HOWARD
FOR MORAVIA TOUR

HUSTOPECE
(CZE): Besides Ivan Ukhov another top star jumper announced for 8th Moravia
High Jump Tour (Jan 28 in Hustopece and Jan 30 in Trinec) will be US record
holder Chaunte Howard Lowe. She is returning after giving birth to her second
child earlier this year. First daughter Jasmine was born in 2007 and this year
the second one Aurora in April. She also tried after minimum of training at US
nationals to qualify for Daegu but managed 178 cm. Now should be back in good
training and planning for full indoor season. She is defending a bronze
from Doha 2010.

NAZAROVA
BACK AFTER INJURY

MOSCOW
(RUS): Double relay olympic medalist Natalya Nazarova plans to compete at her
third Games in London. The 32 years old World Indoor Champion 2003 and 2004 is
also reigning European 4×400 m champion from Barcelona. Because of an injury in
May she missed the most of the 2011, but is now is healthy and plans for indoor
2012. She hopes to qualify for World Indoor Championships in Istanbul. Nazarova
also admits that the fight for the three olympic places will be tough. „I see
Kapachinskaya, Krivoshapka and Firova as top 3 names, but also younger ones
Zadorina and Topilskaya. In the the olympic season the results level is always
very high. But I hope that despite my age of 32 I could be a useful
part of the relay team,” said Nazarova.

BUBKA
IN BULGARIA

SOFIA
(BUL): First Balkan Athletics Gala evening will be held on Thursday in Pravets.
Special guest will be IAAF Vice President Sergey Bubka. He will be also
welcomed by NOC president high jump world record holder Stefka Kostadinova. On
thursday Bubka will also have the possibility to meet with prime minister of
Bulgaria Boyko Borisov.

DEVYATOVSKI
PLANS FOR THE GAMES

MINSK
(BLR): Olympic hammer medalist from Beijing Vadim Devyatovski plans to return
in 2012 and qualify for London Games at age of 34. „Im in good training, but it
is not like when I was 20. Now Im 34 and need to pay attention to my body.
On the other hand it will be tough with Shayunov, Krivitskiy, Svyatokha and
also my rival Ivan Tikhon is back in training as far I know,” said
Devyatovski for Belarus media. Despite his law graduation he also thinks about
Rio Games 2016 and then to end his career. He is World 2005 silver winner and
European 2006 bronze winner. His last meet was the olympic final in Beijing
2008 and after an positive doping test he won at the end of the day the fight
to clear his name.

OTHER NEWS

MONTE
CARLO (MON): IAAF recently agreed for changes in the IAAF / VTB Bank
Continental Cup for the 2014 edition which will be staged in Marrakesh,
Morocco. In the distance races 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and 3000mSC only two
athletes from each team shall participate as in 2010 edition three were
allowed. And in the 3000 m and 5000 m no athlete shall be allowed to double in
these two events. Otherwise the new format with continental teams which started
in 2010 in Split will continue.

BEIJING
(CHN): Chinese Athletics Association (CAA) president Duan Shijie said here on
Tuesday that he will be satisfied if star hurdler Liu Xiang wins a medal
of any color at the London Olympic Games. Informs Xinhua. Duan was re-elected
as the CAA chief on Tuesday. Although elected as commissary of CAA at the
Congress, Liu did not show up in the meeting room. According to Feng Shuyong,
head coach of the Chinese track and field team, Liu is still enjoying his two-week
long training camp in USA and will return to Shanghai on Wednesday for further
specialized training.

TRIPOLIS
(LBA): Libyan athletes, including 2010 400m African champion Mohamed Khawaja,
are back to training as the situation in the country gets better. Khawaja
clocked 44.98 in 2010 to win the gold in Nairobi at African Championships. In
this year he was out at African Games with 48.66 in Maputo after not having
enough training. From African Athletics facebook.

MELBOURNE
(AUS): Australian news agency informs that world and olympic gold medalist in
pole vault Steve Hooker is making secret, ground-breaking changes in a bid
to return to the top of the pole vaulting world. Hooker needs to be fully
healthy as his left knee could again cause problems at any moment. „I have got
a good idea of what I want to do in terms of a technical model,”
Hooker was quoted.

HOFU
(JPN): Brett Larners informs on his blog that the organziers of the 2011 Hofu
Yomiuri Marathon (December 18), the last elite marathon of the year, announced
the lineup of this year’s invited athlete field. One of the most competitive
editions in Hofu history, the field includes 2010 Asian Games marathon gold
medalist Youngjun Ji from South Korea, Tokyo Marathon hero Yuki Kawauchi,
defending champion Serod Batochir of Mongolia and Fukuoka University ace Takuro
Nakanishi among others.

NEUBRANDENBURG
(GER): World silver winner in women pole vault Martina Strutz is changing
clubs. She goes from small ESV Hagenow to a big club SC Neubrandenburg. She
signed a one year contract.

DRESDEN
(GER): 2009 World medalist Raul Spank confirmed his participation at Dresden
jumping meet on January 27. In his home city he will be the main favorite for
the men´s high jump. His main rival should be Russian 2006 World indoor
medalist Andrey Tereshin. In second event of the evening, women pole vault
Czech Daegu 7th placer Jirina Ptacnikova will face among others from home elite
for example Julia Hutter.

ROESELARE
(BEL): Former World CC champion and European record holder Mohammed Mourhit
from Belgium competed after 5 years again. He was on Sunday 33rd at the Lotto
CrossCup event in Roeselare. He was banned in 2002 and is currently training
with 160 to 180 km per week.

BOTTROP
(GER): The organisers of Bottrop meeting (German Meetings member) will stage on
July 6-7 next year also events for disabled athletes and will count as
qualifiying events for Paralympic Games in London. The dates are during the
closing of the selection process for the Games also for able bodied athletes.

LONDON
(GBR): British media are informing that UK Athletics has been left to search
for a new grassroots sponsor following the decision of McCain not to renew
its five-year deal when it expires in 2013. The company sponsors the cross
country UK Challenge Series. McCain’s decision will add to the uncertainty over
the sport’s financial future since UK Athletics’ main sponsorship deal with
Aviva is due to expire at the end of 2012. Talks about renewing the deal are in
progress, though UK Athletics is optimistic that its successful bid for the
2017 World Championships will make the sport an attractive proposition. Writes
The Telegraph.

VELENJE TEAMS

GERMANY:
16 male and 15 female runners will represent Germany. That means teams for all
6 races. In the senior team the leader is steeple world participant Steffen
Uliczka and in the women team marathon runners Sabrina Mockenhaupt with Susanne
Hahn. Also the other two runners in women team Simret Restle and Verena Dreier
are of top level. European steeple junior record holder Gesa Felicitas Krause
is the top name for junior girls team. In the women U23 team sisters Anna and
Lisa Hahner, also brothers in junior team Bastian and Martin Grau and in
brother Stig Rehberg with sister Maya Rehberg in junior teams.

SWITZERLAND:
8 athletes will represent Slovenia. The only senior will be Rolf Rufenacht, in
the U23 races Christoph Ryffel, Adrian Lehmann and Fabienne Schlumpf. The only
junior girl will be Prisa Auf der Maur and three junior boys Adriano
Engelhardt, Fabian Jucker and Yannick Jäger.

SPAIN:
Spain will send full teams for all six races. The country picked up six medals
over the border in Albufeira, Portugal, 12 months ago and a similar haul
is distinctly possible. In the men team 2010 silver medallist Ayad Lamdassem
along with Javier Guerra, Youssef Aakaou, David Solis, Ricardo Serrano and
Alvaro Lozano. On paper, the Spanish men’s under 23 team looks like it could do
better than the bronze medals they won in Albufeira and is able to boast of
2010 junior men’s winner Abdelaziz Merzougui as well as the 2011 European
Athletics U23 Championships 3000m steeplechase winner Sebastián Martos Sadly,
Spain’s junior men’s team is without double European junior champion Gabriel
Navarro, who contracted pericarditis in October and has been unable to compete
this winter, but they could still be in medal contention. Among the Spanish
women, the big hope is Cristina Jordán in the under 23 race, who is hoping to
add to her medal collection after finishing second last year. With the help
from European Athletics.

FRANCE:
Also France is sending all teams, together 36 athletes. Senior women team has
Sophe Duarte as the leader. The European U23 champion at 1500 m Florian
Carvalho leads the U23 team. In the men´s team Abdellatif Meftah with Morhad
Amdouni and Mokhtar Benhari with Denis Mayaud can attack top positions.

RESULTS

PERTH
(AUS, Nov 23): At local meet 400 m 2009 world relay medalist Ben Offereins improved
his 800 m best to 1:52.00.

SYDNEY
(AUS, Nov 27): Dani Samuels, the 2009 discus world champion again tested her
early shape with 58.40 win.

SAD NEWS

SYDNEY
(AUS): Maxine (Johnson) Corcoran passed away on Tuesday from a brain tumor
after a short but brave battle. Maxine represented Australia at the 1978
Edmonton Commonwealth Games where she finished 8th in the 400m in 54.46 and was
a member of the silver medal 4x400m relay team. She also competed in the
1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games where she was a semi-finalist in the 400m
in 53.29. Maxine became a successful coach with her most recent athlete
Kelly Hetherington a semi-finalist at the recent World University Games.
She leaves behind husband Danny (former CEO of Athletics Australia) and
children Nick, Daniel and Bridget. Informs Paul Jenes.