BEITIA ONE MORE YEAR

MADRID (ESP): Marca informed that European high jump champion Ruth Beitia may carry on competing for one more year after previously announcing that she may end her career after 2012.

KEY AUSTRALIAN DATES

SYDNEY (AUS): Athletics Australia published its calendar of main events for the coming domestic season. The Zatopek 10 meet will be held as usual in December already (Dec 8) and the main one day meeting later. It will start with Hunter Classic in Newcastle (Feb 2) and Adelaide Classic on February 16 with Briggs Classic on February 23. In March Sydney Track Classic will be held (9) with Perth on March 16 and Brisbane on March 23. The IAAF World Challenge meet will be held one month later than usual on April 6 in Melbourne and National Championships serving also as World Championships Trials on April 11-14 in Sydney.

LAVILLENIE SWITCHES COACHES

CLERMONT-FERRAND (FRA): Olympic pole vault winner Renaud Lavillenie of France has dropped coach Damien Inocencio to work with former international pole vaulter Philippe D’Encausse.

SANYA AFTER TOE SURGERY

WACO (USA): Four-time Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross is recovering from toe surgery. Richards-Ross posted on her Twitter page Wednesday that she had surgery Tuesday to alleviate pain in her right big toe. She says the severe pain has „progressively gotten worse every season.” She adds that she should have had the procedure done years ago but „kept waiting until after the Olympics.” She expects to be running without pain soon.

AJUNWA WITH TRIPLETS

LAGOS (NGR): Nigerian media are informing that in a bid to dispel the controversies surrounding the birth of her triplets, 1996 Olympic long jump winner Chioma Ajunwa has made public a photo of her and her babies – to put the doubters at ease. It would be recalled that after waiting for so many years for the fruit of the womb, Chioma eventually got pregnant and put to bed on September 3, 2012 at the age of 41. But no sooner had the euphoria died down than the news began to go round that she did not put to bed the babies but rather, adopted them. The proud mother recently revealed that she wants her triplets to participate in sports.

KEMBOI CASE POSTPONED

NAIROBI (KEN): A court case against two-time Olympic steeple champion Ezekiel Kemboi has been postponed for a month to give the prosecutor’s office time to go over the file. „There is no objection to the director of public prosecution being given more time to make a decision on the file,” magistrate Francis Kyambia told the court. Thirty-year-old Kemboi, who is also a serving police officer, is facing charges of having assaulted and caused bodily harm to Anne Njeri, a woman with whom he had been having drinks in late June in his hometown of Eldoret, some 300 kilometers west of the Kenyan capital. The athlete was bailed in time to participate in the London Olympics where he won the gold medal.

16-YEARS OLD 804 IN THE LONG JUMP

KUNSHAN (CHN, Sep 22-25): At the Chinese National Championships discus world champion Li Yanfeng lost with 61.20 to London qualifier Tan Jian 62.83. Asian record holder Zhang Wenxiu got 74.94 in hammer and Gong Lijiao 19.87 in the shot put to confirm Chinese strength in women throws. Zheng Xingjuan and Wang Yang (PB) cleared 192 in the high jump. Wu Shujiao clocked 12.98 (+1.0) at 100 m hurdles and Zhao Jing personal best 2:01.46 at 800 m. In men events fast hurdles for Xie Wenjun 13.36 (+2.0). Solid sprints for Su Bingtian 10.21 (+1.4) and junior Xie Zhenye 20.77 (+1.1) at the 200 m. In jumps Zhang Guowei equaled his best with 231 in the high jump, Yang Yangsheng went over 570 in the pole vault and only 16 years old Wang Jianan leaped to 804 (-0.2) in the long jump. Throwing personal bests for Wang Guangfu in shot put (20.20) and Zhao Qinggang in javelin (81.74).

OTHER NEWS

PARIS (FRA): Asics will be new clothing partner of French national teams from 2013 for next four years. For last 40 years FFA cooperated with adidas. Asics supports currently 8 other national athletics federations.

OAK BROOK (USA): In the postal and email election of statisticians organization ATFS the three standing officers (President Paul Jenes, Vice-President A. Lennart Julin, Treasurer Tom Casacky) were confirmed. Michael McLaughlin (AUS/USA) is the new ATFS Secretary. Four members of the Executive Committee were re-elected: Peter Matthews (GBR), Yves Pinaud (FRA), Bernard Linley (TRI/SUI) and Nejat Kok (TUR). There are four new members of the Executive Committee: Giuseppe Mappa (ITA), Eduardo Biscayart (USA), Yoshimasa Noguchi (JPN), and Riel Hauman (RSA).

MELBOURNE (AUS): For the past 12 months Athletics Australia (AA) has been working on a Strategic Plan for 2013-2016 along with its Member Associations and the Australian Sports Commission (ASC). The High Performance component of the plan culminated with a review, earlier this month, of the last Olympic cycle with stakeholders including representation of coaches and athletes. As part of the new strategic plan the board approved the 2013 IAAF World Championships and 2014 Commonwealth Games selection policies to include both A and B qualification standards, as was the case with the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin at the beginning of the previous Olympic cycle. Also, a new High Performance Management structure was approved by the AA board establishing a High Performance Advisory Committee which will be made up of CEO Dallas O’Brien, the AA High Performance Director, AA Head Coach, AA Board member and the AA Paralympic High Performance Manager Andrew Faichney. Eric Hollingsworth will fill the Head Coach position and he will be tasked with the daily management of national team activities, HP coaches, evaluation of athlete performances and the delivery of performance programs. Informs Athletics Australia.

MINSK (BLR): From Belarus athletics weddings have been reported. Quarter miler Anna Tashpulatova married soldier from border control Dmitriy Reysheliy. Hurdler Yekaterina Poplavskaya married athletics coach Vladimir Kozlov and middle distance runner Darya Borisevich with walker Dmitriy Dyubin.

KOBLENZ (GER): Olympic heptathlon medalist Lilli Schwarzkopf is not thinking after her achilles surgery about next year World Championships. She may need one year to come back to full training.

BUDAPEST (HUN): This years European CC Championships in Budapest (Szentendre) on December 9 is having big interest from the runners. In total 599 athletes from 32 countries are entered. The current participation record is 468 runners from the editions in 2006, 2008 and 2010. Countries record is 34 from 2010.

NEW YORK (USA): The Track and Field Athletes Association (TFAA) announced the expansion of the organization to include member athletes from beyond the United States. It is now an international association representing the collective interests of professional track and field athletes worldwide. According to TFAA President, the 800 m runner Khadevis Robinson, “We recognized that the challenges faced by track and field athletes are not limited to Team USA. In order to grow our sport, we must establish a unified voice across the international community of athletes.” As part of our announcement, the TFAA welcomed for example Jamaican sprinting stars Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, Kim Collins, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, British high jumper Robbie Grabarz, Qatari Mutaz Barshim, Churandy Martina, David Rudisha, Felix Sanchez, Priscillla Lopes-Schliep among others.

SYDNEY (AUS): Examiner.com informs that sprinting star Usain Bolt was at Marquee Sydney over the weekend. First he sat in main room where legendary DJ Paul Oakenfold was spinning and then moved to the Boom Box where he danced with his mates to hip hop and was seen wearing his sunglasses backwards. Also at Marquee Sydney this weekend were rockers Benji and Joel Madden.

CHARLOTTESVILLE (USA): Two-time Croatian discus olympian Martin Maric has been named an assistant track and field coach, Virginia’s director of track and field/cross country Bryan Fetzer announced. Maric will work primarily as the Cavaliers’ throws coach. Maric competed in the discus at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 Games in London for his home country of Croatia. He finished 29th in 2008 before placing 17th this past summer. He also represented Croatia at the 2011 World Championships in Dague, South Korea, and at the 2007 and 2009 World University Games.

GLASGOW (GBR): Stephen Maguire, the newly appointed director of coaching for scottishathletics, has raised the bar ahead of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. The 49-year-old Irishman, who took up his post last week – after personally coaching fellow countryman Jason Smyth to a defence of his T13 100 and 200 meters titles at the London 2012 Paralympics – is targeting more than two medals at the home Games, which would surpass the total earned by Scottish athletes at Melbourne in 2006 and New Delhi in 2010.

EDINBURGH (GBR): Blade Runner Oscar Pistorius will join a world
-class field of golf professionals, including the winners of ten majors, for the prestigious Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland this week. The South African, who won three medals at the London 2012 Paralympics, including two gold, will join a pro-am field that also includes Michael Phelps, the most successful athlete in the history of the Olympics with a total of 22 medals, 18 of them gold.

LONDON (GBR): A number of competitors at the recent 2012 Olympic Games in London missed appointments for blood tests without incurring sanctions, it has emerged. Writes insidethegames. The disclosure comes in the Independent Observer (IO) report on the anti-doping programme at the London 2012 Games that was published this week by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The nine-strong IO team monitored all aspects of the anti-doping programme in London, assessing its effectiveness and tabling recommendations for improvements. The problem came with blood tests relating to the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), a process used by some sports to monitor changes in the blood profiles of individual athletes over time.

TRACK RESULTS

SARAJEVO (BIH, Sep 21): Croatia junior boys and Hungary junior girls were the top countries at the 13th International Junior Meeting of Friendship in Sarajevo. Best individual results from home shot putter Mesud Pezer 19.26 and Hungarian 400 m runner Blanka Keri 55.21.

PUNE (IND, Sep 22): Kumaravel Premkumar leapt to 794 long jump national junior record during the opening day of 24th National Inter-Zone junior athletics championships.

SAO PAULO (BRA, Sep 22-23): Top results at South American U23 Championships were 20.51 (+1.2) at 200 m by Aldemir Gomes da Silva, the 45.52 at 400 m by another Brazilian Pedro Burrman 45.52 and Argentinian Braian Toledo 78.49 in javelin. On the women side solid heptathlon 5899 points for Vanessa Spinola also from Brazil.

FREDONIA (USA, Sep 22): Olympic winner Jenn Suhr cleared 483 at an exhibition meet. It is world leading mark outdoor 2012.

FUKUOKA (JPN, Sep 22-23): Best results at Japanese Corporate Teams Championships were 20.59 in the 200 m by Kei Takase (-0.4), Kenyan Bidan Karoki clocked 13:21.02 in the 5000 m, Paul Tanui won the 10 000 m in fast 27:30.22 ahead of Edward Waweru 27:40.25 and Patrick Mwaka 27:41.39. Best Japanese Chihiro Miyawaki was fourth 27:41.57. Mahau Sugimachi of Brazil won the 400 m hurdles in 49.24. Fast 10 000 m walk 39:51.34 from Yusuke Suzuki. On the women side Selly Chepyego got 15:32.37 in the 5000 m ahead of Misaki Onishi 15:32.88. She got even higher quality 31:33.76 in the 10 000 m. Here second Yuriko Kobayashi 31:51.91 and third Kayoko Fukushi 31:52.54.

YOKOHAMA (JPN, Sep 23): At Nittai University Distance Meet Kenyan Patrick Mutunga won the 5000 m in 13:24:45. Mary Waithera won the women 5000 m in 15:22.82. She comes from Sendai Ikue High school, the alma mater of late

ROAD RESULTS (with the help from Race Results Weekly)

ST. PETERBURG (RUS, Sep 23): At St. Peterburg road mile for Kazankina Prizes Aleksey Popov won with 4:15.8 and Yulia Chizhenko on the women side with 4:53.9.

OTTAWA (CAN, Sep 22): Reid Coolsaet (30:25) and Megan Brown (33:34) won national titles at the 2012 Canadian 10km Championships.

HENGSHUI (CHN, Sep 22): Ethiopian Hailu Mekonnen clocked fast 2:08:07 to win the Hengshui Lake International Marathon. Also under 2:09 second Julius Maisei 2:08:13 PB and Ethiopian Daniel Abera also personal best 2:08:52. Women winner Eta
lemahu Kidane of Ethiopia achieved 2:28:03 ahead of Melkaw Gizaw 2:29:18.

ZAANDAM (NED, Sep 23): Kenyan road world record holder Leonard Patrick Komon got his second consecutive victory at Dam tot Damloop over 10 miles with 44:48. Sylvia Kibet won a three-way battle for the women’s title, leading the first three women under 52 minutes in 51:42. Second Bezunesh Bekele 51:45 and third Esther Chemtai 51.54. The Netherlands’ Hilda Kibet, who will run the ING NYC Marathon in November, finished fourth in 52:45.

NEW YORK (USA, Sep 22): Matthew Centrowitz became only the second man to win both the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games and the Fifth Avenue Mile in the same year, sprinting past Olympic medalists Bernard Lagat and Leo Manzano in the final 50 meters. He clocked 3:52.4 over 3:52.9 of Lagat and 3:53.1 of Manzano. Brenda Martinez, the fastest USA woman at the mile in 2012, won easily with a long sprint in 4:24.2. She had finished last here in her first attempt at the race in 2010. Second Anna Pierce 4:24.9 and third British guest Hannah England 4:26.0.

UDINE (ITA, Sep 23): Kenyan wins at 13th Udine Half-Marathon. Robert Kwemoi in 1:00:23 and Georgina Rono, who finished third at the Boston Marathon last April, ran a very fast time in the women’s race, clocking a personal best 1:07:58.

USTER (SUI, Sep 23): Kenyan Jacob Kendagor scored a dominating victory in the men’s race at 33rd Greifensee Half-Marathon in 1:01:15, while 39 year-old Sabine Fischer narrowly defeated Nancy Koech in the women’s race 1:13:19 with 1:13:20.

TORINO (ITA, Sep 23): Kenyan wins at Torino Half Marathon Nicholas Togom 1:01:37 and Hellen Jepkurgut 1:12:28.

MONTBELIARD (FRA, Sep 23): Burundi´s Ezechiel Nizigiyimana won in 1:03:13 the 30th Le Lion half-marathon from Belfort to Montbeliard. Leonidah Mosop of Kenya was the best woman in 1:12:10.

KARLSRUHE (GER, Sep 23): New personal best 2:11:46 for the Kenyan Samwel Maswai was the highlight of the 30th Fiduca Baden Marathon. Joyce Kandie as top woman was timed with 2:34:36.

ODENSE (DEN, Sep 23): Fast 2:10:37 by Luka Chelimo was the winnning time at the H.C. Andersen Marathon. Emily Chepkorir as the best woman achieved 2:34:48.

BANSKA BYSTRICA (SVK, Sep 23): First edition of Banska Bystrica marathon saw Kenyan Elisha Sawe clocking solid 2:15:52. Marija Vrajic of Croatia was the top woman in 2:53:56.

BACUCH (SVK, Sep 22): Best Slovak walker Matej Toth won here the 5th edition of the walking meet with 40:34 at the 10 km over Jakub Jelonek of Poland 40:40 and Ukrainian Nazar Kovalenko 41:06. Marius Ziukas of Lithuania was fourth 41:16 ahead of another Slovak olympian Anton Kucmin 41:56. Lithuanian record holder Brigita Virbalyte won the women race in 45:14 beating Italian Federica Ferraro 45:26 and Agnieszka Swarnog of Poland 46:54.