Athletics- Eurochamps '98: News

The 1998 European Championships

Budapest, Hungary 18-23 August

News

Sunday, 23. 8. 98

What a fantastic day to end the 17th European Championships in Athletics. 4 Competition Records broke today, to prove the high level of the games. The impressing performences of the German athletes did not take away from Great Britain the first place in the Medals table, as Edwards, Backley, 4 X 400 m. team won their events. However, what we saw from 3 Germans tonight was incredible! In Men's 3 Km. Steeple, the unknown Damian Kallabis broke his PB by more than 10 seconds and won a race that looked so crazy from its beginning. He left all the others with a tempo change about 3 laps to the end and kept his rhythm until the bell. When Svenoy and Lamruschini, the race favorites, reached him, everyone expected that he would collapse. However, he made a new change of tempo and reached the last lake about 7 meters in front of them. Then he jumped the lake without stepping on it, exactly as world record holder Barmassai does. However, he was tired and stumbled, using even his hands to get out of the lake. Lambruschini and Svenoy pushed each other over the lake and the German kept his distance from them, and after the last hurdle he made a new fantastic sprint to the end as if he had not ran such a great race all that time! Nils Schumann was the second "Man of the day". As Wilson Kipketer led in a very fast way the 800 m. race, Longo, Bucher and Schumann were the only ones to folloow. About 120 m. to the end, it seemed as if the world record holder could not go faster. However, he was still in front and Longo could not surpass him. The only one who had some more speed was the 20 years old Schumann (World Junior and European Indoors Champion) who pushed Longo and Kipketer as Annita Weyermann had done last year in the 1500 m. in Athens. Kipketer seemed very upset, could not follow him and seemed as if he could not believe it! He stopped fighting even for a medal and finished last! Longo tried to follow but had no strenght. Bucher was the only one who could follow and Vydra, who made a fantastic 100 m. finish won the third place in the most exciting race of the games. In women's 4 X 400 m., Grit Breuer got the baton 15 m. after Kotlyarova and did not cover the difference until the last 100 m. Then she sprinted like a 100 m. girl and left Russia with no chances for the gold. In men's discus, it was Riedel once again! As it was in men's Javelin: The third time for Steve Backley... The Britons also won the 4 X 400 m., although the Polish seemed very competitive. In women's Marathon, on the morning, Manuela Machado won easily, broke Mota's games record and brought home to Portugal another gold medal. Maria Polyzou of Greece broke the National record. In the high jump, Monica Iagar-Dinescu won easily as Dimitrova did at the 100 m. Hurdles. In the 5.000 m. Somia O' Sullivan was once again fantastic and beated Szabo who led the race alone but had no strength for the sprint. At 1.500 m. it was a tactics race. Masterkova won it anyway, and tactics' masters Sacramento and Weyermann won the other two medals.

Saturday, 22. 8. 98

Afternoon action: Maksim Tarasov was the most favorite to win the Pole Vault and he did it, followed by the two other most experienced athletes, Lobinger and Galfione in a final that was full of new names, that will be the stars of the event in the following years. The 4 X 100 m. men's relay could only be won by another team if Great Britain would be disqualified. They did not. Condon, Campbell, Walker and Golding won easily with a 38" 52., followed by France (with a fantastic Guims at the last 100 m.), Poland and Greece. At the women's event, it was Arron's time once again. She got it in the thrid place, about 10 m. after Privalova and Phillip, but she accelerated impressively and won the golden for France. Thanou did the same, and brought Greece from the last place to the fifth. Colin Jackson equalled the games record twice today and had no problem winning the 110 m. hurdles, while the Spaniards managed to win a difficult 5 k. race, with Vicisa first and Pancorbo second. A surprising third place for the smart Irish Mark Carroll and a dissapointing 13th for the ER holder Baumann, who was very tired after his 10 km silver race. Heike Dreschler won the Long Jump, once again, followed by May (she made a new NR for Italy) and Galkina (the world champion of Athens). Denise Lewis managed to keep first place in the heptathlon, while an exiting fight took place in the Women's hammer. Finally, Michaela Melinte won with two great shots at the end.
Morning: The Italians this morning were simply fantastic! They managed to destroy the Spaniards' competition and win all three Marathon medals, as their opponents had done 4 years ago. Stefano Baldini was first, Danilo Goffi second and Vicenzo Modica third. No surprises came at the qualifyings (Men's Discus and Triple, Men's and Women's 4 X 100 m.). At Heptathlon, the competition is very strong after the first five events, as Denise Lewis is ahead of Sazanovich by only one point!

Friday, 21. 8. 98

Afternoon action: It was a great day for Poland and Great Britain as their male athletes won 2 golden today for each country. After Korzeniowski's win this morning, it was Artur Partyka's night, at last. After his consecutive silver and bronze medals all these years in the Olympic Games, the World and European Championships, he finally won the golden. He came in confident for his win, jumped only three times until 2, 34 m. and simply won! Dalton Grant tried to do his crazy things again, but 2, 38 m. was to difficult for anybody. New star Sergeij Clyugin of Russia was thrird and Kokkotis of Greece made a very good game, to finish 5th with 2, 30 m. replacing injured Papakostas in the best way. At men's 200 m., the British trio was fantastic. Especially Doug Walker ho proved that he is a winner. Turner was second and Golding third. At the 400 m. final, Iwan Thomas ran for the European record. He finished with at 44" 52. in no doubt about who was the best. Richardson lost to a great Mackowiak... In women's Pole Vault, Anzhela Balakhonova won the Outdoor title as well, with 4, 31 m., a height that also the two Germans, Rieger and Buschbaum passed. The Discus Throw was a fantastic event, with the first place changing hands all the time. Finally, it was Franka Dietzsch that won, with Sadova 2nd and Grasu 3rd. Three Greeks competed in the final: Voggoli was 5th, Kelesidou 7th and Tsikouna 12th. The evening program ended with three races that showed the top three women of their events, undoubtfully: Grit Breuer had no problem at all in the 400 m., Irina Privalova won a second consecutive 200 m. European title and Ionela Tirlea ran an efficient and very fast race (53" 37.) to win the 400 m. Hurdles.
Preview of the afternoon finals: Women's Pole Vault: The absence of the European record holder Bartova leaves hopes for the win to many girls. Experienced Balakhonova, Flossadottir and enthousiastic Cervantes, along with the Germans, are more possible to get a medal. Men's High Jump: Artur Partyka would like to continue Poland's fantastic performance in these games. He will fight against Hoen, most probably, and -of course- Sergeij Clyugin, the new High Jump superstar of Europe. Women's Discus: It will be a great fight, as all the top athletes are there. Sadova, Zvereva, Dietsch, Kelesidou can win, but we should not exclude a possible surprise. 400 m.: Breuer in the women's event seems invincible. In the men's race, Richardson will fight against teamate Thomas for the win, and the bronze will very possibly go to one of the Polish runners. 200 m.: In the women's race, the three Russians would like to make the podium trio, but Pintussevich will not stay again 4th. She is the World Champion after all. In the men's event, things are not clear at all, as european leaders do not seem very stable and big names, as Moen, do not seem in top form. Katsantonis and Doug Walker are the most possible to get the gold, but there are also two or three more that are experienced and may surprise them.
Morning: Robert Korzeniowski of Poland was once again the winner in the 50 k. Walk that took place this morning, followed by Kononen and Plotnikov. No surprises came at the other morning events.

Thursday, 20. 8. 98

Afternoon action: It was the third day of the 17th European Championships in Budapest that was ment to be historical for Greece as it won it's second golden medal ever. Anna Verouli had won the Javelin throw of the '82 championships in front of her own crowd in Athens. Tonight, Olga Vasdeki managed to win the Triple Jump final with a jump at 14, 55 m. Sarka Kasparkova, Teresa Marinova and Rodica Mateescu were very close to her, but they just could not reach her... It was also a great day for the Polish runners: three of them qualified for the 400 m. final race, but it was a hurdler that attracted all lights on him. As we wrote on the morning, Maschenko simply could not lose. Not by a European runner. When the athletes entered the last 100 m. Januszewski of Poland was two meters in front of him, but still everybody expected the Russian to pass him easily. However, the Polish runner kept on with the same pace. He won by running the 10th alltime european race and bettering his personal best by about a second! Sidotti of Italy was once again ready at the right time and won with a relative ease the 10 km walk. She was followed by her teammate Alfridi and the bronze went to Portuguese Feitor. In women's Shot Put, Vita Pavlysh threw one of the best alltime shots at 21, 69 m. and won her second consecutive european championship. At the decathlon, many things changed during the afternoon. Erki Nool, due to a fantastic Pole Vault (5, 40 m.) and an incredible Javelin throw at 70, 65 m., managed to win first place, followed by Hamalainen (once more second in a major event) and Lobodin. Afanasyeva was simply fantastic in the 800 m. final. She led the race, taking the risk, something that proved to be correct. On the other hand, Mikhailova did not dare to follow her and waited for the last meters to win, but could net make her way through the other runners and was forced to abandon. Ewerloff, as we wrote yesterday, could make the surprise if the race was slow. She ran cleverly and with great belief in herself to win the silver, leaving Graf third. In men's 1.500 m., Reyes Estevez proved that his the best runner this year and a great European hope for the future. Once more, Silva and Cacho ran effeciently to win the medals, as we predicted this morning.
Preview of the afternoon finals: Women's Shot Put: Korzanenko seems to be in a great form, but Pavlysh is well experienced (she had won at Helsinki) and Krivelyova and Zabawska had good throws this year. 10 Km Walk: The only prediction here is the same with the men's walk events: Russians and other ex-Soviets can win all medals. However, if Sidotti competes, she's well experienced to challenge them. Women's Triple Jump: Almost 8 of them are great athletes and in a very good form, too. However, I believe that only Kasparkova and Mateescu are real winners, too. They' ll fight for the golden, since Hansen is not here. Vasdeki, Govorova, Lebedenko, Marinova and Donkina will fight for a medal. Men's 400 m. Hurdles: Maschenko can lose only to one man this year: Bryan Bronson, who is not European... Women's 800 m.: The two Russians, Afanasyeva and Mikhailova are in great form and do not hesitate to lead the race in a fast tempo. If they do it in the finals, it may be a risk. Graff will be there, hoping to beat them. Normally these three will win if they run cleverly. If the race is slow, experienced Szekely-Beclea and enthousiastic Ewerloff can win a medal. Men's 1.500 m.: A Spanish trio? Why not... They are all winners, the Britons are good athletes, but can they win? If the race goes slowly, Silva (indoor European Champion) and crazy-Shabunin can win a medal.
Morning: Hamalainen won the 110 m. Hurdles, too and seems to be the one with the greatest chances of winning the decathlon. In the Steeple heats, although the level was not so good this year in Europe, and despite the fact that it was a hot morning, we saw two very good races. In women's high jump, Storberg and Bradamante did not make it to the finals, but all the other girls will be there.

Wednesday, 19. 8. 98

Afternoon action: What a day! We were lucky to view the fastest women's 100 m. race ever this evening, with 4 girls running under 11" ans Christine Arron breaking the European Record with an unbelievable 10" 73.! But, let's take things from their beginning. The evening started with a very bad surprise for French fans and all of us who want all the stars to be there and fight for the best. European 400 m. Hurdles record holder Stephane Diagana stumbled on a hurdle and fell down. He lost what seemed to be a very easy qualification for the final of the event. Ruslan Maschenko advanced very easily and nothing or noone looks like able to stop him now. In Women's Javelin, Damaske was not so tired as I thought, in fact she was in an excellent form. In her first throw she won the golden with 69, 10 m. in a final where the wind was a star, because the athletes could not find the right way to throw, as it changed direction all the time. Shikolenko and Ingberg won the other two medals. In the decathlon high jump, 2nd Olympic Champion of Barcelona, Penalver failed to pass any height. Sosunov won easily the Long Jump, followed by Tarus and Dachev in a final with 8 athletes over 7, 90 m. The Hammer Throw final was what the homecrowd expected with agony. And the two Hungarians Gecsek and Kiss made the one-two, followed by Kobs of Germany. Weiss lost the medal and Greek Polychroniou was 6th. The Women's 100 m. races were the hot events of the evening. At the semis, Arron ran a Games record at 10" 81. and Thanou a National record for Greece at 10" 92. And then came the final. Perfect conditions: +2 wind, warm weather, hot crowd, four athletes in top form. Imagine what would have happened if the track surface was not so soft! Arron won by 10" 73. which makes her the third athlete ever, broke the European Record and became the athlete that seems able to win Marion Jones. Privalova followed with 10" 83. and Thanou with a new NR (10" 87.) won the first medal for Greece. Pintussevich was fourth with 10" 92. Then followed the 10 Km. where Sonia O' Sullivan made a fantastic finish in an extraordinary race, where 5 athletes fought for the win until the last 100 m. Radcliffe led the last 1.000 m. trying to tire the others, but it was obvious that the faster one would win this race. Ribeiro was second and Simon third. In men's 100 m. the three Britons were there, but only one Greek. Papadias won the bronze, Chambers the silver and Campbell won the golden with a great race. Finally, after the 400 m. heats, the decathlon enters the second day with Penalver out and Hamalainen leading. Magnusson and Nool follow, while world champion Dvorak is 6th.
Preview of the afternoon finals: Women's Javelin: Trine Hattestad and Steffi Nerius are more possible to fight for the golden medal, as world leader Damaske seemed a bit tired during yesterday's qualification. A surprise may come from young Finn Ingberg who will have the support of many Scandinavs who came to Hungary to attend the European Championships. Men's Long Jump: Kostas Koukodimos of Greece was third in Helsinki and is the only one of the medalists of the '94 champs to be in Budapest, too. The top European jumpers of '98 did not make it to the finals, except for Sosunov, who appears to be the super favorite for the win, and the unstable Klouchi who managed to qualify just at his last jump. Kankar, Camossi and Tarus, and even the experienced Greek champion will fight for a medal in a very interesting fight to be, as almost all athletes are at the same level. Men's Hammer Throw: Sidorenko and Scvaruk are out but all the other stars will be there. The Hungarians will compete in front of their crowd, so we have to expect at least one of them appearing in the winning ceremony. We hope that we 'll see a fight for the golden as we did in Athens last year. Women's 100 m.: The first four are almost sure: Thanou, Pintussevich, Privalova and European '98 leader Arron. Personally, I see the French and the Ukranian fighting for first place and Thanou with Privalova battling for a medal. Men's 100 m.: Chambers seems to be in super form, Campbell, too. However it is Papadias that was impressive at the first day. He looks a lot like the Papadias who won the 60 m. Indoor world title last year. I see three Britons in the finals, against three Greeks: Papadias, Pavlakakis (although in very bad form) and Markoulides (I think Tilli was disqualified and the Cypriot got his place). Maybe, I am overexcited about Hellenic sprinters... Moen and one of the Polish will fight for a medal, maybe. Women's 10 Km: Ribeiro or Radcliffe? Very difficult to decide... Maybe one of them will not compete. If so the way is wide open for the other.
Morning: Men's Decathlon begun this morning with Erki Nool impressing at the first two events with 10" 58. and 7, 80 m. No surprises came at the 400 m. heats with all the Britons and Polish runners qualifying easily for the semis, except for Solomon Wariso (who took Black's place) who struggled to qualify as a fast loser. At the women's event, Grit Breuer, Yelena Fuchsova and Olga Kotlyarova were the faster heat winners, while Greek Panagou failed to qualify for just one place as Demotsios did at the men's race, where Kenteris was dissapointing and was the last one to qualify. At Men's Pole Vault 16 jumpers will participate in the final of the event as the early hour and the heat prevented them from high jumps and they qualified with just 5, 45 m.(only 8 athletes managed to pass this height!). The same happened in men's high jump, where 2, 24 m. were enough. Kokkotis made the finals, and Greeks hope he will replace Papakostas with success, while Liapis jumped only 2, 20 m. Greek impressing performances continued with the women's field events: Three Discus throwers managed to get in the finals (Kelesidou, Tsikouna and Voggoli) with an impressing Zvereva throwing 66, 55 m. at 11 o' clock! Olga Vasdeki and Voula Tsiamita made their SBs (14, 59 m. and 14, 23 m.) to qualify easily for the triple Jump final, with Kasparkova impressing by jumping 14, 59 m. with -1.2 wind at her first attempt.

Tuesday, 18. 8. 98

Afternoon action: Antonio Pinto, the Portuguese Long Distance runner was the star of the first day of the European Championships. With an incredible second 5000 m. leaved Germans Baumann and Franke with no hope for the win, in a race that evaluated in an impressive way, with the first half being a slow, almost hypnotic walk for all the ruuners and the second being a play for three roles, with Pinto taking the first one. At the other finals of the day, Bagach won the Shot Put (let's hope he won't lose the medal again...) and Markov of Russia won the 20 Km walk in a very beautiful race after the first hour. Oliver-Sven Buder tried, but it was just not enough, as Bagach seemed invincible after the 3rd shot. Belonog was third to give the second medal to Ukraine. No big surprises happened at the rest of the events, with the greatest one being Lucasenich's and Glavatskiy's failure to get in the Long Jump final. Also, Stephane Cali, a big favorite for a medal at 100 m. did not take part at his heat. Thanou, Pintussevich, Privalova and Arron made an impressive start at the 100 m. heats, as well as the three Spaniards who qualified for the 1.500 m. final (Cacho, Diaz and Estevez) where they will fight against a British trio.
Preview of the afternoon finals: Men's 20 km Walk: It is very difficult to make any predictions for this event. The only thing we can say for sure is that the former Soviet walkers -especially the Russians- seem invincible and the possibility to have three ex-Soviet medalists is very big. Men's Shot Put: Unlike 20 km Walk, thing are very clear here, at least about who can get the medals. Bagach and Belonog from Ukraine, Buder and Peric seem in top form. A surprise may come from the young Finn Harju. The competition will surely bring the level up to 21 m. as it seems very difficult to have a winner at 20 m. Already this morning three athletes passed 20 m. Men's 10.000 m.: The best ever European 10 km race was ran on April 4, this year in Lisbon. It was won by Spaniard Roncero, who will not compete in Budapest. However, three other very strong Spaniards will be there: Molina, Rey and Toledo will compete against neighbours Pinto and Castro for the medals.
Morning: The 17th European Championships in Athletics have started today in the Nepstadion of Budapest. The first big surprise of the games came at women's Pole Vault. European Record holder Daniela Bartova did not manage to qualify for the final of the event as she did not pass 4, 15 m. which was the threshold. She could have entered the final even with the 4 m. she jumped, if she had passed it with her first attempt. Janine Whitlock and Yelena Belyakova also failed to enter the event final, while Dana Cervantes of Spain seemed in super form this morning. Two Greek athletes were really impressive in the morning qualifyings. Charis Papadias, the 60 m. Indoor World Champion of '97 made the best 100 m. time in the heats with 10" 27. (his personal best is 10" 21.) and Mirella Maniani Tzelili made a personal best of 65, 14 m. in women's Javelin to qualify second after Steffi Nerius of Germany for the event final. Other impressing performances were Chambers' 10" 28., Bagach's 20, 47 m., Peric's 20, 44 m. and Buder's 20, 33 m. In men's 400 m. Hurdles all the big stars moved on without any problems. In men's 100 m. the Indoor 60 m. Champion of Valencia, Greek Angelos Pavlakakis struggled to qualify after his two month absence due to an injury.