Report21 Jul 2016


Report: women's discus – IAAF World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz 2016

FacebookTwitterEmail

Discus winner Kristina Rakocevic at the IAAF World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz 2016 (© Getty Images)

There weren’t any particularly big throws on a warm and largely still evening in Bydgoszcz but the formbook for the women’s discus played out with Montenegro’s Kristina Rakocevic winning by nearly three metres.

Rakocevic, who led the 2016 world U20 list with 58.30m, became just the second athlete from her country to claim a title in championship history, following in the footsteps of Marina Vukovic who won the high jump in 2010.

After taking the lead in the second round with 53.56m, Rakocevic extended her advantage in the third round with 56.36m to win by nearly three metres ahead of Australia’s Kirsty Williams (53.91m) and Moldova’s Alexandra Emilianov (53.08m).

Rakocevic finished second to Emilianov at the IAAF World Youth Championships Cali 2015 and the Moldovan arrived in Bydgoszcz fresh from winning the European Youth Championships in Tbilisi last week with 58.09m – the best throw by a European U18 since Astrid Kumbernuss in 1987.

At the age of 16, Emilianov still has two full seasons left in the U20 age group and will surely challenge for the title in Tampere in 2018 if she continues her rapid rate of improvement.

But the evening belonged to Rakocevic, who finished down in 11th in Eugene two years ago. “It’s amazing,” she said. It is the best achievement of my life.”

Steven Mills for the IAAF

Pages related to this article
AthletesDisciplinesCompetitions
Loading...