Athletics Bridge

Athletics Bridge
Date Late August – early September
Location Dubnica nad Váhom, Slovakia
Event type Track and field
Established 2003
Official site Atletický Most

The Athletics Bridge (Slovak: Atletický Most) is an annual track and field meeting which takes place at the Mestský štadión in Dubnica nad Váhom, Slovakia. One of the European Athletics Outdoor Premium Meetings, it is typically among of the last competitions held in the European summer track and field circuit.[1]

The meeting was first held in 2003 and started life in Banská Bystrica, another Slovakian city. Taking inspiration from the IAAF Golden League, the organising committee (headed by Milan Hort) set about creating their own national version. Consisting of a two-day "double meet", it mirrored the jackpot format with 250,000 Slovak Crowns being divided up between athletes who won an event on both days.[2] The first edition mainly attracted Slovakian, Hungarian and Ukraine athletes, but the second gained European Athletics status and expanded to include other Europeans and African athletes. The following two years saw top level athletes compete, with eight World Championships medallists taking part in 2005, and ten medallists from the 2006 European Athletics Championships being in attendance the next year.[3]

The Athletics Bridge meet was beset with financial difficulties in 2007 and as a result the Dubnica nad Váhom-based Atletický Klub Spartak Dubnica decided to take on the organisation of the meeting from then onwards.[3] Changing to the more traditional one-day meeting format, it became allied with the Euro Meetings group and Hort remained as the meet director, with Alfons Juck serving as the competition manager.[4] A wide variety of top-level athletes were present that year (including Roman Sebrle, Dayron Robles, Yargelis Savigne, Koji Murofushi and Ezekiel Kemboi) and the event attracted around 3700 people (the highest ever for an athletics event in Dubnica). In 2008, fourteen medalists from the 2008 Beijing Olympics entered the competition. Olympic gold medallist in the 110 metres hurdles, Dayron Robles, provided the meet highlight with a run of 12.95 seconds despite a strong headwind. Around 6000 people saw the meet in 2009 and the 2010 edition was host to a Slovakian record through Lucia Klocová's run of 4:08.86 minutes in the 1500 metres.[3] Cementing its position as Slovakia's foremost one-day athletics meet, some 17 world championship medallists were present in 2011.[1]

Contents

Meet records

Meet records are as follows:

Men

Event Record Athlete Nationality Date Ref
100 m 10.05 (+0.8 m/s) Richard Thompson  Trinidad and Tobago 15 September 2011 [5]
200 m 20.59 Steve Mullings  Jamaica 6 September 2009 [6]
400 m 45.75 LaShawn Merritt  United States 15 September 2011 [5]
1000 m 2:18.61 Nixon Chepseba  Kenya 6 September 2009 [7]
5000 m 14:52.60 Miroslav Vanko  Slovakia 16 September 2007 [8]
110 m hurdles 12.95 Dayron Robles  Cuba 2008 [3]
3000 m steeplechase 8:12.27 min Bernard Mbugua  Kenya 15 September 2011 [6]
High jump 2.32 m Stefan Holm  Sweden 2008 [3]
Pole vault 5.65 m Jeremy Scott  United States 16 September 2007 [8]
Shot put 21.61 m Christian Cantwell  United States 2006 [3]
Hammer throw 82.53 m Ivan Tsikhan  Belarus 2005 [3]
Javelin throw 81.20 m Ainars Kovals  Latvia 2005 [3]
3000 m walk 11:17.35 Matej Toth  Slovenia 2003 [3]

Women

Event Record Athlete Nationality Date Ref
100 m 11.17 (-0.7 m/s) Schillonie Calvert  Jamaica 15 September 2011 [5]
200 m 22.91 LaVerne Jones-Ferrette  United States Virgin Islands 6 September 2009 [7]
400 m 50.77 Olesya Krasnomovets  Russia 2005 [3]
800 m 2:00.88 min Yuliya Rusanova  Russia 15 September 2011 [5]
1500 m 4:26.51 Élodie Olivares  France 16 September 2007 [8]
400 m hurdles 59.38 Miriam Hrdlicková  Slovakia 16 September 2007 [8]
High jump 1.82 m Anne-Gaëlle Jardin  France 16 September 2007 [8]
Pole vault 4.50 m Jiřina Ptáčníková  Czech Republic 15 September 2011 [5]
Long jump 6.64 m Jana Velďáková  Slovakia 16 September 2007 [8]
Triple jump 14.65 m Yargelis Savigne  Cuba 16 September 2007 [8]
Shot put 20.83 m Valerie Adams  New Zealand 15 September 2011 [5]
Hammer throw 75.83 m Betty Heidler  Germany 15 September 2011 [5]

References

  1. ^ a b 17 World Championships medallist head for Dubnica on Thursday. European Athletics (2011-09-13). Retrieved on 2011-09-17.
  2. ^ Lysenko leads the field for ‘Athletics Bridge’. European Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-09-17.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j History Athletics Bridge (Slovak). Atletika Dubnica. Retrieved on 2011-09-17.
  4. ^ 2007 Athletics Bridge. Euro Meetings. Retrieved on 2011-09-17.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Athletics Bridge 2011 Complete Results". www.atletikadubnica.sk. 15 September 2011. http://www.atletikadubnica.sk/AM/Vysledky_AM/2011/0915_AM_HP.pdf. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  6. ^ a b Records of meetings, Athletics Bridge website, accessed 23 September 2011
  7. ^ a b "Athletics Bridge 2009 Complete Results". www.atletikadubnica.sk. 6 September 2009. http://www.atletikadubnica.sk/AM/Vysledky_AM/2009/0906_AM.pdf. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  8. ^ a b c d e f g "Athletics Bridge 2007 Complete Results". www.atletikadubnica.sk. 16 September 2007. http://www.atletikadubnica.sk/AM/Vysledky_AM/2007/16092007_AM.pdf. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 

External links

European Athletics Premium Meetings