World Indoor Tour Gold sees victories for homegrown Serbian athletes, while Bozhidar Saraboykov is the long jump world leader at 8.45m.
Match records and world leaders were set at the 11th indoor meet in Belgrade on Wednesday (February 11).
In the year that Serbian athletics celebrates its 120th anniversary, the competition opened with the women’s triple jump and victory for Serbian star Ivana Španović, who set a meet record of 14.19m in the first round before improving to 14.27m.
“I am satisfied with the fact that I won and broke the record of the match,” he said. “I can say again, although I wasn’t at the level I expected because I felt good physically. However, the triple jump is different from the long jump; it requires technical precision at every level possible on that day so that I don’t get it wrong. The most important thing for me is that I’m healthy and I’m not afraid to compete, I’m not afraid to run or jump.
In the women’s 800m, the world’s leading time was set by Swiss athlete Audrey Verro, who ran 1:57.27 in the B final. Another world-leading performance by American shot putter Roger Steen followed with a throw of 22.07m.
The young Serbian track and field star Angelina Topic from the host country battled for first place with her great rival Maria Vukovic of Montenegro. In the finals, the 1.96m Topic was dominant, securing first place with a meet record.
Greek long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglu, a six-time European champion, set a meet record in the 11th event with a jump of 8.27m. However, the record was broken by Bulgarian Bozhidar Saraboykov.
Saraboykov first set the record with 8.29m and then electrified the arena with a world-leading jump of 8.45m.
Finally, Italy’s Zeinab Dosso added another record at the 11th indoor meeting in Belgrade, clocking 7.02 in the women’s 60m to break the meet record as Britain’s Amy Hunt equaled her PB of 7.09.
