Marino Bloudek secured a semifinal spot in the 800 meters, while Pravdica, Čeko, Gregurić, and Švenda ended their campaigns in the qualifying rounds. Croatia in Birmingham without Elkasević and Mihaljević, but with several other aces yet to take the stage.
On the first day of the 27th European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, only one of five Croatian representatives advanced. Marino Bloudek qualified for the semifinals of the 800 meters, while Filip Pravdica, Marko Čeko, Matija Gregurić, and Natalija Švenda concluded their performances already in the qualifying rounds.
The Croatian contingent at Alexander Stadium, whose capacity was expanded from 18,000 to thousands of additional seats due to overwhelming interest, numbers 16 athletes (male and female). For comparison, Serbia sent 13, and Slovenia 27 competitors. However, the traditionally strongest aces were absent: Sandra Elkasević and Filip Mihaljević decided to skip the entire season.
The Croatian 800-meter record holder, who last year broke the long-standing national record held by the legendary Luciano Sušanj, competed in the first qualifying heat and finished second with a time of 1:47.23. Although this is significantly slower than his personal best (1:44.01), the result was enough for a safe passage to the semifinals. Ahead of him, Ireland's Mark English crossed the line in 1:46.96, while the fastest in qualifying was France's Yanis Meziane with 1:45.10.
Bloudek, who was the European junior champion in 2017 and finished fifth at the World Indoor Championships last winter, is ranked ninth in Europe. The semifinal is scheduled for Tuesday at 12:20 PM.
In the long jump, the Croatian duo fell far short of qualifying for the final. Filip Pravdica, the national record holder and Olympic finalist, finished 20th with a jump of 7.62 meters, 37 centimeters short of his season's best. Recall that at the last World Championships in Tokyo, he also underperformed in qualifying, after which he publicly accused the federation of sabotage.
Marko Čeko, who as a 22-year-old made the final in Munich 2022, was 26th this time with a leap of 7.39 meters, falling 38 centimeters short of his season's best. The best in qualifying was Serbia's Luka Bošković with 8.33 meters, while the last to make the final, Czech Petr Meindlschmid, jumped 7.91 meters.
Matija Gregurić, ranked 15th in Europe, threw 73.49 meters in the hammer throw, three meters less than his season's best, which earned him 15th place. Had he repeated his personal best (76.68), he would have easily made the final. The last qualifying spot (12th) went to Greece's Christos Frantzeskakis with 75.22 meters, while the best was Czech Volodymyr Myslyvcuk (79.61 m).
Natalija Švenda, who set a new national record in the 400-meter hurdles last year (56.01), finished seventh in her heat with a time of 57.28 seconds, more than a second slower than her season's best. Among 24 runners, she finished 22nd. To advance, she needed to run 56.35.
On Wednesday, the women's discus qualifying rounds are scheduled, where Marija Tolj, ranked ninth in Europe, will aim for the final. On the same day, Veronika Drljačić competes in the 400 meters. On Thursday, Karlo Marciuš (200 meters) and Bruno Belčić (3000 meters steeplechase) make their debuts, both Croatian record holders.
Over the weekend, attention will turn to 20-year-old Jana Koščak in the heptathlon, as well as 19-year-old Vita Barbić in the javelin, who just before the European Championships won silver at the World U20 Championships in Eugene. There's also Sara Kolak, the Olympic champion whose personal best is 68.43 meters and who is fifth on the European ranking list; her form is an unknown, but history shows she throws best when least expected.
