Dmitriy Shevchenko tosses the discus past 70 m

Dmitriy Shevchenko, Russia’s best discus thrower who finished 4th at last year’s Worlds with an effort of 67,57 and missed the bronze by a meagre 4 centimeters, stunningly opened this year’s outdoor season with a personal record of 70,54 at the Kuban Games. This is Dmitriy’s first throw of over 70 meters and is now the second-best throw in Russian Athletics history, behind Yuriy Dumchev’s National record of 71,86 dating all the way back to 1983. The performance also made Shevchenko the current world leader. Dmitriy surpassed his old PR on the first attempt already with an effort of 68,93, and improved to 70,54 on the second, while maintaining his form to add another solid throw of 67,44 in the fifth.

Kuban Games also were a season opener for National record holder in the Women’s Javelin Tatyana Shikolenko, who came up with an effort of 61,06.

Darya Pischalnikova (born in 1985) of Adygea region competed in the open division of the women’s discus competition and set a new National U-18 record of 56,84.