Croatian Olympians Vanja Perisic and Nikolina Horvat, who gathered experience in Beijing and showed that they did not end up at the Olympics by accident, will participate in this year's Zagreb Grand Prix. As the young Croatian runners don't have much opportunity to compete against such strong opponents, the Meeting is another opportunity to gather experience. They will certainly have enough great athletes to learn from. Perisic will compete in the 1,000m, in which Olympic finalists Russia's Svetlana Klyuka (placed 4th in the 800m) and Natalia Yevdokimova (fourth in the 1,500m) will try to go under 2:40, or at least around the season's best result of 2:37.72 or the meeting record of 2:36.33. To achieve the expected result level, their pacemaker will be a third Russian athlete, Tatjana Andrianova, who finished 8th in the 800m in Beijing.

In the 400m hurdles, Nikolina Horvat will race against four finalists from Beijing. The Olympic bronze medallist Tasha Danvers (Great Britain) confirmed her arrival, as did Ekaterina Bikert (Russia), Anastasia Rabchenyuk (Ukraine) and Tiffany Williams (USA). As Danvers, Rabchenyuk and Williams ran under 54 seconds this year, one can assume that they will challenge the meeting record of 54.14.

The 110m hurdles, the Boris Hanzekovic Memorial Race, is a trademark of the Zagreb IAAF Grand Prix. Harald Edletzberger, Meeting Manager, confirmed that fans will be able to enjoy it as usual, just like the women's 100m hurdles. Cuba's Dayron Robles, who broke the world record in the 110m hurdles (12.87) in Ostrawa at the beginning of June, and who ran under 13 seconds six times this summer, is coming to Zagreb for the third time in a row. With Robles at the track, who is expected to be pushed by Maurice Wignall, the meeting record of 12.98, set by Mark Crear in 1999, will definitely be challenged.

We shall also se a good race in the women's 100m hurdles. A strong line-up will be led by Dawn Harper of the USA and Canada's Priscilla Lopes-Schliep. Competition will be fierce, as Edletzberger is bringing three more finalists from Beijing; Harper and Lopes-Schliep will be challenged by Damu Cherry, Deloreen Ennis-London and Sarah Claxton.

After returning from the Beijing Olympics, where she didn't make the hammer throw final, Ivana Brkljacic is waiting for the 2008 Zagreb Grand Prix, „her favourite meeting“, in Budapest. „It is my obligation to throw well, to give my best performance before home audience. And, of course, to make up for the disaster in Beijing“, Ivana Brkljacic said.

She will have an opportunity to do so, as Harald Edletzberger, Manager of the Zagreb Grand Prix, secured the participation of the Olympic Champion Aksana Miankova of Belarus. The women's hammer throw has always been one of the strongest events at Zagreb: Yipsi Moreno, Kamila Skolimowska, Tatiana Lysenko and Manuela Montebrun have competed here.
Miankova, a 26-year old athlete, who stopped Yipsi Moreno on her way to Olympic gold in Beijing and set a new Olympic record of 76.34 metres, will join this impressive list after 9 September 2008. Miankova can do even better; she won with the result of 77.32 in Minsk, which was the Belarus record, the best result this year and only half a meter shorter then Tatiana Lysenko's world record of 77.80.

Edletzberger started fulfilling his promise to bring five Olympic Champions to Zagreb: besides Miankova, Veronica Campbell-Brown and Primoz Kozmus, he also secured the participation of US discus thrower Stephanie Brown-Trafton, who won with 64.74 m in Beijing.

During the Beijing Olympics, Harald Edletzberger negotiated the participation of athletes in the Zagreb Meeting. The first great names are Olympic Champions Primoz Kozmus (hammer throw) and Veronica Campbell-Brown, who will run 100 metres in Zagreb. Edletzberger doesn't want to speak about others yet, not even after the meeting with the Organizers, at which he signed his contract and officially confirmed his status as the Zagreb IAAF Grand Prix Meeting Manager.
„Many athletes went home after Beijing, it remains to see who will come to Europe after the Olympic Games“, Edletzberger said.
Although the date of the Meeting is not ideal, the Manager is optimistic on the eve of his last negotiations with athletes at the Golden League in Zurich.
„I expect five Olympic Champions to come to Zagreb.“
Blanka Vlasic is not one of them, but even with the silver medal from Beijing, she will be the greatest star of the Meeting.
Besides signing the contract and meeting with the Meeting Director Velimir Basic, Edletzberger used his visit to Zagreb to inspect the Mladost Stadium.
„All IAAF requirements have been met“, Edletzberger concluded.
Besides the Meeting Director and Manager, Assistant Director Drazen Kroupa, Executive Director Zeljko Grabusic and Ante Milic, Drago Luka Ostojic and Zoran Kovacevic also attended the meeting at the Zagreb Sports Association.
Preparation works for 9 September are in full swing. The Antunovic Hotel has been confirmed as the official hotel and participants will also be accommodated at Hotels Westin and Laguna. The Zagreb Holding will provide official transport and logistics support.

ZAGREB - It has started. While Harald Edletzberger, Manager of the 2008 Zagreb Grand Prix, is in Beijing, negotiating the participation of athletes in Zagreb, Velimir Basic, Meeting Director, his assistant Drazen Kroupa and members of the Organizing Committee Zoran Kovacevic, Milan Oreskovic (Secretary General of the Croatian Athletics Federation), Franjo Kordic (Secretary General of the Zagreb Athletics Association), Vladimir Mikulec (member of the Executive Committee of the Croatian Athletics Federation) and Josip Baricic (President of the Zagreb Athletics Referees Association) held a press conference at the Antunovic Hotel in Zagreb.

Director Basic presented the good news regarding the upcoming 58th Zagreb Grand Prix, locally called „Hanzek“, ranked 11th among the elite IAAF meetings, which will take place at the Mladost Stadium in Zagreb on 9 September 2008. The 2008 Zagreb Grand Prix will be held under the auspices of the Mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandic and it will be organized by the Zagreb Sports Association.

„Before all, I must thank Drazen Kroupa, who was the Meeting Director for five years. The Zagreb Grand Prix is among the elite meetings thanks to his resourcefulness“ Basic said. „We expect to have at least two Olympic Champions at this year's meeting.“ One has already been confirmed; in Beijing, Harald Edletzberger negotiated the participation of Primoz Kozmus, Olympic Champion in the men's hammer throw. This means that this will be the first time that, besides the women's, there will also be the men's hammer throw at Zagreb.

„It will be a little problem because it is not easy to organize competitions with both the men's and women's hammer throw. They need to throw before or after other events for the safety of other competitors. I believe that we shall solve everything to the satisfaction of the audience, but also of the throwers. Women should compete at 16:30 and men at the end of the program“ Vladimir Mikulec explained.

On Tuesday, 9 September, the competition at the Mladost Sports Park will start with the men's javelin throw, which will be a national event, at 15:00. It will continue with the women's hammer throw at 16:00 and the Opening Ceremony will take place at 17:45. It will be broadcast live on Croatian Television.

The program will include a total of 19 events:
Men: 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 1,500 m, 3,000 m, 110 m hurdles, long jump, shot put, javelin throw, hammer throw;
Women: 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 1,000 m, 100 m hurdles, 400 m hurdles, high jump, discus throw, hammer throw.

Besides Kozmus, the participation of Blanka Vlasic, the undoubtedly brightest star of the Meeting, is certain. There will be all Croatian Olympians (Ivana Brkljacic, Sanja Gavrilovic, Vera Begic, Vanja Perisic, Nikolina Horvat, Andras Haklits, Martin Maric, Nedzad Mulabegovic and Jurica Grabusic) and Director Basic expects:
„At least two Olympic Champions and further five Olympic medallists from Beijing. In each event, we expect four athletes who are in the world's top 30 and four who are among the top 50.“

It sounds impressive, no doubt there will be an athletics spectacle in Zagreb on 9 September.
The organizers have also secured a special prize of 30,000 Euros for a world record.

Good-Natured Giant Primoz Kozmus

Besides Blanka Vlasic, who is a trademark of the Zagreb Grand Prix, the first great star, who has confirmed his participation at Zagreb, is Slovenia's hammer thrower Primoz Kozmus. After winning the Olympic gold medal in Beijing, Kozmus deserved to have the men's hammer throw included in the program of the 2008 Zagreb Grand Prix because of him.

The participation of Primoz Kozmus will intensify the interest in the Zagreb Grand Prix, locally called Hanzek, among Croatia's neighbours. Zagreb is close to the Slovenian border, the closest place, in which they will be able to see their Olympic Champion in action“, said Meeting Director Velimir Basic.

This gentle, good-natured giant from Slovenia (188 cm, 106 kg) was born in Novo Mesto on 30 September 1979. The past two years have been the most beautiful time of his career. Although he has been among the world's elite in the hammer throw for five years, since he made the final and placed 5th at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, Kozmus waited for his first major medal until 2007. He won silver at the World Championships in Osaka, only Ivan Tikhon of Belarus was better than him. But, Kozmus made up for everything in Beijing, he bested Tikhon, Vadim Devyatovskiy, Krisztian Pars and Koji Murofushi.

His personal best is 82.30 m, the result he achieved in Bydgoszcz in 2007, and he won the Olympic gold medal with the result of 82.02. This was at the level of the best results in his career, which only the best athletes, who don't succumb to pressure, can do at major competitions.

Before his World silver from Japan and Olympic gold, between Paris and Osaka, Primoz Kozmus participated in three more major finals: he finished 6th at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 and 7th at the European Championships in Gothenburg In 2007.

Veronica Campbell-Brown Comes to Zagreb

Harald Edletzberger, Manager of the Zagreb Grand Prix, called from Beijing with a great piece of news. After Primoz Kozmus confirmed his participation, another Olympic Champion agreed to compete in Zagreb, as well: one of the fastest women in the world, Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica.

Campbell-Brown defended her Olympic title in the women’s 200m in Beijing. Besides those two gold medals, she has three more Olympic medals. She won on the Jamaican team in the women’s 4x100m in Athens in 2004. She also won the bronze medal in the women’s 100m there, and she had won the silver medal in the relay race in Sydney in 2000.

Veronica Campbell-Brown also had much success at World Championships: she won one gold medal (in the 100m) and two silver medals (200m, 4x100m) in Osaka in 2007 and two silver medals (200m, 4x100m) in Helsinki in 2005.

Born in Trelawny on 15 May 1982, Campbell-Brown has developed into one of the greatest sprinters Jamaica has ever had, a true successor of the great Merlene Ottey. She gave a glimpse of what was to become a great career at the World Youth Championships in Bydgoszcz in 1999, where she became the first and so far the only one to win in the 100m and 200m. She still hasn’t won both sprint medals at one competition in the women’s category, but there are still many years of top level athletics in front of Veronica Campbell-Brown, so there will be time for that, as well.

A modest girl from a large family (she has nine siblings) married Jamaican sprinter Omar Brown, her colleague from the University of Arkansas, in 2007.

Veronica Campbell-Brown’s personal best in the 100m is 10.85. In Beijing, she ran 21.74 in the 200m, which is the 7th best result of all times.

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.