ZAGREB – The 2007 IAAF Grand Prix Zagreb was marred by rain and cold weather. The bad weather was a disadvantage to both athletes and the audience, but despite the terrible conditions at the Mladost Stadium, several excellent results were achieved, including tree meeting records – in the women’s hammer throw and 3,000m and men’s long jump.

Hammer throw world record holder Tatyana Lysenko of Russia won with the result of 76.74m, improving her last year’s meeting record by 20cm. This result is only 1.87m short of the world record. Croatian record holder Ivana Brkljacic finished fifth with 70.92m.

Olga Komyagina of Russia set a new meeting record in the 3000m. Komyagina won in the photo finish before Belaynesh Fekladu of Ethiopia with the result of 8:52.03. The old meeting record was 9:12.57, set by Darina Calenic of Romania in 1993.

The only meeting record in the men’s events was set by long jumper Irving Saladino of Panama. Saladino confirmed his status as one of the greatest stars of this year’s meeting with his result of 8.45m. He improved the old James Beckford’s meeting record by 11cm already in the first jump.

Dayron Robles of Cuba won the 57th Boris Hanzekovic Memorial Race – in the 110m hurdles – with the result of 13.35, which was 21 hundredths of a second slower than his winning time in Athens two days earlier. US hurdler David Payne finished second with 13.56 and Ron Bramlett, another US athlete, came in third with 13.59.

Blanka Vlasic of Croatia won in the women’s high jump, continuing a brilliant series of victories this year. Unfortunately, Blanka only cleared 190cm in Zagreb this time. She cleared 1.80m, 1.85m and 1.90m on the first attempts only to knock the bar off on all three attempts at 1.95m, twice with her heels. Blanka felt very sick in the morning and it was highly uncertain if she would be able to compete, but after receiving therapy and antibiotics, she decided to participate despite rain and cold, risking an injury or more severe cold. Emma Green of Sweden finished second with 1.90m, as well, and Marina Aitova was third with 1.85m.

ZAGREB - Although national championships of some track and field giants (Germany, Russia, Great Britain) will be taking place at the same time, and some other nations (China) are sending their athletes to training camps before the World Championships, big track and field names are still coming to the Zagreb Meet.

According to the manager of the Zagreb Grand Prix Harald Edletzberger, several great stars will compete here on July 11. Jurica Grabušić will have the honour to compete against four-times world 110m hurdles champion Allen Johnson of the United States. Current Olympic and world long jump champion Dwight Phillips (USA) will come to the city at the Sava River to compete against James Beckford of Jamaica. The 100m hurdles will feature the 2001 world champion Anjanette Kirkland. If she weren't hurt, Blanka Vlašić would have great competitors: Kajsa Bergqvist of Sweden, Venelina Veneva of Bulgaria and Vita Palamar of Ukraine.

Hammer thrower Ivana Brkljačić will be the one among the top Croatian athletes to encounter the fiercest competition. Ivana is satisfied with the fact that Olympic vice-champion Yipsi Moreno of Cuba and former Olympic champion Kamila Skolimowska are coming to Zagreb, but not so with the billboards announcing the Meet. The hammer throw competition starts at 18:30 and not at 20:00, as is written on the billboards, for which the Meet Director Dražen Kroupa publicly apologized. The Croatian shot put record holder Edis Elkasević plans to throw over 21 metres. To achieve this, he will need strong competition (which he will not have), but also the help of the audience, who will have one last opportunity to put their hands together for Branko Zorko.

ZAGREB - The prize fund of the IAAF Grand Prix Zagreb 2005, locally better known as the Hanzekovic Memorial, has been increased to 3,600,000 kunas for a reason. The main task is to bring in even better competitors. This is the explanation for the increase offered by Velimir Basic, Assistant Secretary General of the Zagreb Sports Association, which will allocate 2.2 million kunas for the Meeting.
"We expect the Organizers, who we fully trust, to raise the sports level of the Meeting. This is why we have agreed to the increase."

Rehabilitate the Mladost Stadium
The rest of the funds come from the IAAF, TV contracts and sponsors - Drazen Kroupa, Meeting Director takes care of this. One of the main tasks of his team, which also includes Zeljko Grabusic, Executive Director, is to rehabilitate the Mladost Stadium, so that it could obtain the necessary certificate. As around 40,000 athletes use the track annually, it is logical that there are damages.
"We need two million kunas for a complete renewal but we do not have this much money. We will repair the most serious damage with 200-300 thousand kunas", Kroupa pointed out.

Ideal Meeting Date
According to Harald Edletzberger, Meeting Director, the Meeting date, July 11, is almost ideal. It is not close to the Mediterranean Games, and "Hanzek" is simply ideal to fill the gap between Rome (July 8) and Madrid (July 16). It is very important to have a good Meeting this year (both regarding results and organization) due to a new meeting classification, which the IAAF plans for this autumn. The IAAF will rate all its meetings and keep only the Golden League (it is still not known how many meetings) and Grand Prix (10-12 competitions). The rest will be designated as continental events. This is why this year's Meeting could be a turning point for the future status of "Hanzek". But, with the full stands at Mladost, and stars like last year (such as Xiang Liu, world record holder at 110m hurdles, and top women hammer throwers) its future can only be bright. The Meeting will be broadcast live on Eurosport again.

Zagreb likes Blanka Vlašić and Blanka Vlašić likes Zagreb and the Zagreb IAAF Grand Prix. Young Split native came second on Tuesday just like the last year and again her duel with Hestrie Cloete, double world champion, has marked the competition. Blanka has again, as she did last year, attacked the two meters level, but again this time she knocked down the bar at that height, yet the South African leveled the meeting record out of second attempt. Only two of them arrived at that magical height while the other high jumpers left the competition at lower heights.

Croatian long jump record holder Siniša Ergotić led the competition after third series with the jump of 7.98 but at the end he finished third behind Bulgarian Atanasov (8.01) and Bahamian jumper Moxey (8.00).

"Little world championship" – as the organizer had been announcing women’s hammer throw, assuring the attendance of four out of ten of this season’s best result hammer throwers. Expectedly, Croatian record holder Ivana Brkljačić could not reach a winning thrown faced with such a competition, yet she came fifth with the throw of 66.74 which she achieved in the first attempt. Russian Kuzenkova (71.91) won the competition which was satisfactory because 7 throws over the 70m limit were realized. Young Chinese Zhang came second, while the actual Olympic winner Skolimowska won a bronze medal. Brkljačić underachieved in length but not in the final placing as well as the other Croatian representative Sanja Gavrilović, whose 63.09 was enough for the seventh place.

World’s fastest man at the moment ina 110m hurdles Chinese Xiang Liu won the memorial 54th Boris Hanžeković race with the result of 13.25. He was convincingly ahead the Latwian Olijars and the Buarian Vidov. Jurica Grabušić came sixth ahead of the disqualified Duane Ross and Dos Santos.



As always on every meeting the attention is focused on the shortest sprint disciplines.. Women 100m race was won by Ghanaian runner Anim Vida (11.37), while the fastest in the men race was the Zagreb crowd favourite Abdul Aziz Zakari. In the 4oom hurdles race world champion Jana Pittmann ran the excellent 54.15, seasons third best, one hundredth of a second slower than the meeting record. She came to Zagreb for the first time. And won the sympathies of the crowd instantly although it was one of her first performances this season. 18-year-old Nikolina Horvat tok advantage of her presence and improved national record fro a hundrdth of a second which now stands 59.52.

Athletes’ statements:

Ivana Brkljačić:
- I was so hot about this meeting and in the end i was totally disappointed. The conditions were excellent and yet I managed to throw so short while i recently threw 69 meters under rain. I’m afraid that this came a little bit demoralizing for me before the Olympics but this only means i will have to work harder to do well in the Athens.

Blanka Vlašić:
- Personally i am not satisfied, but objectively i have to be pleased with my result. It is evident that my shape is not as last year when i jumped over 2 meters. I am sorry that i didn’t bring joy to the Zagreb crowd by jumping over 2m as last year.

Liu Xiang:
- At the beginning of the race i felt very tired due to several repeated starts. First three hurdles I did excellent, while the rest of the race i did bad because of my fatigue.

Hestrie Cloete:
- I am pleased because this is my best result this year.I’ve benn jumping in Zagreb for four seasons now and i always jump over two meters. Maybe i felt a bit tired because I arrived in Zagreb late 9 pm on Monday, straight from South Africa. I like to jump in Zagreb, i don’t know if this is because of the track, the atmosphere or Blanka. I will decide in September whether i will continue to jump or end my career. If i remain active i will come to Zagreb next year. I will continue to come as long as i will be active.

At the beginning of the next weekend in Zagreb there will be a reminder of the times when Kazu Miura played at the Maksimir stadium. Almost all of the Japanese sport public's attention shall be focused to Zagreb.

Namely, one of the attendants of the athletic Grand prix meeting, held on Tuesday (5.30 PM) at the Mladost sport park stadium, is a Japanese Shingo Suetsugu. Being a winner of the first Japanese medal at the Olympics or WC (200m bronze medal in Paris) enjoys a status of the superstar in his homeland, his every move over the world is followed, especially in the Olympic year. Suetsugu will arrive in Zagreb accompanied by his coach, manager and a personal physiotherapist, and he is also a reason that cca 30 of the Japanese reporters are accredited. Among them also two television networks, many daily paper reporters and agency companies as well as the Tarzan magazine reporter, a Japanese equivalent of the Playboy magazine. It will be yet another promotion of Zagreb and Croatia in Japan. Shingo Suetsugu is on European tour and he will be running 100m in Zagreb.

His competition will consist of Darren Campbell and Jason Gardener, both British. They too prepare for the Athens where their goal id to win a medal. Campbell won bronze at the "hundred" a year ago in Paris and he plans a sequel at the Olympics. Four years ago in Sydney he was silver in the 200m race. In the career of this 29 year old Manchester resident a title of the European champion in 1998. exceeds as well as a bronze medal in Munich two years ago.

Finally, Jason Gardener also plans his appraisal in the "open field". His personal best in the 100m race is 9.98 but so far he has won medal only at 60m, he is a European and world champion. He finally decided to get a medal also in the 100m race. Zagreb will be his preparatrory station at his rad to a medal in athens

ZAGREB - Athletic Grand prix meeting will again bring to Zagreb some of the biggest stars. On Tuesday 29th June popular "Hanžek" will offer a three hour sport spectacle.

On of the best and most interesting disciplines will be first in the time schedule, a hammer throw for the female athletes. Due to security reasons the organizers haven't been able to postpone this highly technical discipline to a later term so it will begin at 5.30 pm. Yet, it is worthwhile to come to stadium on time because of the quality of that discipline. Croatian record holder Ivana Brkljačić will face strong competition which will, as we are sure of, push her over the historical frontier of 70 meters.
- After big events like the Olympics and world and European championships "Hanžek" is my most important competition.- Brkljačić often states.

The youngest Olympic athletic champion Kamila Skolimowska has already become a regular guest in Zagreb. This Polish native won a gold Olympic medal being just 17 and 311 days old. This season she has already thrown over 70 meters (70,93). At «Hanžek» also the actual world record holder a Romanian Michaela Melinte (76,07) will throw. Hammer thrower from Romania has won world records for eight times, in the late 90's she was a European and world champion, but in the summer of 2000 she was suspended for doping. A Russian Olga Kuzenkova, who has marked the initial seasons of this discipline, is also present and she has achieved 11 world best results. Two years ago she has won her first gold medal (EC) and before that she was silver five times at the big events. China will be represented strongly with the Asian champion Gu Yuan and Zhang Wengxiu who has thrown 72,42 m this year. Besides Ivana Brkljačić, Croatia will be represented by the olympic Sanja Gavrilović and a gold medal candidate at the recent World junior championship, Valentina Srša.

ZAGREB – Two weeks before the athletic Grand prix meeting in Zagreb ( June 29th , 5.40 pm), organizers may brag with the excellent response of the competitors. Two of the dissciplines may easily be marked as the "little world championships" due to the strong competition.

Ivana Brkljačić will have a strong competition and we may rightfully expect of her to throw kladivo beyond the 70-meter limit exactly at "Hanžek". Zagreb will be visited by the best Moreno, Skolimowska, Wengxiu as well as Kuzenkova.
- I too believe I could do that here. "Hanžek" is , after the Olympics, my most important competition and I would like to win.

Female high jump will be extraordinary as well. Along with already announced Blanka Vlašić and the world champion Cloete, Berqvist will perform on «Hanžek» for the first time this year, and at least one of the three excellent high-jumpers- Palamar, Babakova, Slesarenko.- will come too.

Another Olympic athlete, Siniša Ergotić, will have a strong competition. Stringfellow was certain to come, but the he will miss the whole season because of an injury.
-Whoever comes, I'm sure it will be great. I consider "Hanžek" as my personal meeting and my performance was never in question, nor it will ever be.- Ergotić said.


Meeting manager Harald Edletzberger has publicized part of the 110 m hurdles race starting line up- Xiang Liu, Ross, Olijars, Grabušić. Tickets will begin to sell on Monday at SP Mladost (at the price of 30 and 50 kunas), also the official web page of the meeting is all set (www.zagrebhanzek.com).

Dražen Kroupa, the meeting director, and Zvonko Merkaš, member of the Auto Hrvatska board have signed an agreement by which Auto Hrvatska has become one of the main meeting sponsors. It is interesting that already twenty Japanese journalist have signed in for the meeting coverage.