Dubnica, Slovakia - 2000 Olympic champion Kamila Skolimowska of Poland defeated World record holder Tatyana Lysenko in the women's Hammer Throw while Christian Cantwell reached 21.61 in the men's Shot Put to highlight the second leg of the Slovak Athletics Bridge on Tuesday (29).

74.73m Polish national record for Skolimowska

Rain delayed the start of the women's hammer competition, with the best results achieved in third series as Skolimowska betterd her national record to 74.73m. Lysenko tried hard with a third throw of 74.14 and a fourth round 73.36 but did could do no better. Cuban Yipsi Moreno reached 73.79 in the final round to pass Russian Gulfiya Khanafeyeva.

"I am so happy, a new Polish record and I beat Lysenko, that is great," said Skolimowska. "I had also one long foul so the shape is there. I still have World Athletics Finals and World Cup so I hope my shape will stay as it is."

The meeting suffered from cold weather and occasional rain, but the athletes still performed well and produced some superb results. Of the 14 winners from Banska Bystrica only 5 repeated in Dubnica to each win a 2800 euro share of the 14,000 Euro jackpot reserved for athletes who won their events at both legs of the event. In total seven Athletics Bridge records were achieved on Tuesday.

In seesaw battle, Pars over Tikhon

A crowd of some 4000 were satisfied with a solid Hammer Throw competition on the mens' side as well. In the men's competition, 10 of the 12 throwers achieved better results than in Banska Bystrica. In superb form Hungarian Krisztian Pars. He started with a 79.24 throw, but World and European champion Ivan Tikhon responded with 79.77. In second series Pars exploded to 80.78 and Tikhon also showed a respectable 80.21. In the third round Pars tried again but this time it was 79.6. Tikhon tried to come back to first to earn part of the jackpot but his 80.01 effort was not enough. In the last series both again achieved 79+ metre throws, but the order remained unchanged. Olli-Pekka Karjalainen from Finland finished third with his final round 78.18 and scored well into the IAAF World Athletics Tour.

"I like the Dubnica hammer area," said Pars, "I always perform well here. Pity, I was not able to achieve a similar result in Goteborg."

Oliver beats the cold to 13.20 PB

The best result in the running events was achieved by U.S. hurdler David Oliver. Already in the heats he cruised to a 13.39, not at not full speed. In the finals, contested in 12 degree Celsius temperatures he achieved a notable 13.20, not only a new meet record but also his personal best. Runner-up Joel Brown was timed in 13.35 and the winner from Sunday, Aubrey Herring third in 13.42.

"I felt I can ran something good, but a new best in this cold weather also surprised myself." said Oliver.

The women's hurdles also produced a pair of sub-13 performances. This time Cuban Anay Tejeda beat American Danielle Carruthers, 12.90 to 12.97.

In the sprints, new meet records were acheived in the heats. Former relay World champion Darvis Patton won his heat in 10.32 and everybody expected a sub 10.30 in the finals. But colder weather did not allow it, with Patton achieving exactly the same time of 10.32. Banska Bystrica 200m winner Rodney Martin was fourth and lost his shot at the jackpot. The other case was Cuban Roxana Diaz who followed up her 200m win on Sunday with a meet record 11.57 in the heats and an 11.59 victory in the finals. Everyoung Merlene Ottey was second in 11.76.

South African Johan Cronje was another jackpot winner; in Dubnica he achieved in a controlled race a new meet record 1:47.69. Also Russian Andrey Farnosov was able to repeat his win from overnight, this time in the 2000m steeple in 5:36.25. The quarter milers could not cope with the cold weather, with Mitch Potter unable to repeat his win, defeated by Ato Modibo and Jamal Ashley.

21.61 for Cantwell

Another great result was achieved by world leader Christian Cantwell from USA in the Shot Put, who with his third throw of 21.61 set a new meet record with the second best throw ever in Slovakia. He repeated his win from Banska Bystrica and was also a jackpot holder.

"I had a great warm-up and felt I can do better than in Banska Bystrica," he said. "Now I want to at World Athletics Final."

Local crowds cheered for javelin thrower Marian Bokor who was also able to win twice but also used the situation as in this event some late withdrawals occured. This time the win was worth 78.96m. In jumping events Czech Svatoslav Ton excelled in the High Jump as he went over 2.26 on his second attempt. He then tried twice at 2.32 and once at 2.34.

"It was not for the spectators, but I really felt in great shape," he said aftwards. The favourite Andrey Teryoshin from Russia had a bad day, failing to clear 2.24 after his 2.31 jump on Sunday. Triple jump favourite Marian Oprea from Romania won with a very respectable 17.21m leap, but could not get the jackpot because he lost on Sunday to Randy Lewis from Grenada. The Caribbean jumper was second with a 17.12 best. Displaying good depth, Viktor Yastrebov from Ukraine finished fifth with a 16.91 jump. The Women's Pole Vault brought a pair of nice jumps at 4.36 by Russian Yulia Golubchikova and Czech Katerina Badurova. Unfortunately no one was able to achieve new meet record of 4.46.

In total the meets brought 10 Athletics Bridge records in Banska Bystrica and 7 in Dubnica.