Mikhnevich and Müller put on a show at the European Cup Winter Throwing

Belarus shot putter Andrey Mikhnevich and German discus thrower Nadine Muller were the stars of the first day of the European Cup Winter Throwing in Arles, France on Saturday.
Mikhnevich, the 2003 world champion and 2006 European Athletics Championships silver medallist as well as the World Indoor Championships silver medallist last weekend, could not quite reach the distances he's achieved indoors but was still far too good for the opposition, comfortably winning with 21.04m.

However, despite taking victory by nearly a metre, with his best throw coming in the fourth round, he may well be a little disappointed with his performance as he had not thrown below 21.30m in any of his four indoor outings this winter, discounting the qualifying competition in Doha, and set a national indoor record of 21.81m last month.

All four of Mikhnevich's valid throws were better than Serbia's Asmir Kolasinac, who finished second with 20.15m.

Hungary's Lazslo Kürthy, last year's Cup winner with 20.06m, improved by a centimetre on his performance 12 months ago but had to settle for third on this occasion.

Müller, sixth at last summer's World Championships on home soil, turned the tables on two women who finished in front of her in Berlin. With the competition already won, and the only thrower to go over 60 metres, she launched the Discus out to a personal best of 64.30m with the last throw of the competition.

The 24-year-old from Halle, boasting a previous best of 63.46m prior to the competition, had four throws over 60 metres while her fellow competitors seemed to struggle by comparison.

Poland's Zaneta Glanc, fourth at the 2009 World Championships, finished as the runner up for the second consecutive year at the Cup with 59.95m while Romania's Nicoleta Grasu, a bronze medallist in Berlin, could only reach 59.92m for third place.

Müller's comaptriot Betty Heidler dominated the women's Hammer in similar fashion to her team mate.

The 2007 World champion and silver medallist last summer only returned to Europe a few days ago after a training stint in South Africa but showed only a few signs of jet lag with three throws over 70 metres, with her best being a fourth round effort of 72.48m.

Italy's Silvia Salis couldn't get over the 70-metre mark as she has been doing on home territory this winter but picked up second place with 69.43m, surprisingly relegating Russia's slightly out-of-sorts reigning European champion Tatyana Lysenko to third with 69.11m.

In a closely fought, contest despite the absence of some big throws, World Championships finalists filled the next three places with France's Stéphanie Falzon fourth with 68.87m, Germany's Kathrin Klaas, fourth at the World Championships, fifth this time with 68.04m and Italy's Clarissa Claretti sixth with 67.05m.

Russia's Ilya Korotkov is currently the second best men's Javelin performer in the world this year after having thrown a personal best of 85.47m last month and confirmed his good form by winning in 83.28m.

The 2008 Olympic Games finalist was in the lead from the second round with 79.42m, improved in the fifth round to 79.49m and then, with victory ensured, provided a grand finale with the last throw of the competition.

The Ukraine's Oleksandr Pyatnytsya threw 79.38m for second place.

The Under 23 competitions also produced some excellent contests and results.

The Ukrainian discus thrower Ivan Hryshyn, the 2007 European Athletics Junior Championships silver medallist who also got second place at the 2009 European Athletics Under 23 Championships, emerged on top this time with a personal best 63.09m.

After two fouls, Hryshyn took the lead with his third round 62.17m and, with the competition won, he finished in style with his big throw which added almost half-a-metre to his previous best with a 2kg Discus of 62.64m

Croatia's Marin Premeru, a former World Youth and World Junior silver medallist, also made a big stride forward in second place with a personal best of 62.10m.

There were also personal bests for the two men behind the leading pair.

Germany's Gordon Wolf, the 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships silver medallist, also showed that he can handle a senior Discus very effectively with third place in 61.00m, another big personal best by more than a metre. With his best throw coming in the second round, he was briefly the leader before Hryshyn found his rhythm.

Great Britain's Brett Morse also cracked the 60-metre barrier for the first time in fourth place with 60.25m. Surprisingly, while all his rivals were rising to the occasion, Russia's Nikolay Sedyuk, the 2009 European Athletics Under 23 Championships gold medallist, struggled and could only finish fifth with 59.11m.

Moldova's Zalina Marghieva fulfilled her role as the favourite for the women's Hammer with the 2009 European Athletics Under 23 Championships gold medallist winning with 70.77m, less than a metre short of her best of 71.56m.

All six of Marghieva's throws were better that Hungary's second-placed Jenny Ozorai, who threw 63.03m. However, Ozorai is still only 19 and was giving away three years to her 22-year-old rival.


Belarus's Alena Hryshko, last year's European Junior champion, caused a slight upset when she had the edge on the Netherlands' older and more experienced Melissa Boekelman in the women's Under 23 Shot Put.

Hryshko reached 17.66m while the former world and European junior champion had to settle for second, 10 centimetres in arrears with 17.56m.

In the men's Javelin, Belgium's Thomas Smet found 76.67m was enough to beat Russia's Roman Avramenko, who was second with 75.82m.

The pair is very familiar with each other, with their rivalry going back to the 2007 European Athletics Junior Championships when they took bronze and silver respectively.