August 11, 2019 - World champion discus thrower Sandra Perković celebrated at the European Athletics Team Championships Second League in Varaždin on Saturday, throwing 68.58 meters, which is her longest this season.
Thus, Croatia is sixth place after the first day with 149 points, while Estonia leads with 185 points, reports HRT.
Perković threw 59.85 meters in the first of her four attempts at the competition, but in the second attempt, she hit a respectable and unreachable 68.58, which is the longest shot in the history of the Second League competition, the third in the world this season, and the longest in Europe. In the remaining two attempts, Perković crossed the line, but was the only Croatian to celebrate on the first day in Varaždin.
Filip Mihaljević was second in the shot-put with an excellent 21.03 meters, confirming good form ahead of the World Cup in Doha. In this discipline, the best was Bertemes from Luxemburg, who achieved 21.64 meters. Sanjin Šimić came in second in the long jump with 7.63 meters, 15 centimeters less than the Latvian winner.
Anamarija Kožul finished third in the hammer throw with 64.79 meters, while Ida Šimunčić also finished third in the 400 hurdles with a time of 58.66 seconds and was close to her personal record. Lucia Pokos finished the 100 meters in 10th with a time of 12.36 seconds, and Lana Juriša finished eighth in the pole vault with a jump of 3.65 meters.
Ivona Zemunik finished sixth in the 800 meters and broke her personal record (2:08.45), and Marija Ivanković was sixth in the triple jump with 12.81 meters. Katarina Vukančićfinished ninth in the 3000 meters (9:56.81), Kristina Dudek came fifth in the 400 meters (54.72), and Sandra Šrut placed eighth in the 3000 hurdles with a time of 11:33.57 minutes.
Zvonimir Ivašković finished fifth in the 100 meters with 10.84 seconds, and Mateo Parlov was seventh with 52.47 seconds in the 400 hurdles. Bartul Bašić was fifth in the javelin with 65.17 meters and Daniel Ivaničić finished eighth in the 1500 meters with 3: 59.80 minutes. Mateo Ružić was fourth in the 400 meters with 47.43 seconds, Filip Mrčić was seventh in the high jump with 2.06 meters, and Petar Bratulić was eighth in the 5000 meters with a personal record of 14:52.09 minutes.
The Croatian women's 4x100 meters relay finished ninth (45.91), while the men's relay finished with 41.20 seconds in eighth place.
Teams from Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Israel, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia and Croatia take part in the Second League competition. Only the top team from Varaždin goes to moves to a higher rank, while the last five fall into the lower league. The second and final day is scheduled for Sunday.
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