Brazilian sprinter Paulo Andre Oliveira (© AFP/Getty Images)
Brazilian sprinters put on an impressive display on the third day of action at the 7th CISM Military World Games in Wuhan, China, on Thursday (24).
Sprinters from the growing South American power took the men's 200m before capping the day with triumphs in both the 4x100m relay races.
Aldemir Junior, this year's national champion, dominated the half lap, clocking 20.31 to finish well clear of Ukraine's Serhiy Smelyik, a former European bronze medallist, who clocked 20.58.
Junior then came back to team with Rodrigo Pereira, Derick Souza and Paulo Andre Oliveira, the 100m silver medallist, to dominate the 4x100m relay in 38.68, finishing nearly a second ahead of an Omani quartet who clocked 39.51. The Dominican Republic was third in 39.54.
Bruna Farias, Vitoria Rosa, Lorraine Barbosa and Rosangela Santos kicked off the relay momentum with a decisive victory in the women's race, clocking 43.29. China took silver in 43.45 with Bahrain, anchored by 400m world champion Salwa Eid Naser, taking bronze in 44.24.
In the women's 200m contest, Maja Mihalinec of Slovenia clocked 23.15 to secure the biggest international win of her career, holding off Marileidy Paulino of Dominican Republic by 0.03.
China collected two victories on the infield.
Wang Jianan, who was sixth at the World Championships four weeks ago, led a 1-2 finish for the host nation in the long jump, leaping 8.15m in the second round to edge teammate Huang Changzhou who reached 8.12m in the fifth. It was Wang's first international victory of the season. Yasser Mohamed Triki of Algeria was third with 8.08m.
Asian Champion Feng Bin won the women's discus throw title by over three metres with 64.83m to cap her season on a high. Fernanda Martins of Brazil, the Pan-American bronze medallist who was sixth in Doha one spot behind Feng, took silver with 61.80m.
Shivpal Singh of India, who blasted into the limelight with a lifetime best 86.23m effort to finish runner-up at the Asian Championships in April, took the javelin title with 83.33m, the second best throw of his career to end his season on an up note after struggling at the World Championships earlier this month.
Elsewhere, Poland's 2011 world champion Pawel Wojciechowski won the pole vault with 5.60m, with Brazil's Augusto Dutra second at 5.50m.
In a close race, Iran's Mahdi Pirjahan won the 400m hurdles title in 49.61. Abdelmalik Lahoulou of Algeria was second in 49.68, just a scant 0.01 ahead of Pole Patryk Dobek. The women's title went to Bahrain's Aminat Jamal, who clocked 55.12.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
