RETURN
FOR LAVILLENIE

DONETSK
(UKR): For 23rd time Pole Vault Stars meet will be held on Saturday in Druzhba
Sports Hall of Donetsk. The EA Indoor permit event under the leadership of IAAF
Vice President Sergey Bubka will again see two top clashes before full house of
spectators despite freezing cold outside. Top names for men competition are all
Daegu medalists Pawel Wojciechowski of Poland, Cuban Lazaro Borges and in his
first competition after surgery French Renaud Lavillenie. The French European
Champion was expected in Ukraine only on Friday as his travel was delayed by
one day due to weather situation in France. Also in the field improved Russian
Dmitriy Starodubtsev and top home jumpers Maksim Mazuryk with Dennis Yurchenko.
Women competition is after long time without superstar Yelena Isinbaeva. Top
favorite is 2009 World Champion Anna Rogowska of Poland, Russian Daegu medalist
Svetlana Feofanova, Cuban sensation Yarisley Silva and in-shape Czech Jirina
Ptacnikova. In the history of the event 11 world records have been set. Current
world leading marks of the season are 590 by Starodubtsev and 488 by US Jenny
Suhr (competes at Millrose Games).

ADAMS
NUMBER ONE IN THE COUNTRY

AUCKLAND
(NZL): World and Olympic shot put champion Valerie Adams collected the
Sportswoman of the year award for the sixth straight time at the annual Halberg
Awards. Informs NZ Athletics. Adams went unbeaten throughout 2011 and she won
the award ahead of K1 200m world canoeing champion Lisa Carrington, world
champion-of-champions bowls singles winner Jo Edwards and triathlete Andrea
Hewitt. In her acceptance speech Adams acknowledged her Swiss coach Jean-Pierre
Egger in French, thanking him for everything. World junior and youth shot put
champion Jacko Gill won the emerging talent award receiving a cheque for
$15,000 from the sponsor of the Awards Westpac. Adams plans to compete for
second time this season in Hamilton on Saturday.

BOLT
AND BLAKE AT 400 M

WEEKEND:
Big athletics weekend starts on Friday in Dusseldorf, in Europe continues with
Donetsk pole vault on Saturday and will climax with Karlsruhe on Sunday. US top
indoor Saturday features Millrose Games at Armory and Tyson Invitational in
Fayetteville. Jamaican sprinting stars Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake will run the
400 m on Saturday in Kingston as part of their preparation. UK Indoor Trials is
another indoor highlights. Perth in Australia and Hamilton in New Zealand are
top events Down Under on Saturday. Interesting to see international indoor
match Norway-Sweden-Finland in Steinkjer.

OTHER NEWS

MINSK
(BLR): Double olympic medalist from Atlanta and Sydney in heptathlon Natalya
Sazanovich gave birth to a son. With her husband Oleg they already have a daughter
Yuliya.

LONDON
(GBR): UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner has been appointed as head of the
Organising Committee for the 2017 International Association of Athletics
Federations Championships (IAAF) World Championshps in London by the Department
of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Mayor of London’s office. Warner,
alongside London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe played a major role in
helping the city secure the World Championships when the Britain held off Doha
in Qatar by 16 votes to 10 at the IAAF Council meeting in Monte Carlo last
November.

LONDON
(GBR): Mike MFcarlane one of the country’s most successful and respected
coaches will link up with fellow Londoner Lloyd Cowan in preparing the British
women’s 4×100 meters relay team fo this year’s competitions. McFarlane’s
appointment as assistant relay coach will see him help towards guiding the
women in a challenging year which includes what will be a rather low
key European Championships followed by the London Olympic Games.

DIEKIRCH
(LUX): Morocco’s defending champion Elabassi El Hassan will be back for the ING
Eurocross in Diekirch, Luxemburg, on Sunday, the ninth IAAF Cross Country
Permit meeting of the season. In 2011 the three Moroccan runners dominated the
Eurocross more or less from the start. Two of those three will compete again on
the 10.2km course, which is more challenging due to the very cold weather. On
women´s 5.35km course Alemensch Belete’s toughest rival could be fellow
countrywoman Etenesh Diro. While Morocco’s Fatiha Benchatki features a strong
10km personal best of 31:25, a European challenge could come from Susanne
Hahn of Germany who has done very well in a number of international Cross
Country races in recent years. Informs IAAF.

MADRID
(ESP): The Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA) has issued a statement
that „publicly displays its indignation and rejection of the videos broadcast
by Canal + France” which satirizes the successes of the Spanish athletes and
announced that it prepares a legal action against Canal+.

LIEVIN
(FRA): European Champion Christophe Lemaitre will have a strong rival at
the 60 m in his season opener in Lievin next Tuesday. It will be Jamaican relay
world champion and world record holder Michael Frater, his 60 m best is 6.64.
Another top addition for Lievin is world leader Lolo Jones at 60 m hurdles.

KAZAN
(RUS): Steeple world champion Yulia Zaripova confirmed her aim to win at
Olympic Games in London. „My main rival will be myself. I know Africans
are always very strong, Dominguez will be back and also my team-mate Galkina,
but as said it is about me,” said Zaripova. She is in full preparation for
summer season. Currently training camp goes on in Kazan, in March another camp
is planned for Kirgizstan.

ATHENS
(GRE): Bad luck continues for world medalist and top Cyprean athlete high
jumper Kyriakos Ioannou. He will miss the indoor season. He underwent surgery
on the groin on the Christmas Eve in Germany. But when starting with training
and jumping he felt again discomfort. In a month he will so undergo a second
surgery.

RABAT
(MAR): During a visit in Morocco on Thursday, former Olympic champion and
London 2012 Olympic chairman Lord Sebastian Coe declared that he hopes to see
an African country host the IAAF World Championships and the Olympic Games in
the near future. Informs African Athletics facebook.

TOKYO
(JPN): Brett Larner informs on his blog that having pulled out of last month’s
Osaka International Women’s Marathon Olympic selection race with inflammation
of the back of her left thigh, Mizuki Noguchi left Kansai Airport on Thursday
for altitude training in Kunming, China ahead of her new target, the Mar. 11
Nagoya Women’s Marathon. Noguchi has resumed interval workouts and is on the
way to be ready again for a single, focused attack. „I want to concentrate
completely on pulling everything together,” she said.

PRAGUE
(CZE): Czech Indoor Combined Events Championships in the Stromovka Hall of
Prague this weekend will have another version of generations duel. All-time
hero Roman Sebrle will go for his second heptathlon of the season against young
and currently better Adam Sebastian Helcelet. Their aim is the current third
best qualifiying mark for World Indoor Championships in Istanbul based on 2012
season (6237 Kasyanova, 6205 Kravchenko, 6071 Lukyanenko). Sebrle is a title
defender, he scored last year 6117 at National Indoor Championships and started
his way to Paris European Indoor bronze. Sebrle so far completed indoors 29
heptathlons. This weekend could be his jubilee 30th.