August 16, 2022 - Sandra Perković becomes the European discus champion for the sixth consecutive time!
In the dramatic European Championship final in Munich, Croatia's best female athlete beat the silver medalist, German Kristin Pudenz, by eight centimeters.
After a phenomenal first day when Filip Mihaljević won the shot put gold, and Matea Parlov Koštro won silver in the marathon, a Croatian athlete was on the podium yet again in Munich.
Pudenz made it difficult for Perković in the second series, throwing 65.05 meters, to which Perković answered with 65.77 meters. However, the highly motivated German threw an excellent 66.93 meters in the third series and held the advantage until the crucial fifth series. Sandra then threw 67.95 meters, which seemed unattainable for Pudenz, whose personal record was 67.10 meters. However, Pudenz immediately responded with 67.87 meters and luckily remained eight centimeters behind Perković.
No other female athlete has more than four European gold medals in one discipline, and Perković has now extended her streak to six. She started in 2010 as a 20-year-old in Barcelona, followed by gold in 2012 in Helsinki, 2014 in Zurich, 2016 in Amsterdam, and 2018 in Berlin. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Sandra had to wait four years to claim her sixth title.
German Claudine Vita won the bronze with 65.20 meters.
The second Croatian representative in the final, 22-year-old Marija Tolj, finished in sixth place with 63.37 meters, which is a meter shorter than her personal record set earlier this year.
After the third series, Tolj held eighth place with a modest 57.57 meters, the last spot that allows you to move forward in the competition. After the fifth series, she improved her ranking by two places.
22-year-old Marko Čeko took eighth place in the long-jump final with a result of 7.77 meters.
Čeko achieved his best jump in the third series and secured another three series. Unfortunately, the Knin athlete failed to improve his result in the remaining three jumps. In the fourth series, he jumped to 7.38 meters, in the fifth to 7.56 meters, and in the sixth to 7.59.
Bravo, Sandra!
Source: HRT
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