by Larry Eder
This year, it seems like Chicherova and Lowe will be doing the battles in London as many of the top women have had injury issues in 2012. Part of the game, perhaps the hardest part, is keeping ones self injury free during the championship seasons.
July 4, 2012
Two world leads and European U23 record
CHEBOKSARY (RUS, Jul 4): Top marks during second day of Russian Championships including two world leading results 2012 and European U23 record in women 800 m. Natalya Antyukh won the 400 m hurdles in top global result 2012 53.40 over Yelena Churakova 54.90. Irina Davydova as European Champion got the wild-card for the Olympic Games. Another world lead for Anna Chicherova in high jump with clearing 203 in first attempt (and trying at 208) over Svetlana Shkolina 201 PB and Irina Gordeyeva 199. Yekaterina Poistogova won the 800 m in European U23 record 1:58.15 (former mark 1:58.26 Mariya Dryakhlova of Russia from 2006) over Eurowinner Yelena Arzhakova 1:58.47. Third Yekaterina Kostetskaya 1:58.83 and fourth Yelena Kofanova 1:59.18 are out as the third spot goes to world champion Mariya Savinova who was not running the final but instead improved her 400 m best in heats to 51.43. Another special situation in women triple jump as double mother Tatyana Lebedeva confirmed she is back with 14.68 winning mark over Viktoriya Valyukevich 14.64 and Veronika Mosina 14.50 PB. Only fourth Olesya Zabara 14.41 and fifth Anna Krylova 14.40 PB. Yevgeniya Kolodko dominated in shot put 20.15 over Anna Avdeyeva 19.00 and Irina Tarasova 18.96. Svetlana Feofanova won the pole vault with 465 ahead of Anastasiya Savchenko 460 as the third spot goes to Yelena Isinbaeva. Superb long jump was won by Yelena Sokolova 706 PB (0.0) ahead of Anna Nazarova 688 (0.0) and Lyudmila Kolchanova 687 (+0.4). Only fourth and fifth with 681 Olga Kucherenko (second best 678) and Darya Klishina (675). World champion Mariya Abakumova won the javelin easily with 64.41 and Yelizaveta Savlinis the 100 m in 11.40 (-0.9) over Natalya Rusakova 11.43 (but 11.32 in semis). Yulia Vasilyeva was the best in the 5000 m in 15:20.41 but despite personal best missed the A-standard of 15.20. Second Yelena Nagovitsina is having the standard (15:23.58) and steeple world record Gulnara Galkina was 9th (15:29.97). Pre-selected is Eurowinner Olga Golovkina. Top times reported from women 400 m semifinals, in third Yulia Gushchina improved to 49.56, in second Tatyana Firova to 49.76 and in the first Antonina Krivoshapka eased up to 50.05 win.
Sidorov 21.51 m
CHEBOKSARY (RUS, Jul 4): In men events to note the third best European result 2012 by shot putter Maksim Sidorov who improved to 21.51 ahead of Ivan Yushkov 20.77. Bogdan Pishchalnikov won the discus with 65.64. Vyacheslav Sakayev was the best in the 400 m hurdles (49.59 life-time best). In absence of Yuriy Borzakovskiy who was Eurochampion pre-selected for the Games the 800 m went to Ivan Nesterov (1:48.05). Mikhail Idrisov was the fastest in the 100 m (10.39, -0.5) and Andrey Safronov won the 5000 m in 13:30.30 PB. Surprise in javelin as the title went to Ilya Korotkov 79.61 over Aleksey Tovarnov 79.11 and Euro medalist Valeriy Iordan 78.63. Dmitriy Tarabin was only fourth (76.48) and Sergey Makarov did not compete in the final. Even bigger sensation in men hammer as list leader Sergey Litvinov had three fouls in the qualification and will not be in the finals.
Top men long jump
MADRID (ESP): The IAAF World Challenge meet of Madrid will have olympic winner Steven Hooker competing in the pole vault. The Saturday event at Mortalaz Stadium will also boost top men long jump with fresh European medalist Luis Felipe Meliz against Australian Mitchell Watt and Britons Greg Rutherford and Chris Tomlinson with South African Godfrey Mokoena. Former world champion Yargelis Savigne from Cuba is the star of women triple jump.
Pistorius selected for London
JOHANNESBURG (RSA): Olympic governing body SASCOC on Wednesday announced the addition of a further 13 athletes to the Team South Africa squad for the 2012 Olympic Games in London – a list which includes also Blade Runner Oscar Pistorius. He was named in the 125-member SA team as part of the 4x400m relay squad and will join Willem de Beer, Ofentse Mogawane and Shaun de Jager and 400m hurdles specialist LJ van Zyl in the mix. He also will be able to run the individual 400 m. Commenting on Twitter the hugely-popular and always-inspirational Oscar said: “Today is really on of the happiest days of my life! Will be in @London2012 for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games!” Of course, Oscar – who has run an ‘A’ standard qualifier in the 400 metres – was also last month included in South Africa’s London 2012 Paralympics team and will defend his 100m, 200m and 400-metres Paralympic titles later on. From track athletes added were Willem Coertzen, Willem de Beer, Shaun de Jager, Lehann Fourie, Anaso Jobodwana, Ofentse Mogawane, Khotso Mokoena, Andre Olivier and Oscar Pistorius.
Moreno 75.59, Rodgers 10.18
REIMS (FRA, Jul 4): French Pro Athle Tour meet was highlighted by 75.59 in hammer from former Cuban world champion Yipsi Moreno. Second Joanna Fiodorow of Poland 72.71. Another Cuban win by Yarisley Silva in the pole vault 460 on count back over Silke Spiegelburg (460) and third UK record holder Holly Bleasdale 455. World medalist Katerina Ibarguen of Colombia was the best in the triple jump 14.58 (0.0) over home Francoise Mbango 14.21 (-0.9). Yuneisy Santiusti won the 800 m (2:00.71) and US Natasha Hastings the 200 m in 23.09 (-1.9). Gelete Burka of Ethiopia was the best in the 5000 m (15:12.35). From men events to note Cuban Orlando Ortega win in the 110 m hurdles in 13.29 (-0.6) over Omo Osaghae 13.55 and Pascal Martinot-Lagarde 13.56. In the 100 m Mike Rodgers posted 10.18 (+0.1) over Kim Collins 10.22 and Richard Thompson 10.26. Caribbean wins for Omar Cisneros of Cuba at 400 m Hurdles (48.93) and Tabarie Henry from US Virgin Islands at 400 m (45.76). Colombian Rafith Rodriguez was the best in the 800 m (1:45.81) and home walking star Yohan Diniz topped the 5000 m event in 18:47.45. Turkish Ercument Olgundeniz won the discus (62.52) and Kenyan Bethwel Birgen the 1500 m in 3:35.24 over Benson Seurei 3:35.40. Best French was Gregory Beugnet in 3:36.64 as fifth.
PARIS DL NEWS
DISCUS: Dani Samuels will make her European competition debut in the women’s discus in Paris against a loaded field that is led by German Nadine Muller who has the world lead of 68.89. Samuels will also face, for the first time this season, Olympic silver medalist Yarelis Barrios, who is one of three athletes in the field with a 68m-throw this season.
800 M: Kenyan media report about David Rudisha attempting in Paris the world record time are not correct. His agent James Templeton confirmed he is in top shape, trying for a fast time but never was thinking to attack the global mark on Friday.
5000 M: Running legend Kenenisa Bekele spearheads a group of Ethiopian runners seeking to nail down berths at this month’s Olympic Games in London in the coming days. The 10 000m trial for men will take place in Liege, Belgium, on Thursday, while the 5 000m qualifying race for men is set to take place at the Diamond League meet in Paris on Friday. “We are ready now, we’ve already had good performances,” Dube Jillo, technical director of the Ethiopian Athletics Federation, told AFP. Reigning Olympic 5000-10 000m champion Bekele will run in Paris, and Dube said that despite suffering from an injury for the last two years, the runner was confident of performing well in the French capital. World champion Ibrahim Jeilan, who will be racing the 10 000m in Liege on Thursday, said he has high hopes for his teammates, both at this week’s qualifying races and at the Olympic Games, with so many up-and-coming athletes taking part.
OTHER NEWS
MELBOURNE (AUS): Athletics Australia launched iCoach, a complete directory of Australia’s accredited athletics coaches that allows newcomers to the sport to find a suitable coach in their event and region.
Detailing all those coaches who boast qualifications as part of the National Coach Accreditation Scheme (NCAS), the system also allows coaches to update theirindividual profiles as a means of
selling their skills.
MONACO (MON): The IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona, which will take place from 10 to 15 July 2012 are on course to become the biggest gathering in terms of participating national IAAF Member Federations in the history of the championships. With the deadline for the Final Entries now closed, no fewer than 180 IAAF National Member Federations have confirmed their participation in these Championships; the most attended edition was Beijing 2006 where 176 countries gathered in the Chinese capital, followed by Annecy 1998 with 170 countries. With a total of 1742 athletes entered (964 men and 778 women), the record of participating men and women is also on course to be broken as the previously most attended Championships in terms of athletes was Bydgoszcz 2008 with 1413. Informs IAAF.
AMSTERDAM (NED) : The European championships of 2016 to be organized in Amsterdam will be 1,5 million euro more expensive than previously expected as some government funding appears to be smaller than expected according to De Telegraaf.
BRUSSELS (BEL): Belgium’s middle distance hope Jeroen D’Hoedt is prematurely ending his season. D’Hoedt had a very strong build up towards the season but has not been feeling well in the last weeks. After missing out on the Olympic 1500m standard he is now ending the season he reports on his website.
LONDON (GBR): Paula Radcliffe is travelling to see a sport injuries specialist in Germany after suffering problems in her left foot in the runup to the London Olympics. The injury is making training painful for the marathon runner reports The Guardian. Painkilling injections have failed to mask the problem and Radcliffe told the BBC she is in “a bit of a panic”.
LONDON (GBR): Jemma Simpson has encouraged all the British 800m runners who were overlooked for selection for London 2012 to appeal. Simpson, along with Marilyn Okoro and Jenny Meadows, was overlooked for selection, with Olympic trials winner Lynsey Sharp the only runner picked. “I think there is grounds for all four girls that haven’t been picked for the team to appeal,” she told the BBC. Simpson, Meadows and Okoro have run the ‘A’ standard while Sharp has only run the ‘B’ standard. “I’ve sent my letter and I hope everyone else does too,” Simpson added
LONDON (GBR): The United States look almost certain to launch a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympics after a move to try to host the 2022 Winter Games was definitively ruled out reports Insidethegames. The decision was taken by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Board of Directors. An American bid for the Games became imminent in May this year when the USOC finally reached an agreement with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over their high-profile revenue-sharing dispute.
BUDAPEST (HUN): The 20 member Hungarian squad for the London games was approved by the Hungarian Olympic Association. Leader of the team is European hammer champion Krisztian Pars. Other 11 men are 400 m: Marcell Deak Nagy, 800 m: Tamas Kazi, steeple: Albert Minczer, 110mH: Daniel Kiss, Balazs Baji, mar: Tamas Kovacs, DT: Zoltan Kovago, Robert Fazekas, SP: Lajos Kurthy, dec: Attila Szabo, 20 kmw: Mate Helebrandt. Women are in total 8 – mar: Aniko Kalovics, Beata Rakonczai, Zsofia Erdelyi, SP: Anita Marton, HT: Eva Orban, JT: Vanda Juhasz, hep: Gyorgyi Farkas, 20 kmw: Viktoria Madarasz.
SOFIA (BUL): Bulgaria is sending team of 5 athletes to World Junior Championships. Four boys (Mitko Tsenov for steeple, Zlatko Lefterov for 110 m hurdles, Georgi Tsonov for triple and Aykhan Apti for hammer) and one girl is sprinter Karin Okoliye.
RESULTS
ALMATY (KZK, Jul 1): Apart of the Asian All-Stars results also other events as part of Kosanov Memorial were held. Here Iranian Reza Ghasemi clocked national 200 m record 20.84 (-2.3) and another Iranian Rouhollah Ashgari another national record 13.50 (+0.1) in the 110 m hurdles. Konstantin Safronov leaped to 800 (+0.2) in the long jump and Yevgenit Ektov to 17.22 (-0.3) in the triple jump. Marestella Torres from Philipines achieved 662 (+0.3) in women long jump. In the women 200 m Anastasiya Tulapina won with 23.38 (+0.6) ahead of Maryam Toosi who improved her own Iran national record to 23.46.
KITAMI (JPN, Jul 4): At Hokuren Distance Challenge meet Ai Igarashi won the women 3000 m in 9:07.21 and Eina Yokozawa 15:37.27 in the 5000 m.
BUDAPEST (HUN, Jul 3): Attila Szabo scored 8003 decathlon at an open event at Iharos Stadium and qualifed in last minute for London Games.
BRNO (CZE, Jul 4): Last chance jumping meet in Brno saw Czech long jumpers qualifiying for London. Stepan Wagner leaped to 826 (+2.5) but also legal 821 (+1.9) personal best to win the competition. Second Roman Novotny also bettered his PB to legal 822 (+1.3). In women long jump Slovak Jana Veldakova got 665 (0.0) over Czech Jana Koresova 662 (+2.6 and legal 633 0.0).
NOVO MESTO (SLO, Jul 4): Slovenian 800 m record holder Zan Rudolf failed to record olympic qualification of 1:46.30 with 1:47.39 win at the National GP meet. Hungarian Robert Fazekas won the discus with 65.06 and Martina Ratej achieved 60.75 in women javelin. Venezuelan record holder Rosa Rodriguez won the hammer 70.98. Legendary Merlene Ottey clocked 11.93 (0.0) at the 100 m as second.
HANIA (GRE, Jul 4): At the Venizelia meet which was more a local meet good long jumping by Dimitrios Diamantaras 811 (+1.4) over Luis Tsatoumas 798 (+2.0).
ELANCOURT (FRA, Jul 4): Sandra Gomis clocked here 12.89 (+1.8) at 100 m hurdles over Aisseta Diawara 12.97 (but 12.93 +1.3 in heats).
