 800m. He left the reigning European champion, Dutchman Bram Som 0.26 seconds behind him when clocking 1:47.58.
"I was not sure about my speed form, because I have suffered from some injuries lately. So I had no specific tactic today," said Reina who also ran the last leg of the 4x400m relay and sealed Spain’s victory both in that race and in the total competition. Sergio Gallardo did what was he was counted on to do in the 3000m, as he kicked to a quite easy victory.
The packed stadium anticipated Finland’s European champion Jukka Keskisalo´s performance in the 3000m Steeplechase, but this morning Keskisalo declared he was unable to compete due to a fever.
In the Finn's absence Sweden’s Mustafa Mohamed chose a brave tactic and took a clear lead already in the first kilometre, running easily away from Spain´s Jose Luis Blanco, the European silver medallist. The Swede clocked 8:26.03 against Blanco’s 8:41.43.
"This was my plan: to win the race and run a decent time. I was sorry for Jukka’s absence, but I knew Blanco is the same class of opponent. At the World Champs in Osaka I’ll just try to make it to the final,” said Mohamed.
Ireland’s Paul Hession took the first place in the 200m in 20.61 just some centimetres ahead of Sweden’s Johan Wissman, who won the 400m on Saturday (23). Still, Hession thought that his personal best of 10.17 in the 100m meant more to him.
“There’s no doubt about it, although the conditions were better on Sunday. In this headwind this was a good race, too,” smiled Hession.
Smith takes a double in the throws
One of the best athletes of the weekend was Dutchman Rutger Smith, who won the Shot Put yesterday, and the Discus Throw today with a solid result of 64.51. Smith, who took a silver medal in the Shot at the Helsinki World Championships in 2005, confirmed he is going to do both events at the World Championships in Osaka in a two months time.
“Yes, I am, because the Shot will take place first. I have trained for the Discus less than before - only once in a week - because I have noticed that I cannot improve my results so much that it would be worth doing it more.”
Pitkämäki wins but is not content - 85.56m
Tero Pitkämäki, the European silver medallist from the last year, did not let the Finnish crowd down in the Javelin Throw. Sweden’s Magnus Arvidsson took the lead in the second round with 83.35m, but Pitkämäki answered with 85.56m on his next throw. All the throws and horizontal jumps were four attempt competitions as is the case throughout the European Cup.
"My technique was quite poor today,” confirmed the Finn. “I used my hand before I got my left foot on the track, and that caused some problems. After the Oslo Golden League competition, I have had too few training throws.”
Pitkämäki’s result was perhaps not as good as the Finnish crowd had hoped given that in the USA champs, Breaux Greer, who is coached by a former Finnish national coach Kari Ihalainen, went past 91 metres last week. Pitkämáki’s season best is 88.78m.
Olsson “needs more competition”
Sweden took two first places in the jumping events: Olympic champion Christian Olsson leapt to 17.33m in the Triple Jump and Jesper Fritz went to 5.45m in a poor Pole Vault competition.
“I need more competition in order to reach my top form, but this is only the beginning of a long season, and I have lot of work to do,” said Olsson.
WOMEN
Great Britain’s Joice Maduaka clocked 23.31 to win the 200m, Abby Westley kicked into 4:21.12 in the 1500m, Jo Pavey won the 5000m easily in 15:43.86, and Hattie Dean improved her PB to 9:42.66 at the 3000m Steeplechase.
Britain finished their almost perfect running day with a very easy victory in the 4x400m. Lee McConnell brought the baton home 3.52 seconds ahead of Sweden.
Klüft shines in the Long Jump
The Swedish superstars completed their job with a good attitude. The European champion Susanna Kallur finished well in the 100m Hurdles beating Ireland’s Derval O´Rourke, the World Indoor 60m Hurdles champion, with the times 12.92 to 13.00.
Kajsa Bergqvist was not at her best in the High Jump, but still won. She cleared 1.92m on her second attempt, and so did Slovak Iva Strakova, but as Bergqvist took 1.89 at the first try and Strakova only on the third attempt, a big surprise was averted.
Then it was Heptathlon Queen Carolina Klüft’s turn to shine in the Long Jump. She opened with 6.36m but then set 6.59, 6.75 and 6.72. Great Britain’s Jade Johnson leapt 6.56 in the first round and was left far behind ‘Carro’.
“I think I can jump longer in this summer. I wanted to secure points for my team in the beginning of the competition and then started to try harder. My two last were good,” said Klüft.
Klüft held an ice bag on her neck when the day was done, but it was not because of any injuries. She just wanted to cool herself down after the anchor leg in the relay.
Eileen O’Keefe improved her Irish record in the women’s Hammer Throw by six centimetres to 69.44m. O’Keefe won the event ahead of Finland’s Merja Korpela, who set her PB of 67.87m.
“The second of my best throws was technically better: live and learn. I felt more relaxed after throwing 67.49 in the opening round,” said O’Keefe.
Antti-Pekka Sonninen for the IAAF
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