Natallia Mikhnevich dominates the Shot Put contest at Belarus – Athletics news
As the two-day Belarus Open Championships concluded in Grodno, it was Natallia Mikhnevich, the veteran shot putter from Russia whose performance in the event marked the headlines.
Born in Nevinnomyssk, Russia, Mikhnevich is a 29-year-old athlete who enjoyed the first limelight of her career back in 2000, when she claimed third position at the World Junior Championships. After marking that victory, she did not look back in her entire
career. What the spectators and rivals observed about her, was a craziness and perseverance in pursuit of success.
As they were bound to, her efforts started paying dividends and she managed to get an entrance in the 2004 Olympics, but for encountering a formidable and far more experienced field, all she could do was to settle for a fifth position. She produced similar
results while representing Russia at the World Athletics Final. By the next year, she bagged a bronze medal in the said competition.
Finally, there came the World Indoor Championships in 2006 in Russia, where she bagged the title for marking a throw of 19.84m. The results produced in the event not only brought her a much needed boost, but also a new Personal best. Two years down the line,
she claimed a silver medal in the Women’s Shot Put competition at the Summer Olympics 2008. In the same year, she marked a new outdoor PB in Grodno where her throw landed at 20.70m.
This year in Grodno, while she was appearing at the second contest of the outdoor season, the veteran shot putter made her thrown fall at 19.05 in the second attempt. This was formidable and brought a national title for the athlete.
On the men’s side, while completely disregarding the heavy pouring, it was Pavel Lyzhyn, another shot putter from Belarus, who bagged the title for throwing 20.17m. In the men’s Hammer Throw event, it was Pavel Kryvitski who earned the honours, though initially
it was Valeriy Sviatokha who prevailed as a leader for throwing 75.38m. Yury Shayunov threw 76.77m and dominated Sviatokha in the fourth round of the event. Finally, for throwing at 77.42m, Kryvitski claimed the event title in a tight finish.
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