Alekna extends streak to 37 at European Athletics Premium Meeting in Zaragoza 30. July 07

The 2005 Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Virgilijus Alekna extended his discus winning streak to 37 competitions with a victory at the European Area Permit Meeting in the Spanish city of Zaragoza on Saturday.

The Lithuanian presidential bodyguard defended his triumphant run with a winning effort 67.63m in the fourth round.

Alekna was in the lead from the first throws, opening with 66.61m before improving to 67.15m in the third round and then producing his best mark one round later. In total, Alekna had three throws in excess of Spain's second-placed Mario Pestano, who was exactly two metres behind in 65.63m.

"It was a more comfortable competition than my last one in Kaunas on Wednesday (see earlier news items for details). There I had to really dig deep to come from behind, here I was in front from the start. If I had been under pressure I think I would have throw further," said Alekna.

Other European throwers also showed their prowess with impressive victories coming from Polish shot putter Tomasz Majewski and Spanish javelin thrower Mercedes Chilla.
Majewski sent the shot out to an outdoor personal best of 20.71m in the fifth round to beat a high-quality international field.

He took the lead in the first round with 20.01 and although the United States' Christian Cantwell overtook him in the third round, Majewski marshalled his resources to fire out his winner with his penultimate effort to move up to sixth in this season's European rankings.

Chilla, the 2006 European Athletics Championships bronze medallist, now occupies a similar position after throwing 62.19m, her best mark of the season and barely a metre away from the national record she set last year.

In similar fashion to Majewski, Chilla had to come from behind before emerging on top.
The thrower from the sherry-producing centre of Jerez threw 60.77m in the first round, extended her lead with a 61.78m effort one round later only for the Spain-based Romanian thrower Felicia Moldovan to surprise with a third round throw of 61.90m.

Chilla showed her competitive spirit by responding to the 39 year-old's best throw of the year with 62.19m one round later, before fouls on her remaining two attempts while trying to find another long mark.

Germany's Caroline Hingst was the only woman to go clear at 4.57m in the pole vault, before failing at what would have been a personal bets of 4.71m

The Ukraine's reigning men's high jump world champion Yuriy Krymarenko has had a difficult 18 months battling with a persistent heel injury but he feels he has finally put those problems behind him and finished second in Zaragoza with a clearance of 2.27m.

"I feel that everything is coming together ahead of Osaka. I am happier with my jumping with every competition this season," said Krymarenko.

The United States' Tora Harris won with 2.29m while Spain's Javier Bermejo also booked his place on the plane for Japan next month with a third time clearance of 2.27m,

Spain's Maria Jose Poves won the women's 3,000m walk in 13:34.57.

There was no European winner in the men's 100m but still two marks of note.
Portugal's double European champion Francis Obikwelu became the first European to run under the 10 seconds barrier in the 100m this season, regardless of the conditions, with a wind-assisted 9.99 when finishing sixth in a highly competitive race won by Jamaica's Steve Mullings in 9.91.

In the heats, with the winds within the legal limit, Spain's Angel Rodriguez clocked a personal best of 10.18 to propel him into the top ten of European sprinters this season, a time just one-hundredths of a second away from the Spanish national record.

Spain's Jackson Quinonez was also just one-hundredth away from his own national 110m hurdles record and moved to fourth in this season's European rankings, when finishing fourth in a race won by American hurdler Eric Mitchum in 13.23.

Leading performances from non-European athletes were Kenenisa Bekele's 12:49.53 in the men's 5.000m, the Ethiopian world record holder running the fastest time in the world this year. Mozambique's María Mutola notched up a similar accolade with 1:58.21 in the women's 800m.

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