Another Croatian Olympian heading for Rio.
Another Croatian athlete has managed to qualify for the Olympics Games which will be held this summer in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The latest Croatian Olympian is shot putter Filip Mihaljević, who will travel to Brazil thanks to the result which he achieved at an athletics meeting held in Lexington in the US state of Kentucky. Mihaljević’s result of 20.69 metres was enough for him to achieve the standard set by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), reports Dalmacija News on January 24, 2016.
Mihaljević was born in 1994 in Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was naturally delighted with the success he has achieved in the United States, where he is currently enrolled at the University of Virginia. His coach is a former Olympian and discus thrower Martin Marić.
Just like his coach, Mihaljević was for a while a member of the Split Athletics Club. Marić then invited him to join his team in Virginia where Mihaljević has made great improvement in his results. Last year he became the European Under-23 champion, and now only six months later he has qualified for his first Olympic Games. For a young man who is only 21 years old, this is a great success. If he continues to improve and work hard, he could have a great career in the world of athletics. In addition to shot put, Mihaljević also competes in discus throw.
Following the success of Mihaljević, Croatia will have two shot putters in Rio, since Stipe Žunić from Zadar recently also achieved the qualifying standard. He also spent some of his career in the United States, but recently he has been training with the Split Athletics Club at the Park Mladeži training field in Split.
