Athletics Sensation in Innsbruck’s Old Town
Last night’s 13th International Golden Roof Challenge played out before the Golden Roof in Innsbruck, the home of the Golden Fly Series.
A highlight in the athletics season, this elite in-city event inspired thousands of fans in the inner city.
The gods looked kindly on the competitors and after an intense downpour shortly before the warm-up, the weather cleared and there was nothing to prevent the competitions going ahead. Unfortunately, a warm-up collision meant that two athletes - Rebeca Silhanove (CZE) and Olympic finalist Michal Balner (CZE) – were bruised and had to withdraw, reducing the pole vault field from the very beginning. Gladly this did not detract from the gripping battle for the coveted Golden Dachshindel. Young Czech, Amálie Švábíková won the women's pole vault with 4.25 m, failing in her attempt to break a new Czech U19 record. The second place went to World Cup finalist Minna Nikkanen (FIN) with 4.05 m. Belgium’s Chloe Henry (BEL) was unlucky and did not manage to clear and went out gracefully with her endearing smile.
The men's pole vault competition should have been a one-man show by world No. 1 Piotr Lisek (POL), but he did not find the right timing and failed three times at his start height of 5.40 m. British record holder, Luke Cutts, coming back from a broken shoulder, won the competition with 5.40 m, followed by Ivan Horvath (CRO) also with 5.40 m.
The men's long jump gave first-class results, with the magical 8 meter mark achieved twice. Paralympic world record holder Markus Rehm (GER) won with an excellent 8.13 m, missing his own meeting record by just 5 cm. Czech record holder Radek Juska was second marking 8.00 m. Third place went to World Junior Champion Miltiadis Tentoglu (GRE).
In the women's event, double European champion Darya Klishina (ANA) was able to jump a winning 6.46 m ahead of Ukraine’s Krystyna Hryshutyna with 6.31 m. Austria's world U20 champion in heptathlon, Sarah Lagger, was happy with third place, jumping 6.13 m. The entire event was streamed live to the IOC’s Olympic Channel where the action can be accessed for the next three weeks:
https://livestream.com/accounts/25148981/events/7425821
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