The 2009 Zagreb Grand Prix Meeting Director Ivana Brkljacic returned from Stockholm with an excellent piece of news. The men’s shotput at Zagreb on 31 August will be another highlight – this exceptional event will feature current Olympic Champion Tomasz Majewski.
“I was invited to Stockholm by Meeting Director Rajne Soderberg to see what one of the world’s best organized meetings looks like and gather some experience, which could help us further our meeting. DN Galan has had the Super Grand Prix status so far, but will be a part of the Diamond League from next year”, Brkljacic told us.
Shotput has had a special status in Stockholm in the past few years. Both the men’s and women’s event take place one day before the main part of the meeting and their setting gives them a touch of spectacle, as well: they take place in the city’s main square. The organizers of the Zagreb Grand Prix will try to bring athletics to the city centre in a similar way. On the eve of the Zagreb Grand Prix, on Sunday, 30 August 2009, the world’s best shotput junior men will compete throwing a 6kg shotput in Zagreb’s main square.
After hurdler Dayron Robles, Tomasz Majewski is the second gold medallist from Beijing who is coming to Zagreb, but surely not the last one. The Polish pirate will compete in Zagreb only one day after his 28th birthday. Majewski shocked the American shotput fans in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium last year; the Americans had felt like the rulers of the men’s shotput, but Majewski bested them all. He is in an even better form this year; he improved his personal best twice at the end of July. He threw 21.64 metres in Barcelona and 21.95 in Stockholm, which is a new Polish national record, as well. He had a great series of throws that evening (21.65; 21.95; 21.44; x; x; 21.83). The Zagreb meeting record of 21.28 set by Adam Nelson in 2002 will definitely be challenged.
Tomasz Majewski
– born in Nasielsk, Poland, on 30 August 1981
– current Olympic Champion from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing
– 2008 world indoor bronze medallist from Valencia
– 2009 European Indoor Champion from Turin
– world’s best result in 2009 with 21.95m
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