Medal winners at Marsa likely to shine in Athens

Vita Pavlysh, Franka Dietszch, Gerd Kanter, Kristian Pars... remember these names for you'll be hearing a lot more of them when the medals are handed out at next summer's Olympic Games. Sadly, not many people took up the opportunity to see these Olympic hopefuls in action when they were competing here in Malta.

Although throwing events aren't particularly popular with the Maltese, the relatively low attendance figures were perhaps the biggest disappointment of the European Winter Throwing Challenge in Marsa over the past weekend.

Otherwise, the event was undoubtedly a success even if the strong winds greatly limited the possibility of seeing better throws than those registered.

From a local perspective, the Challenge was unquestionably successful. Being the only Maltese athlete taking part, javelin thrower Jean Paul Callus had to shoulder a great deal of responsibility but he replied brilliantly by setting a new national record at 59.93 metres - more than six metres on his previous best.

Indeed, four of his five valid throws went over the old 53.44 mark.

"I am happy to set this new record," said an elated Callus after the event. "It was a relief to do it with my first throw because then I could get it off my mind."

Hungarian coach Gergely Kulscar, who has been helping Callus in recent weeks is confident that he will eventually throw over 60 metres.

"This is only the start of the season. He can do better," he said.

The rest of the javelin competition offered a genuine glimpse into the future of the event. With a throw of 82.44 metres, Vadims Vasileysius, 22, won the competition thereby ensuring Latvia its first ever gold medal in the Challenge.

Next to Vasileysius on the podium was another Latvian just into his 20s - Ainars Kovals - who was just 31 centimetres shy of the winning throw. The third athlete was Finn Teemu Wirkkala (82.13), the reigning European junior champion. All three have the potential to become javelin stars in future.

That event wasn't the only one closely fought. The female discus, which opened the Challenge, saw a tight battle between German Franka Dietzsch and Natalya Sadova, of Russia.

In the end, it was Dietzsch who emerged winner with a margin of just four centimetres. Her winning throw was 60.32 metres, good enough to oust the Russian, last year's leading athlete in the world. However, this didn't really satisfy Dietzsch.

"My aim was to throw at least one metre more than that," she explained. "The wind made it difficult for us."

Gerd Kanter, the clear winner of the men's discus, was of the same opinion.

"As soon as I entered the stadium I knew it was going to be hard to get a very good result," he said.

The Estonian still nailed a huge first throw - 83.21 - and held on to the lead until the end. The win offers him the ideal launching pad for the season.

"My main goal is the Olympics," he added. "I would like to get as high as possible and maybe even get a medal."

Significantly, the best results were registered in the hammer where the wind's influence is minimal. Hungary's Kristian Pars confirmed his undoubted potential by winning with a throw of 79.69 - a personal best. It was clear that the European U-23 champion was going to win as soon as he cleared that mark but that didn't stop Apak Esref from setting a new Turkish record with a throw of 77.76 to finish ahead of Greece's Alexandros Papadimitriou (77.13).

There were similarly positive results in the female hammer competition. Germany's Andrea Bunjes was the overall winner when her implement landed 67.99 away from the circle. She was followed by Great Britain's Shirley Webb and Finland's Sini Poyry.

One athlete to generate a fair deal of attention was France's Stephanie Falzon. Her surname raised curiosity and she confirmed her Maltese origins.

"Although I don't know exactly when it happened, I do know that someone in my family was originally from Malta," she said. "They then moved to Sicily and, eventually to France."

Falzon threw the hammer a distance of 63.05m, a very good opening for her season considering that her personal best stands at 64.16 metres.

"I hope to make it for the Olympics selection. Last year, I was in the team that went to Poland for the European U-23 championships and a year earlier I was in Jamaica for the Junior Championships," she said.

"The Throwing Challenge was a good experience. It was very well organised and the set-up was really good."

Much of the attention in the women's shot was focused on star Vita Pavlysh... the Ukrainian did not disappoint.

A throw of 19.39 was good enough to land Pavlysh her second gold medal in as many weeks having won the World Indoor Championships a week before.

Rutger Smith retained last year's men's shot title with a throw of 20.32. The Dutchman has a bright future in this competition and was clearly better than the rest of the field. So much so that with a throw of 19.65, second-placed Miran Vodovnik, of Slovenia, could only match Smith's worst throw of the six that he registered.