ISTANBUL  – SESSION 1 (Friday Morning)

QUOTE
OF THE DAY

„For
nine am not bad, I was forced to wake up at six. My throws are coming from
speed which is not there so early,” David Storl after winning the qualification
with his indoor PB 21.43. It is his fourth best overall mark.

RESULT
OF THE DAY

816 in
the long jump by Ashton Eaton, the best ever legal mark during a decathlon/heptathlon.
The best so far indoors 804 Oleksiy Kasyanov in 2010 and outdoor windy 822 of
Erkki Nool (+3.0) in 1996 and legal 811 by Roman Sebrle in his world record
decathlon in 2011.

SURPRISE
OF THE DAY

Low
shape of world leader Yekaterina Bolshova in the pentathlon (her this years
mark and Istanbul: 8.41 and 8.62 hurdles, 192 and 187 high jump and 13.79 and
12.07 in the shot put.

FAVORITE
FALLS

World
leader Malika Akkaoui out from 800 m semifinals.Main failures in women hj
qualification are Russian Irina Gordeyeva and Sweden´s Emma Green Tregaro. Also
former European medalist Venelina Veneva no-heighted at 183. World medalist
from Daegu Dylan Armstrong out in the shot put qualification. Olympic medalist
Ahmed Ismail of Sudan out in 800 m heats. Second Kenyan Birgen out from 1500 m
heats, also US Rupp and Qatar talent Al-Garni.

SPECTATORS

4000.

OTHERS

Aldama
will be the oldest finalist of women triple jump at World Indoors and could be
also the oldest medalist. Lauro from Argentina 20.43 South American indoor
record the revelation of shot put qualification. Eaton 60 m 6.79 win after
super slow 0.277 start reaction. In the 1500 m finals both Ethiopians, both
Moroccans. Ennis returned in third event with 14.79 PB in the shot put and
after HJ (only 187) is back into any top considerations concerning result and
position.

EUROPEAN
VIEW

In the
1500 m finals only two Spanish Abad and home Ozbilen. In the shot put final 5
Europeans the majority, 2 US and 1 Argentina. Women High jump 6 Europeans, 1
USA and the last one Uzbekistan. Women 3000 m 4 Europeans advanced – Ukraine´s
Tobias and Shmidt with Chojecka of Poland and Clitheroe of Great Britain. Half
of the women 800 m final is European (Rusanova and Kofanova from Russia and
Ukrainian Lupu). In women triple in the finals only 3 Europeans – Aldama,
Krylova and Veldakova (her third final out of three appearances at World
Indoors). 

STATS

WTJ:
14.62 by Yamile Aldama is 4th highest mark in qualifying round (after 14.81 by
Martinez, 14.71 by Lebedeva, 14.63 by Devetzi). It is also best ever in the
category 35+ indoor or outdoor, that means world masters record.

MSP:
21.43 by David Storl is second longest qualifying mark in World Indoor (behind
21.49 by Hoffa in 2008). 21.23 by Hoffa is third longest qualifying mark (it
was the second longest SP in World Indoor for about a minute), 21.17 by
Majewski is the fourth longest qualifying mark in World Indoor.

Women’s Pentathlon

60mH:
7.91 by Ennis is the fastest 60mH clocking during pentathlon ever (7.99 Tiffany
Lott-Hogan in 2004) and at the World Indoors (previous best was 8.04 by Ennis in
2010).

OTHER NEWS

STAWELL
(AUS): Nairobi is a long way from Stawell – more than 11,000km in fact –
but the lure of a slice of 120,000 USD in prize money and a chance to
make history has enticed five world-class Kenyan distance runners to make the
journey to Central Park this Easter. The Kenyan contingent adds to the strong
international flavour at this year’s Australia Post Stawell Gift, which already
boasts two of the fastest men on the planet, in 2003 world 100m champion Kim
Collins and 4x100m relay world record holder Michael Frater. The injection of
top quality African runners will significantly bolster the fields set to
compete in events from 550m to 3200m, including the Retravision Herb Hedemann
mile and Thirsty Camel Grampians 3200m. The talented brigade is headlined by
former world junior 1500m champion Remmy Limo, who will be joined by world
youth 800m bronze medallist Nicholas Kipkoech, and Ismael Kombich who placed
sixth over 1500m at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. Margaret Muriuki
will return to Stawell for the second year in a row, and this year will be
accompanied by former African 800m champion Lydia Wafula. The two women will
also compete in the men’s distance races in an intriguing battle of the sexes.

ROTTERDAM
(NED): Moses Mosop has inspected the course of the ABN AMRO Rotterdam marathon
and hopes to break the world marathon record in Rotterdam on April 15th this
year. Mosop has a personal best of 2:03.06 but the time was not recognised
as a world record because of the downhill course of the Boston marathon
reports The Hardloopkrant.

STENE
(BEL): European cross country champion Atelaw Bekele is the clear favourite to
win this weekend’s Belgian national cross country championships in Stene. It
could be Bekele’s third Belgian cross country title reports Het Nieuwsblad.

LONDON
(GBR): The cup presented to Spyros Louis, the Greek winner of the marathon at
the 1896 Athens Olympics, will go up for auction at Christie’s next month with
an estimated worth of between 190,000 dollar and 250,000 dollar. Bréal’s Silver
Cup, named after the Frenchman who had the idea of staging the marathon at the
first of the modern Games, Michel Bréal, has been offered for sale for the
first time by Louis’ grandson, also named Spyros writes Insidethegames.

JOHANNESBURG
(RSA): The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC)
want to create a national identity around the team for future
international competitions. South Africans will vote for a Team South Africa
mascot for all major international sports events starting with this summer’s
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Regarding the London 2012 mascot,
design agencies were invited to identify and design a mascot to reflect
South Africa’s sporting identity according to Insidethegames.

ISTANBUL
(TUR): British media have attacked the decision of Charles Van Commenee to
appoint, “plastic Brit”Tiffany Porter as team captain. British media criticized
the decision for Porter over current stars such as Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah. At
a press conference in Istanbul Porter was asked to sing the British
national anthem but the athlete refused to sing or speak the words. ‘I choose
the team captain for her leadership skills and her  athletic skills and her credibility, not her
ability to memorise words or her vocal skills,’ Van Commenee told the
Dailymail.

BOSTON
(USA): The Boston Athletic Association, organizer of the Boston Marathon,
announced that a special commemorative book to celebrate its 125th
anniversary will be published in 2012. Titled “B.A.A: 125,” this illustrated
history will be published by Skyhorse Publishing and will feature a preface
by Boston native and sports enthusiast Matt Damon. The book will be written by
John Hanc, a long-time writer for Newsday, a contributing editor to
Runner’s World magazine and author of ten books.