Recap: Boris Hanzekovic Memorial in Zagreb
The 2024 Boris Hanzekovic Memorial in Zagreb proved to be a record-breaking event, with seven new meeting records established, underscoring the athletes' exceptional performances. Among the standout achievements, three-time Olympic champion Ryan Crouser delivered an impressive 22.93m throw in the shot put. Olympic silver medallist Marco Arop completed a 1000m race in 2:13.13, Leonard Bett conquered the 3000m steeplechase in 8:06.33, and Sintayehu Vissa excelled in the 1500m with a time of 3:58.33, each setting new benchmarks at this prestigious gathering.
Men's Shot Put:
Ryan Crouser won the men’s shot put improving the meeting record twice to a seasonal best of 22.93m in the Ivan Ivancic Memorial competition held on Saturday in front of the Zagreb Fountains on the eve of the Memorial Boris Hanzekovic held in at the Sports Park Mladost in Zagreb, a World Athletics Continental Tour meeting.
Crouser threw 22.90m to match the mark he achieved to win an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic gold medal in Paris last August. The US shot put star improved by three cm in the final round to seal the win. Crouser has extended his winning streak to three consecutive competitions following his wins in Rome with 22.49m and 22.66m in Zurich.
Payton Otterdahl finished second improving his PB to 22.46m. Olympic bronze medallist Rajindra Campbell improved his PB to 22.31m. World silver medallist and European champion Leonardo Fabbri placed fourth with 22.24m. In only two other men’s shot competitions in history the fourth-place mark has been farther.
Crouser opened his competition with 22.36m in the first round. Campbell improved his national record by 9 cm to 22.31m in the fourth round to move into second place, just five centimetres off Crouser’s lead.
Otterdahl responded by throwing 22.40m to move into the lead. Fabbri threw beyond the 22 metres barrier twice with 22.18m and 22.24m.
Ryan Crouser: “It was a fantastic competition. I always love coming to Zagreb and I think this one topped the list. Not just on performance, but the atmosphere and the energy tonight. You can see with all the athletes-22.24m did not even make the top three did not even make the top three. That’s a crazy result. I am glad that everyone performed that everyone performed that well before. My first round throw of 22.36m usually is enough for the win, especially that late in the season. It helped having those guys to push me to farther distances. I am still on less than 10 competitions this year, so it still feels like I am finding my shape”.
Men’s 1000 metres:
World champion Marco Arop won the men’s 1000 metres improving a North American record of 2:13.13 and the fifth fastest time in history. Arop set one of the seven meeting records of the evening. Jonah Koech finished second in a PB of 2:15.16. Pacemakers reached the 400 metres in 51.72. Arop took control of the race as the pacemaker ended his task and went through the 800 metres in 1:43.94.
Arop won the Olympic silver medal in the 800 metres setting a North American record of 1:41.20 in Paris.
Marco Arop: I felt good I think I need to be more aggressive early on to break the world record, but there was too much room to make up for. Overall it was a great season with a personal best, an Olympic medal and a lot of Diamond League wins. In the Diamond League final I would like to go after the world record but the conditions have to be ideal”.
Men’s 200 metres:
Olympic fourth place finisher Erryion Knighton broke the 20 seconds barrier to win the men’s 200 metres in 19.93 into a headwind of -0.6 m/s ahead of Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh (20.08) and Courtney Lindsey (20.13).
Roko Farkas, who won the world under 20 gold medal in the long jump, set the Croatian 200m record clocking 20.67.
Men’s 3000 metres steeplechase:
Kenya’s Leonard Bett improved the meeting record and his PB to 8:06.33 moving yo to sixth in the world seasonal best. Bett had not competed since last July due to an injury.
Olympic finalists Ahmed Jaziri from Tunisia and Mohamed Tindouft finished second and third respectively clocking 8:08.11 and 8:11.56.
Men’s 100 metres:
Courtney Lindsey from the USA broke the 10 seconds barrier to win the men’s 100 metres in 9.97 with a headwind of -0.2 m/s ahead of Ferdinand Omanyala from Kenya (10.02) and European bronze medallist Romeil Glave from Great Britain (10.11).
Women’s 400 metres:
Olympic and world relay medallist Stacey-Ann Williams from Jamaica won the women’s 400 metres improving her PB to 50.00. Henriette Jaeger from Norway claimed second spot in 50.22 ahead of Olympic 4x400 gold medallist Shamier Little (50.58).
Women’s 100 metres hurdles:
Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent won her third 100m hurdles post-olympic race in 12.55 into a headwind of -0.6 m/s. Cindy Sember from Great Britain, winner in Rovereto last Tuesday, placed runner-up in 12.67 ahesd of former record holder Kendra Harrison (12.76). Yumi Tanaka from Japan won the B race in 12.97.
Men’s 110 metres hurdles:
Japan’s Rachid Muratake, who finished fifth in the Olympic Games in Paris, won the men’s 110 metres hurdles in 13.14 into a headwind of -0.5 m/s holding off Daniel Roberts (13.18) and Tokyo 2021 champion Hansle Parchment from Jamaica (13.25) in the race dedicated to the memory of late 110 metres hurdler Boris Hanzekovic.
Men’s pole vault:
Olympic bronze medallist Emmanouil Karalis broke the meeting meeting with 5.88m two weeks after clearing the 6.00m metres barrier for the first time in his career at the Silesia Diamond League meeting. Karalis cleared 5.58m at the first time of asking and 5.78m on his second attempt. The Greek vaulter needed three attempts to clear 5.88m before failing three attempts at 6.01m.
Women’s discus throw:
Two-time Olympic champion Valarie Allman threw three times beyond the 67 metres barrier with 67.74m, 67.45m and 67.83m to win the women’s discus throw. Croatian star Sandra Elkasevic finished second with 67.12m in her 17th appearance at this meeting. Dutch thrower Jorinde Van Klinken took third place with 64.49m.
Women’s javelin throw:
Adriana Vilagos from Serbia improved her national record by 4 cm to 65.64m in the third round to win the women’s javelin throw. Vilagos had set the previous national record of 65.60m at the Diamond League meeting in Silesia. Vilagos backed up this throw with marks of 64.70m, 64.45m and 63.20m. Petra Sicakova finished second with 60.91m. Sara Kolak from Croatia took third place with 60.23m.
Men’s hammer throw:
Olympic bronze medallist Mykhaylo Kokhan from Ukraine improved his PB to 81.14m to throw beyond the 81m for the first time in his career. Five-time world champion Pavel Faydek finished second with 79.10m ahead of Olympic and world champion Ethan Katzberg from Canada (79.04m).
Men’s discus throw:
European champion Kristjan Ceh from Slovenia won the men’s discus throw with 67.95m to beat Lawrence Okoye from Great Britain (67.05m), Olympic bronze medallist Matthew Denny from Australia (66.99m) and Olympic gold medallist Roje Stona from Jamaica (65.98m).
Women’s 1500 metres:
Italian record holder Sintayehu Vissa won the women’s 1500 metres breaking the 4 minutes barrier for the third time this year with a meeting record of 3:58.33. Vissa improved Gabriella Dorio’s Italian record with 3:58.11 in the semifinal of the Olympic Games in Paris and clocked 3:58.12 at the Golden Gala in Rome. Katie Snowden from Great Britain finished second in 3:59.39 ahead of Linden Hall from Australia (3:59.72).
Women’s 800 metres:
Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir won the women’s 800 metres improving her PB to 1:57.00 a few days after winning in Rovereto in 1:57.74. Chepchirchir held off Jamaican record holder Natoya Goule Toppin, who finished second in 1:57.43. The top four athletes broke the 1:58 barrier. Nigist Getachew finished third in a PB of 1:57.47 beating Sage Hurta Klecker (1:57.53).
Men’s 2000 metres:
Isaac Kimeli from Belgium won the men’s 2000 metres setting a PB and a meeting record of 4:54.29. Kimeli won by more than one second. The top seven athletes broke the 4:57 barrier. USA’s Cooper Teare and John Reniewicki set PBs of 4:55.42 and 4:55.54.
Women’s long jump:
Olympic bronze medallist Jasmine Moore leapt to 6.71m in the second round in the women’s long jump ahead of Alina Rotaru Kottmann (6.56m).
Men’s long jump:
Shawn Thompson from Jamaica and Anvar Anvarov from Uzbekstan leapt to identical jumps of 7.99m and 7.94m in the men’s long jump. Thompson won the competition on countback with a third best jump of 7.90m.
