BUBKA GOES FOR ANOTHER HEIGHT

ST. PETERSBURG (RUS): International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board Member Sergey Bubka has confirmed that he is standing for the IOC Presidency. The announcement came soon after Bubka had been unanimously re-elected onto the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) Council at the organisation’s General Assembly in St Petersburg. Bubka, who is also Vice President of the IAAF and President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, said: “I started my international sports life here in St Petersburg, when I qualified for the Helsinki World Championships in 1983 and so it is apt that it is here I wish to announce my candidacy for the Presidency of the IOC. I deeply believe in our Movement’s values and power to improve lives around the globe. The responsibility that comes with being IOC President requires vision, passion and experience, qualities that I believe I will bring to the most prestigious role in sport.” Bubka broke the pole vault world record 35 times and won the indoor and outdoor world championships 10 times as well as Olympic gold. Bubka would be first IOC President with such a record in olympic number one sport.

BORZAKOVSKIY FOR VELENJE

SOCHI (RUS): Coach of 800 m Athens Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy Vyacheslav Yevstratov informed Sport-Express newspaper that next Yuriy’s performances will be in Velenje, Slovenia on June 4. For sure Borzakovskiy will compete at two events more before national championships: at Moscow Challenge on June 11 and national Cup in Yerino on June 15-16. The main his goal for the season is to be selected to the national team for Worlds with high result. Coach Yevstratov thinks that Yuriy will be able to fight for Moscow’s medals if he’ll cope with his psychics. “Borzakovskiy is 32-year-old and he is still has very good fitness but his psychics is giving out. He’s 15 years on the top and that is why his playful tactic disappears more and more from year to year. Earlier he played on the distance with his rivals running for fun and now he has to work. That’s a big difference. But if he’ll run just for pleasure then the result will be worse definitely” said Yevstratov after Borzakovskiy’s performance at national team championships in Sochi where Yuriy finished second at 1500m with 3:42.27.

MALACHOWSKI 65.98, MASLAK 32.34

TURNOV (CZE, May 28): Poland´s European Champion Piotr Malachowski won the main event discus at the 14th Ludvik Danek Memorial with last throw 65.98. 2008 Olympic winner Gerd Kanter was leading until then and ended second 65.23. Canadian Dylan Armstrong won the shot put 20.13 ahead of Martin Stasek 19.98. The best home result in not too good weather was posted by European 400 m champion Pavel Maslak who in a solo race clocked impressive personal best 32.34 at the 300 m. He also equaled the world lead of US Greg Nixon. „For such a weather Im satisfied, it was also a personal best and I know that in better conditions I would be able to improve the national record of 32.31,” said Maslak who travels this week to Eugene. Also to US goes olympic 400 m hurdles medalist Zuzana Hejnova who won the flat 400 m in 52.18. Jan Kudlicka cleared 561 in pole vault in his season opener and Jan Kubista posted solid1:47.94 in the 800 m. Hungarian Anita Marton was the best in women shot put 17.38.

IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE NEWS

EUGENE (USA): Kirani James has conquered the world’s best every year since he was 16 years old when he began a 4-year run that saw him become the World Youth champion, World Junior champion, World champion, and Olympic champion. Still only 20, the Alabama alum headlines the loaded men’s 400-meter race at the Prefontaine Classic. He has the world lead with 44.02 and could well attack the stad
ium record at Hayward Field 43.74 by Michael Johnson in 1993. Two US runners will compete LaShawn Merritt and Tony McQuay, three other Caribbeans, two olympic medalists Luguelin Santos and Lalonde Gordon and experienced Chris Brown. Europe will be represented by Kevin Borlee and current European indoor and outdoor champion Pavel Maslak.

ROMA (ITA): The men’s pole vault at Pietro Mennea Golden Gala next week in front of the Northern Curve will feature the entire podium of the London Olympic Games with gold medallist Renaud Lavillenie, silver medallist Bjorn Otto and bronze medallist Raphael Holzdeppe. Two more 590 m vaulters to watch are Cuban record holder Lazaro Borges and German Malte Mohr. Italian fans will support Giuseppe Gibilisco and Claudio Stecchi who represent two different generations.

OTHER NEWS

TORTOLA (BVI): Athens 2004 Olympic Games champion Jeremy Wariner of the USA, will highlight the 400m in Saturday’s inaugural British Virgin Islands Twilight Invitational at the A. O. Shirley Recreation Grounds on Tortola. Jamaica’s Patricia Hall and Anastacia Le-Roy along with St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Kineke Alexander who have already run under 51.80 this year, the women’s 400m with hometown girls Chantel Malone and Ashley Kelly, and the Dominican Republic’s Raysa Sanchez, will be an exciting race. In returning to the British Virgin Islands to compete for the first time in 19-years, St. Kitts and Nevis’ sprint star and IAAF 2003 World 100m champion Kim Collins, will be tested by teammate Antoine Adams, Jamaica’s Dexter Lee and Trinidad and Tobago’s Aaron Armstrong.

OORDEGEM (BEL): The 1500m at the IFAM meeting on June 1 is promising to become the highlight of the meeting featuring Turkish Tanui Özbilen, Zebene Alemayehu and Fida Jana from Ethiopia who have all clocked faster times than 3:35.00. Belgian colours will be defending by Lander Tijtgat, Pieter-Jan Hannes, Bashir Abdi, Jeroen D’hoedt, Tarik Moukrime and Ali Hamdi organizers confirm.

BRUSSELS (BEL): Belgian decathlete Hans Van Alphen is happy about the way his rehabilitation is going. Van Alphen told sporza.be he is slowly but surely getting stronger although he has not been able to speed work on his injured foot. The Olympic number four hopes to be ready to compete by the time the IAAF World championships in August.

BERLIN (GER): Talented German sprinter Tatjana Pinto, just 20 years old, confirmed her status as one of the favourites for gold at the European U23 championships in Tampere after running both 11.25 and 11.22 last weekend. Pinto confirmed she will compete at the German national championships in Ulm just one week before competing in Tampere and also added she will travel to Moscow for the IAAF World championships in August.

MOSCOW (RUS): Pole vault four-time world medalist Svetlana Feofanova feels recovered after London Olympic injury and hopes to fight for her fifth world medal. “In January when I started my training I still felt discomfort and niggle. But one day all unpleasant feelings have disappeared. Now I’m focusing mostly on vaulting. I still don’t use the full runway’s length and plan to start vaulting from the full approach in June. My current goal is to jump my best heights from 14 steps and I’ve already cleared 4.60 using short approach. Moreover I improved my velocity and even ran the 100m under 12 seconds,” Feofanova said to national media. 32-year-old Russian plans to make 8-10 competitions before the World Championships but had to refuse from Shanghai Diamond League event as she felt not healthy and didn’t want to risk at the beginning of the season. Probably her first competitions appearance will be in Hengelo on June 8.

LONDON (GBR): Unilever, the consumer goods giant, has been confirmed as a sponsor of the Sainsbury’s Summer Series, a string of three top-level athletics events in Birmingham and London in June and July.

BERLIN (GER): Discus olympic winner and world champion Robert Harting hopes that if Thomas Bach wins the IOC Presidency post that there will be new leader in the German Sports Organisation DOSB. Bach leads currently DOSB. Harting calls for a change. „We will finally have a new man there,” said Harting who leads the world lists with 68.31 and next competes at Pre Classic in Eugene.

ST. POLTEN (AUT): The 7th Liese Prokop Memorial will have on Thursday Beate Schrott at 100 m hurdles against Czech Lucie Skrobakova, German Nadine Hildebrand and Russian talent Yekaterina Bleskina. Gerhard Mayer is in discus, Slovak Peter Horak and Croatian Ana Simic in high jump, Polish champion Agata Bednarek in the 400 m, in men 400 m Briton Conrad Williams. Belarus Yuriy Shayunov is the top name of hammer.

BRUSSELS (BEL): David Monti notes that the 20-K in Brussels last Sunday is the world’s largest 20-K road race with 37,250 finishers, up sharply from 34,186 last year.

MONACO (MON): In latest IAAF Newsletter confirmed doping bans for Poland´s marathon runner Wioletta Kryza for 8 years after second offence (until 2020), three years for St. Kitts female sprinter Tameka Williams (until 2015). Two years among others for Russian top middle distance runner Yelena Arzhakova (until January 2015) and one year for South African female 400 m runner Tsholofelo Thipe (until August 2013).

NEW YORK (USA): Olympic pole vaulting champion Jenn Suhr is going green. She will participate in the New York Invite Series, a sanctioned pole vault event, on Friday at White Birch Golf Course, 1515 North Lyndonville Rd., Lyndonville, Orleans County. White Birch is owned by Harold Suhr, the brother of Jenn Suhr’s husband and coach Rick Suhr. Rick Suhr said admission is free and 2,000 posters of his wife will be given to those in attendance. “She’s not going there to jump low,” Rick Suhr said. “She’s in great shape, she’s healthy and she’s jumping well.” US media are informing.

AUCKLAND (NZL): Three athletes have been added to the Athletics New Zealand team for the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow. Brent Newdick (Decathlon), Jake Robertson (10,000m) and Kim Smith (10,000m) have been named by the Athletics New Zealand selectors. All have reached the Athletics New Zealand B performance standard. Newdick is currently in Europe preparing for a decathlon in Kladno, Czech Republic. Robertson is training in Canada and Smith continues her preparations from her base in Providence, Rhode Island. They join four previously announced team members Valerie Adams (Shot Put), Mary Davies (Marathon), Quentin Rew (50k Walk) and Nick Willis (1500m).

RESULTS

TARTU (EST, May 28): At Gustav Sule Memorial good javelin won by Ivan Zaytsev of Uzbekistan 83.79 ahead of Vladimir Kozlov of Belarus 82.49. Lauma Griva of Latvia leaped to 672 (+1.6) in the long jump. Leif Arrhenius of Sweden topped the discus 61.38 and Olena Zhushman of Ukraine clocked good 2:01.06 in the 800 m.

MALAGA (ESP, May 28): Swedish Sofie Skoog cleared at an open meet new personal best in high jump 190 cm.

WARSZAWA (POL, May 25): 2009 World champion Anita Wlodarczyk started her season with 71.04 at a local meet.

BOULDER (USA, May 27): Kenyan Allan Kiprono won the men 10 km in Boulder Boulder race 29:29. In women competition Merima Mohamed from Ethiopia 33:59.

DONETSK (UKR, May 25-27): Ukraine became a winner of international youth match Ukraine-Belarus-Turkey which has finished at Olimpiyskyy regional sport complex in Donetsk. This facility opened after full reconstruction and was renewed for world youth champs. Host team scored 262 points. Belarus was second (226) and Turkey finished third (176). Pavel Polyakov achieved with 5 kg hammer 74.79. Turkish 400 m runner Batukman Altintah clocked 47.15.

HABANA (CUB, May 24-25): World junior champion from Barcelona Pedro Pichardo improved at another local meet to 17.31 (+0.9) in triple jump what is 3rd best result of 2013. Roberto Janet won the hammer (76.75) and solid hand times by junior Yaniel Carrero 10.1 at 100 m and Ignacio Morales 13.4 at 110 m hurdles. From women events Mabel Gay got 14.17 (+0.2) in the triple, Yaime Perez 65.29 in discus (over Yareli Barrios 63.48) and former world champion Yipsi Moreno 71.36 in hammer.

BREST (BLR, May 24): At University Championships Yuriy Shayunov got 77.06 in hammer. On the women side Yekaterina Gonchar 11.28 (+0.9) in the 100 m, Natalya Viatkina 14.05 (+1.3) in triple and Alena Kopets 18.28 in shot put.

SAN JOSE (CRC, May 26): US Ryan Hall won the inaugural Gatorade Half Marathon in Costa Rica in 1:04:09. Informs running competitor.

LISBON (POR, May 26): At 8th Corrida de Mulher the London Marathon winner Priscah Jeptoo clocked 15:47 over Georgina Rono 15:50 and Zakia Mrisho 16:20. Ana Dulce Felix as best home was fourth 16:27, Sara Moreira, who is pregnant, finished 12th. From RRW.

HAAG (NED, May 26): Kenyan Leonard Langat in 28:16 won the 17th SDU Hague Royal 10 km. Lucy Macharia as best woman got 33:19.

KLAZIENAVEEN (NED, May 26): Moroccan Hicham El Barouki won the 30th LoopfestijnDrenthe in 2:16:44. Home Mariska Kramer clocked 2:41:36 in women category. Informs RRW.

LEIDEN (NED, May 26): Ethiopian Wondemu Molla won the 23rd Leiden Marathon in 2:19:49. Ethiopian Yewubet Wubet got 2:47:00 as top female runner. Fast times in half marathon Alfers Lagat 1:04:08 and Jane Moraa 1:11:47. By RRW.

SAD NEWS

MOUNTAIN VIEW (USA): Trackandfieldnews.com informs that legendary coach and mentor of Dick Fosbury Berny Wagner quietly passed away just moments after spending time with his daughter Erica, son Jeff, son in law Rollie and former OSU high jump great and current HJ coach, John Radetich..