On the eve of the 5th Ivan Ivančić Memorial at the Zagreb Fountains, the greatest shot put stars announced this competition of the world’s greatest shot putters.
Filip Mihaljević is currently ranked 9th in the world in the shot put and he is the new Croatian record holder with 21.84.
“I am coming to Zagreb in good form, Varaždin 21.03, Paris 21.22. I returned to full training after a minor back injury, so I expect a good result tomorrow. I am hoping for throws over 21 metres again and I hope that I will keep improving my form until the World Championships in Doha”, Mihaljević announced his appearance.
Joe Kovacs has the greatest medal collection from the major competitions in the past few years. He has gold from the Beijing World Championships and silver medals from the Rio Olympics and London World Championships.
“I am always very excited to be here, this is one of my favourite meetings, it’s always wonderful here. The field is extremely strong this year again and we are all in good form. It will be a very good and fun competition. As for the 22-metre line, I hope that not only one, but more of us will throw beyond it. And I hope that the organizers will have to set up another back line at 23 metres next year”, Kovacs said.
Besides being the current world champion, Tom Walsh is the three-time winner at Zagreb.
“I really love coming here. This is maybe the best street shot put event in the world. We always put up a great show and the atmosphere is fantastic. I think that there will be more throws over 22 metres, but I also think that a throw on 22 metres will not automatically guarantee the win. The competition will be very tough, but I like challenges”, Walsh said, announcing a really spectacular event.