Geoffrey Mutai: No on Daegu, by Alfons Juck, note by Larry Eder

ISI NEWS
VOLGOGRAD
(RUS): Double olympic winner Yelena Isinbayeva is back as member of
Dinamo Club in Russia. “Everything is ok in training, we are working
hard with coach Trofimov. We are still using indoor facilities in
Volgograd, but plan to change to outdoors early May,” said Isinbayeva.
Her first meet of the summer season is not known yet, but it might be as
late as July. She also confirmed that her parents are happy that she is
back in the town. Isinbayeva also met with fresh mother Tatyana
Lebedeva and already saw her daughter Aleksandra. Rusathletics.com
informs.

HELLEBAUT ADMITS COMEBACK
BRUSSELS
(BEL): Olympic high jump champion Tia Hellebaut might consider making a
comback after giving birth to her second child Saartje. Hellebaut’s
coach and father of her children Wim Vandeven told Belgian media that he
has a plan in place should the high jumper want to return to
competition ahead of the London Olympic Games. Hellebaut joined in with
Vandeven’s training group while on training camp in Valencia and is
happy she already has lost the weight from the pregnancy.

PRAGUE ELITE NAMES
PRAGUE
(CZE): For the Prague International Marathon on May 8 three men with
sub 2:08 and three women with sub 2:30 were announced. Important to
notice is also the debut for Samuel Kosgei the 25 km world record holder
from last year and 59:36 half runner. The top marathon runners are
Ethiopians Yemane Tsegay with 2:06:30, Gudisa Shentema with 2:07:34 and
Kenyan Kenneth Mungara 2:07:58. Kenyan Lydia Cheromei is the top women
who just recently clocked Prague Half-Marathon course record and is
hoping to break the record also in the marathon (2:25:29 Helena Kirop in
2010). Her competition will include Russian Olga Glok, who was the
winner in Prague in 2009 when she ran her PB of 2:28:27. Ethiopian
Yeshimebet Tadesse has 2:27:45. Serena Burla of the US has an amazing
story, as she overcame cancer just one year ago, having undergone
surgery to remove a Synovial Sarcoma in her right leg in February of
2010. She has very quickly and successfully returned to competition with
strong performances, most recently running 1:11 in the half marathon in
January, 2011. Unfortunately for the men’s race, both favourite Kenyan
runners Nicholas Kipruto Koech and Duncan Kibet have withdrawn due to
health reasons. Organizers are saying in a release.

YANGZHOU
(CHN): IAAF reports that the Yangzhou International Half-Marathon will
have Ethiopian favorites on Sunday. RAK winner Deriba Merga and on the
women side 1:07 runner young Mare Dibaba. In the race also Kenyan
Jonathan Maiyo with 59:08 best and Kiplimo Kimutai with 59:44. In women
category to note also Kenyans Joyce Chepkirui and Jacqueline Kiplimo
with Eunice Kales.

TOKYO (JPN):
Japanese record holder at 5000 m and in half-marathon Kayoko Fukushi is
thinking about running marathon again. Fukushi went out with very
ambitious pace in 2008 Osaka Ladies marathon, only to hit the wall very
hard and finished 19th. She is thinking about running a Olympic
qualifying race next year. Fukushi will run 10 000m in Palo Alto on May
1. On the men’s side Kensuke Takezawa will also run 10 000m in Cardinal
Invitational in Palo Alto. On the other note, Asami Tanno, 400m national
record holder, is pregnant and thus will miss this season. The baby is
due in fall, and thus she will resume training next winter and will aim
for the Olympics.

LONDON
(GBR): Jamaican sprinting star Asafa Powell said for BBC the world’s
three fastest men should line up in a race together before August’s
World Championships. But as the things are now, they will not meet
before Daegu. Only clashes of two of them are planned. For example
Powell with Usain Bolt in Rome or two duels Powell with Tyson Gay in
Birmingham and London.

BRUSSELS
(BEL): European bronze triple jump medalist Svetlana Bolshakova
announced to Belgian media she is aiming to win a medal at this year’s
world championships in Daegu. The Belgian athete, who grew up in Russia,
has planned 3 Belgian competitions with a meet in Lokeren on May 26th,
the KBC night on July 16th and the Brussels Diamond League in September.
Her first international meeting will be the IAAF World Challenge
meeting in Rabat on June 5th, after that she might also add the Diamond
League of Paris and London to her schedule.

LAUSANNE
(SUI): New world junior record holder in the javelin Zigimunds Sirmais
confirmed for European Athletics that his main focus for this season is
winning the European junior championships. After that, he might also
compete in the IAAF World Championships in Daegu and he added that he
wants to keep improving on his junior world record, to about 85 meters.
Sirmais has been training for the javelin throw for three years now and
even though he has received a lot of offers from American Universities
the Latvian athlete will stay in his home country to train with his long
time coach Valentina Eiduka. He is also confirmed for men´s javelin at
50th Ostrava Golden Spike Meeting on May 31 where he will meet with
Andreas Thorkildsen, Tero Pitkamäki, Sergey Makarov and Czech elite.

LONDON
(GBR): Olympic 400 m champion Christine Ohuruogu will be ready to
compete at the highest level again after having missed last year’s
European championships and Commonwealth Games. Ohuruogu has been
training in Jamaica under the tutelage of Coach Glen Mills and although
she is still 3 to 4 weeks behind on her training schedule she believes
she will be ready for the Daegu word championships, reports the BBC.

TOKYO (JPN):
Dai Tamesue, bronze medalist in the men’s 400-meter hurdles at the 2001
and 2005 world championships, has returned to competition for the first
time in more than two-and-a-half years in a bid to make the Olympic
Games for the fourth consecutive time. After the Beijing Olympics,
Tamesue experienced pain in both his knees and his Achilles tendons. The
pain got worse in subsequent training sessions. Tamesue was forced to
use a treatment used by golfer Tiger Woods which involved injecting
blood platelets into the affected area. Tamesue has been pain free for
over 3 months now and his immediate goal is the all-Japan championships
in June, which will determine who will represent Japan at this summer’s
world championships in Daegu, South Korea writes asahi.com.

MOSCOW
(RUS): Walking Olympic, World and European winner Olga Kaniskina and
high jump Barcelona gold medalist Aleksandr Shustov were among top
Russian sports personalities 2010 getting the “Silver Doe” award.
Russian sports journalists are voting yearly for 10 best and Kaniskina
with Shustov were only track representatives beeing in this company. The
special awarding ceremony was held in Moscow.

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