Marco Fortes improves his national record by 20 centimetres – Copenhagen Athletics Games
As the Copenhagen Athletics Games concluded on Thursday, August 11, the event was highlighted by the outstanding performance of the 28-year-old Portugal based Shot Putter, Marco Fortes, who improved the national record which he set in June last year in Spain,
by a staggering 20 centimetres.
With the 2011 IAAF World Athletics Championships a mere two weeks away, and every country busy in finalising its contingent comprised of the best representatives for the mega event, athletics is definitely in the air. Copenhagen, being no exception to the
phenomenon, produced results under challenging weather conditions which were watched with acute interest by spectators.
Perhaps, the expectations of spectators pushed the athletes in displaying performances which were least likely to emerge. Performing under a chilled weather (temperature sticking at 13 degree), Fortes remained undeterred and left observers over-awed by the
results he produced.
Instead of complaining about the weather, he went on to appreciate it in setting his mood for producing the formidable throw. Expressing his thoughts on his success and on the overall weather conditions, the Lisboa-based athlete said, “I feel good when it
rains. Its better then and I somehow got used to it. I hope it will rain in Daegu! With this result I now have to be expecting to qualify for the final.” The young performer is looking forward to make it to the IAAF world championships in Daegu.
Two years ago, when it was for the qualification of the Berlin World Championships, with his throw landing at 19.81m, Fortes had finished for the 18th position. However, with constant work on improving his performance, he earned the entrance to
the European Indoor Championships held in Paris, where his throw of 20.34m set a new Nation Indoor Record.
Unmoved by the impressive success profile of the Portugal-based thrower, Kim Juhl Christensen, the local favourite also lived up to expectations and observed a throw of 20.06m. The results produced by the 27-year-old athlete not only placed him second in
the contest, but also culminated in him breaking the 20m mark for the first time.
Another worth mentioning performance that spectators enjoyed at Copenhagen was produced in the Long Jump competition by none other than Morten Jensen, the 28-year-old local athlete. In order to mark his dominance over the track, the Danish displayed a finish
of 7.97m. Although the results were decent, but certainly not good enough as it could not help the bronze medal winner of the European Indoor Championships to attain the B entry standard for Daegu event. He missed the target for landing 13 cm shorter than
the required mark.
In the Wilson Kipketer Tribute 800m run, Kipketer, who also happens to be the IAAF Ambassador, witnessed his countryman, Andreas Bube bagging the title for marking a finish of one minute and 47.56 seconds.
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