Sophie Hitchon finished inside the top ten on her first international appearance of 2013 as seven Brits travelled to Castellon for the 13th edition of the European Cup Winter Throwing.
The 21-year-old hammer thrower, who reached the Olympic final in London last summer with a British record of 71.98m before finishing 12th, ranked tenth in Spain with a best of 66.69m.
Hitchon produced the distance with her final throw in Castellon with Zalina Marghieva of Moldova taking victory after a throw of 71.98m with her very first attempt.
Meanwhile fellow Brit Rachel Wallader placed 12th in the shot put with a distance of 15.20m with Olympic and recent European indoor silver medallist Yevgeniya Kolodko the winner with 19.04m.
Mark Dry won the B competition of the men’s hammer with a season’s best of 73.22m while British teammate Alex Smith, who beat him to a place at the London 2012 Olympics, was third with 68.34m.
Sarah Holt also placed third in the B competition of the women’s hammer after a best throw of 65.82m while Sophie McKinna was second in the under-23 shot put event.
McKinna recorded a best throw of 16.09m as Emel Dereli of Turkey took victory with 16.78m while Joe Dunderdale placed sixth in the under-23 javelin event with a season’s best of 73.02m.
© Sportsbeat 2013