Fionnuala Britton to run World Cross, but focus is Moscow World Outdoor Champs, by Alfons Juck, note by Larry Eder

EME NEWS (JAN 14, 2013)

Sanchez back to France
VAL DE REUIL (FRA): French media are informing that olympic winner Felix Sanchez will compete at the Val de Reuil meeting on February 12 at the 400 m hurdles. This rare event indoors is very popular in France and nearly all international indoor meetings are staging it. As already informed European fastest Christophe Lemaitre will be also here at the 200 m. Sanchez clocked here last year 48.78 world indoor best at the distance.

Nytra no indoors
HAMBURG (GER): German hurdler Carolin Nytra will not defend her title from Paris in Goteborg. She was last two summer seasons not able to run and will return only slowly with main aim for summer and World Championships. Indoor competitions in 2013 are not planned. For March she plans training camp in South Africa. 

Jordan gets gold 
MADRID (ESP): Spanish runner Cristina Jordan recieved good news. She was promoted to gold medal from the European CC Championships 2010 in Albufeira in the U23 race. It is because the day winner Turkish Meryem Erdogan was disqualified due to abnormalities in the hematological profile. Silver now goes to Emma Pallant from Great Britain and bronze to Ukrainian Hanna Nosenko. 

Strong opponents for Borlee twins
GENT (BEL): The Record Bank Flanders Indoor meet on February 10 will have great 300 m duel when local star Kevin Borlee will run against reigning European champion from Helsinki at 400 m Pavel Maslak. In the 400 m Jonathan Borlee will face Olympic medalist Luguelin Santos from Dominican Republic.

Top 800 m field
DUSSELDORF (GER): One of the highlights of the 8th PSD Bank Meeting on February 8 will be the men´s 800 m race. Olympic bronze winner Timothy Kitum and another Kenyan and winner here from 2011 Boaz Lalang are the African favorites. But they will face tough European opposition. From indoor world leader 2012 Adam Kszczot, Olympic winner 2004 Yuriy Borzakovskiy and top Spanish runner at the distance Kevin Lopez.

Britton for Bydgoszcz
DUBLIN (IRL): For European CC Champion and fresh winner of other races Fionnuala Britton success on the track at the Moscow World Championships is her priority for 2013. “I really enjoy cross-country, it is my strength,” says Britton, who has few peers in the discipline she took up aged seven. “But I would really like to improve on the track. The key for the summer is being in consistently good shape. But because the summer season is so much longer it is harder to reach that same level of consistency. My aim now is to get below 15 minutes for the 5000m: that has to be anyone’s aim to get to major finals.” Many believe her best event will one day be the marathon, and while she does not dispel the prophecy, the former primary school teacher’s medium-term goals lie on the track. “I do see the marathon as a long-term goal but to be honest I’m struggling to plan as far ahead as the summer. I’d like to do one, one day. But I don’t have anything planned seriously.” In the short-term, the hurling fan hopes to round off an outstanding winter season at the World Cross Country Championships in Poland on 24th March, looking to improve on her 16th place at the last edition, in Spain two years ago. Spikes website informs.

OTHER NEWS

FRANKFURT (GER): 19-years old Homiyu Tesfaye born in Ethiopia already won 8 different German national titles. His first request for German citizenship failed in 2011 and German federation DLV hopes the second one this summer will be more succesful. It is planned for June so that he will able to compete at European U23 Championships in July in Tampere. He has 1:47.40 at 800 m, 3:38.56 in the 1500 m and 8:03.95 in the 3000 m.

BOSTON (USA): America’s new distance prodigy Mary Cain, fresh off of a record-setting performance this weekend, will compete in the open 2-Mile at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Feb. 2, organizers announced. “It will be something special to see a special young talent like Mary in the same race with some of the world’s best,” said Mark Wetmore, meet director. “If recent results are any indication of her fitness, fans at the Reggie are in for a real treat on February 2nd.”

DOHA (QAT): New Athletes Liaison for the Doha Samsung Diamond League meeting is the Swiss Bettina Borner. Doha will again start the series this year on May 10. She worked in the past for Weltklasse Zurich and is also Athletes Liaison for the Golden Gala meeting of Rome. 

TORONTO (CAN): All three top Canadian female hurdlers Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, Phylicia George and Nikkita Holder will not compete indoors this winter. The same goes for the male sprinter Justyn Warner.

BUDAPEST (HUN): Like in 2011, Jamaican men and US women lead the special 2012 Countries Rankings in which All-Athletics.com evaluates the sprint events (100+200+400m). Despite a relatively weak 400m performace Jamaica leads the men’s combined sprint ranking. USA once again had to content with the second position. Trinidad & Tobago climbed from 5th last year to third in 2012 pushing Great Britain and France to fourth and fifth place respectively. Bahamas kept the 6th spot and they share the 400m top position with the USA. The Netherlands moved up to the 9th rank. No change in the first three places compared to 2011 on the women’s side: USA, Jamaica and Ukraine take the ‘medal’ positions. Great Britain improved to 4th by overtaking Russia in 5th. Nigeria kept its 6th position, again. Italy is back in the top-10. More at All-Athletics.com website.

BRUSSELS (BEL) : Belgian triple jumper Svetlana Bolshakova is aiming for the European indoor championships and the World outdoor championships in 2013 she confirmed for sporza.be. Bolshakova missed the Olympic Games due to injury but is confident she can do well in 2013. At the end of the year she also wants to make a decision about children, even though she confirmed she will continue her career until the Rio Olympic Games.

BERLIN (GER): German long distance athlete Simret Restle-Apel has been suspended for two years following a positive anti-doping test on EPO. The athlete will be suspended until May 28 2014.

BERLIN (GER): German talented decathlete Johannes Hock has made the move from Germany to Austin Texas to train  along with Trey Hardee and Miller Moss at the University of Texas. Hock left Germany early January and will compete during the indoor and outdoor season for the University of Texas reports leichtathletik.de.

NOVOCHEBOKSARSK (RUS): Indoor athletics arena was opened in Novocheboksarsk in Chuvashia after reconstruction. President of All-Russian Athletics Federation Valentin Balakhnichev underlined that the renewed arena definitely strikes by great space, modern surface and good lightning system. Arena has second floor where training hall will be assembled in future. “Renewed Indoor Athletics arena in Chuvashia can be named one of the bests in Russia” Balakhnichev said.

LAUSANNE (SUI): European Athletics recently concluded a survey where 32 Member Federations gave their input on the impact of European Athletics’ education measures since 2008 and their needs for the future.  The report of the education survey will be among the main points of discussion at the meeting of the Education Commission to be held in Frankfurt on 19-20 January. Under the chairmanship of European Athletics Council member Frank Hensel, the commission will also review the 2012 education programme and discuss ideas to add value to the approved measures under the 2013 education programme.

BIRMINGHAM (GBR): UK Athletics informs that Malcolm Ar
nold has been appointed to the role of Lead Hurdles Coach based at Bath University in the latest coaching appointment by Performance Director Neil Black and Head Coach Peter Eriksson. James Hillier has also been named as Assistant Coach and the pair will continue to work with their training group, which includes World 400m hurdles champion Dai Greene. 

KINGSTON (JAM): When she just started competing in the 200m a few years ago, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was, at best, a reluctant participant. However, an Olympic silver medal sure has a way of changing perspectives. With the August-scheduled IAAF World Championships now in sight, the two-time Olympic and 2009 World Championships 100m champion confirmed that she will once again be attempting the sprint double this season as she continues to test the boundaries of her limitations. She won’t stop there, however, as she prepares for her first shot at the indoor circuit, the break-neck 60m scene seeming like a perfect match for a woman already regarded as the best out of the blocks. “Training has been going great. I am just enjoying the new workouts that I have been getting, but I am just looking forward to the rest of the season,” Fraser-Pryce said. Writes Jamaica Gleaner.

AUCKLAND (NZL): Not only is the world junior and youth shot put champion Jacko Gill in the process of recovering from a sprained ankle, but his problems have been compounded after sustaining a face injury in a dog attack. Gill was breaking up a dog fight and was bitten in the face by his dog. He has had a couple of days in hospital after receiving a number of stitches in the face around the eyes. Informs NZ Athletics.

TEMPE (USA): There are many seemingly daunting tasks ahead of olympic high jump medalist Brigetta Barrett this season: winning indoor/outdoor NCAA championships, setting indoor/outdoor NCAA records and of course, winning the Bowerman Award. But Barrett said she isn’t worried. She hopes this season will be the cherry on top of an already great collegiate career. “I know that I have broken all the barriers that could have existed at this time in my life,” Barrett said. “Now it’s time to go forward without looking back.” Local media are informing. She has 197 indoor best mark and 203 outdoors.

COTTBUS (GER): New star for the Cottbus Jumping indoor meeting on January 30 is the 2008 Olympic winner in pole vault Steven Hooker from Australia. His main rival will be German olympic medalist Bjorn Otto.

LONDON (GBR): Former track star Kelly Sotherton will be among the leading ex-athletes and celebrities in this year’s Virgin London Marathon and the former heptathlete has the goal of beating swimming and rowing giants Steve Parry and Matthew Pinsent. Speaking tomarathontalk.com, the 2004 Olympic bronze medallist says if everything goes perfectly she feels a time in the range of 3:40 is possible, but more realistically she is hoping to get around as painlessly as she can in around four to four-and-a-half hours. Informs Athletics Weekly.

LONDON (GBR): The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) have confirmed they are looking to stage more global disability athletics competitions to build on the huge success of London 2012 but said that plans are still in their “infancy”. A British newspaper reported that the IPC will trial a global series of meetings in 2013 in the style of the IAAF Diamond League that showcases the world’s leading able-bodied athletes. The series appeared to have been confirmed by Sophia Warner, who took up the role of commercial director at UK Athletics after competing at London 2012, where she finished fourth in the T35 100 and 200 metres finals at the Paralympics. Warner had told the newspaper that the series would start in April, include two events in Britain and also feature meetings in Rio de Janeiro, Germany and the Netherlands.

KINGSTON (JAM): Continuing on his mission to being ‘extraordinary’ like the moniker of his telecoms sponsors Digicel, international legend and locally loved ‘yaad boy’ Usain Bolt is all set to take things to another level, come April 18-21. The World’s Fastest Man under the banner of the Usain Bolt Foundation, will host its inaugural Jamaica Weekend Experience at the Iberostar Hotels and Resorts in Montego Bay. The exclusive four-day event will feature a range of exciting activities including a Taste of Jamaica, golf, comedy, beach volleyball, treasure hunt, themed parties and a gala dinner and auction.

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