Rasmus Roosleht has a healthy lead at the end of day one over teammate Hans Christian Hausenberg and Czechia’s Ondrej Kopecky. With rivals Risto Lillemets, and Devon Williams of the USA, retiring after injury in the long jump, the young Estonian potentially has his first major international victory in sight.
The competition started with two sub-seven second runs, home athlete Martin Roasto 6.98s in the first heat (his first time under seven seconds) and Tayb Loum of Spain 6.95s in the second heat. They were the only two athletes under seven seconds and topped the standings after the first event.
Angelos Andreoglou, whom I had flagged to potentially surprise us, got off to a great start with 7.01, the Greek’s best ever time.
On to the long jump where, to some surprise in a field which includes Hausenberg, the longest jump came from Ondrej Kopecky, with 7.32m. Tayb Loum continued his good progress with 7.24m, as did Marten Roasto with 7.17m, and that kept them at the top of the table after the second event.
Rasmus Roosleht had a decent jump of 7.18 in what is one of his weaker events, but Hausenberg could only manage 7.14m. Unfortunately, Devon Williams felt a pull on his hamstring during the event, and Risto Lillemets retired with an injured ankle.
After two events, Roosleht had moved from seventh to third, Hausenberg from eighth to fifth, and Kopecky from 12th to fourth.
The shot is Roosleht’s specialty, and he didn’t disappoint. He bumped up against 16m with his very first throw (15.98m) and exceeded 16m with his second (16.10m). Next best was Zsombor Gálpál of Hungary with 15.29m, and Kopecky another good event with 14.32m. Hausenberg threw 13.77m.
Roosleht’s dominance in the shot meant that he hit the top of the table for the first time after three events, with a lead of over 100 points, followed by Kopecky in second and Hausenberg a further 40 points back in third, as the remaining contenders began to jostle for position.
With neither Skotheim nor Maicel Uibo in the field, persisting on towards 2.20m, the high jump discipline was a brisk, evenly matched affair.
Kopecky made hard work of the high jump, requiring three attempts at his opening height of 1.81m, another three at 1.87m, and finally three no-jumps at 1.90m. His teammate Vilem Strasky was also a little below form, as he had been all day, with just 1.90m. The Czechs’ fortunes were rescued by Adam Havlicek who jumped the equal best of the day with 2.02m.
Tristan Marcy, usually one of the best high jumpers in a field, only managed 1.99m, and Hausenberg’s best clearance was 1.93m.
Fortune favoured Joni Heikkinen of Finland, improving his lifetime best to 1.96. And alongside Havlicek, Roosleht cleared 2.02m, just one height below his lifetime best.
That allowed Roosleht to extend his lead further at the end of day one, to 238 points. Hausenberg and Kopecky swapped places – the Estonian into second and the Czech into third but separated only by ten points. Tristan Marcy moved up to fourth, Gálpál positioned in fifth. Strasky is languishing a little in sixth place, over 300 points behind the leader and behind his own Day 1 best.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, the first event should play to Hausenberg, who has already run just over seven seconds in the 60m hurdles this season, to Roosleht’s season’s best of 7.22s. The pole vault is where Kopecky and Hausenberg should also claw back points from Roosleht, both excellent 5.20m vaulters. But that requires them to jump to form, and so far their respective season’s bests are under 4.70m
Roosleht’s lifetime best is currently 4.90m, but he is carrying considerable momentum from his first day. If he continues in the same form, he has little to fear from tomorrow and could be en route to his first major international victory.
SCORES AFTER DAY 1
- Rasmus Roosleht 3404
- Hans Christian Hausenberg 3166
- Ondrej Kopecky 3156
- Tristan Marcy 3139
- Zsombor Gálpál 3115
- Joni Heikkinen 3111
- Vilem Strasky 3080
- Adam Havlicek 3066
- Angelos Andreoglou 3065
- Tayb Loum 3062
- Andreu Boix 3038
- Marten Roasto 3018
- Andreas Trumm 2940
- Jorge Davila 2846
By Gabby Pieraccini
