Marathon men fail to shine at Euro Champs

Israel’s four marathon men failed to make any impact in Sunday morning’s Marathon at the 2014 European Athletic Championships.

Berihun Wuve, Zohar Zimro, Yamaharan Yosef and Amir Ramon all lined up in Zurich, though none were able to make any impression on the race.

Yosef fared the best, finishing in 40th position in a time of 2:24.26, two minutes slower than his personal best, while Wuve finished a position behind him in a time of 2:24.39, five minutes slower than his personal best which he recodred earlier this year at the Tiberias Marathon. Last of the 50 runners was Ramon who crossed the line in 2:30.45, though Zimro, who represented Israel at the 2012 London Olympics failed to finish the race. The race was won by Italian Daniele Meucci in a time of 2:11.08.

Sunday afternoon saw Ma’ayan Shahaf finish joint-bottom in the final of the women’s high jump, the three-times Israeli champion easily cleared 1.85m in Friday’s qualifying round to reach the final, but failed at three attempts to clear 1.90m. She said: “All in all I had a satisfying championships, I reached a major final for the first time and I’ll be looking to take another step forward at next year’s World Championships.”