Athletics

The National Athletics Indoor Championships usually open the athletics season in Romania at the beginning of each year.

Florin Orban, 19.02.2014, 11:45

This year, the first leg took place in Bucharest, while the second one was hosted by the eastern Romanian town of Bacau. The event’s finals were held in Romania’s capital city this past weekend.

The winners of the Crystal Cup, a trophy rewarding the best performances, were, in the men’s competition, triple jump athlete Marian Oprea, while in the women’s competition the winner was long-jump athlete Alina Rotaru. On the first day of the finals, this past Saturday, Oprea succeeded a jump of 17 meters and 30 centimeters, that is 30 centimeters more than the triple jump standard, required for qualification to the World Indoor Championships scheduled to be held in the Polish city of Sopot in March. On Sunday, Alina Rotaru once again broke her personal record, taking it to 6 meters and 68 centimeters, that is 2 centimeters below the required World Championship standards.

Shot-put athlete Anca Heltne took part in her first official competition this year, and she turned out to be in very good shape. At 18 meters and 88 centimeters, Anca’ s throw stood at one meter more than the World Championships’ standards, set at 17 meters and 80 centimeters.

High – jump athlete Mihai Donisan managed another notable performance at Romania’s national indoor championships. Donisan walked away with the national indoor title with a jump of 2 meters and 32 centimeters, that is 2 centimeters more than the required standard for the World Championships.

Given all these results, the Romanian Athletics Federation has managed to make up the delegation that will be taking part in the Balkan Indoor Athletics Championships, scheduled in Istanbul this coming Saturday. Athletes were also selected taking into account their training schedule, ahead of the World Championships in March. Marian Oprea and Mihai Donisan, for instance, were not included in the Romanian delegation for the Balkan Championships. Alina Rotaru, however, will prove her skills in Istanbul, where she will be using her last chance to meet the required World Championships long-jump standards.