1991 was definitely the most difficult year in the long history of Hanžeković Memorial. A war broke out and it seemed that the Meeting would not take place that year (and maybe not in the following years, either!). But as Croatia and Split had organized excellent European Athletics Championships a year earlier, the leading figure of the Organizing Committee asked the Zagreb City Assembly that the Meeting still be held and continuity maintained. The Meeting was held under the name the 1991 Zagreb International Athletics Meeting, but its survival was still questionable for the following few years.
After the 1993 Meeting, Nenad Marinić wrote in the Sportske Novosti daily sports newspaper:
„The Zagreb Meeting resisted all temptations although it was about to be cancelled until a few days ago. It also withstood the heavy, hot and humid afternoon, so that there was running, jumping and throwing in the Maksimir Stadium after all. The Boris Hanžeković Memorial survived another, this time critical year. Of course, due to known reasons, many athletes who would have raised the Meeting to the world level were not there this time, but there was much to see, because athletics has its charm even without top achievements. After all, some excellent athletes did participate: Robert Emmiyan, Alexander Kovalenko, Oleg Protsenko…”