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USA and Russia share honours in Moscow
03.09.2006
Moscow, Russia - It’s for the third year in a row that Russian Challenge tournament has took place in the “Luzhniki” Olympic stadium, with this year’s match between Russia and the USA on 2 September commemorating the 859th anniversary of Moscow city.
There were no heats and no qualification rounds: just finals. There were five events in men’s competitions – 100m, 800m, 110mH, High Jump and 4x100m relay and five events in women’s competitions - 100m, 100mH, 400mH, Long Jump and 4x100m relay.
The first event, the Women’s 100m Hurdles was dominated by the World champion Michelle Perry (USA) in 12.84 seconds, her compatriot Danielle Carruthers was second in 12.89, while Alexandra Antonova was third – 13.04.
The guests also celebrated a double victory in the men’s 110m Hurdles. Terrence Trammell, the World Indoor champion over 60m Hurdles, clocked 13.44 seconds and Ron Bramlett was not far behind – 13.50. Igor Peremota (RUS) finished 3rd in 13.54 after touching the 8th hurdle and losing his pace.
“I thought that the result would be better”, said the smiling winner. “But somehow I managed to win with this time. And I like it here in Moscow and I even like it more and more when I’m the winner. It’s my second participation at the Russian Challenge. And I hope not the last one.”
Stephanie Durst (USA) won the women’s 100m easily in 11.28 seconds. Yuliya Gushchina (RUS) was not satisfied with her second place in 11.34, while Natalya Rusakova was only one hundredth of a second behind – 11.35.
The Russian women’s relay 4x100m team (Yuliya Guschina, Natalya Rusakova, Irina Khabarova and Yekaterina Grigorieva) clocked 43.01. The result of the USA team (Lolo Jones, Stephanie Durst, Michelle Perry and Wyllesheia Myrick) was 43.60.
Men’s 4x100m relay was won by the Russian team – 39.23. The USA clocked 39.36.
Excellent results were registered in the Women’s Long Jump. Olympic champion Tatyana Lebedeva as well as Oksana Udmurtova participated at the Russian Challenge as non-scoring competitors and not members of the Russian team. Lebedeva’s result was 6.94m and Udmurtova landed at 6.84m. The match victory was gained by the European Champion Ludmila Kolchanova with 7.01m. Rose Richmond (USA) was second, 6.56m, Tatyana Kotova, 3rd – 6.44m, and the World Champion from the USA Tianna Madison was 4th – 6.32m.
And again a double, in fact a triple American victory in the Men’s 100m. The Olympic 200m champion Shawn Crawford clocked 10.15, Wallace Spearmon was second in 10.18 and Rodney Martin was third with 10.34. The best of the three Russian sprinters, Roman Smirnov was next with 10.46. Andrei Yepishin, who got the silver medal at the European Championships, was a distant 10.53.
The World record holder for the women’s 400m Hurdles Yuliya Nosova – Pechonkina nearly missed the entire season because of the injury, making her comeback here at the Russian Challenge with an unexpectedly good result of 53.14 seconds leaving behind USA’s Lashinda Demus (54.29) and Sandra Glover (55.29).
“I’m really satisfied with my first performance this season,” said Pechonkina. “But technically I’m still not at my best. Maybe I’ll try to get better times a bit later. It’s a pity that it is already September. Believe me, next season will be more successful.”
Yaroslav Rybakov (RUS) cleared 2.30m in Men’s High Jump. The young Russian prodigy Ivan Ukhov, and the experienced Jamie Nieto (USA) shared second place with 2.22m.
The men’s 800m was dominated by Khadevis Robinson from the USA who won in 1:47.52. Ivan Nesterov, 21, considered to be the rising star of Russian athletics finished second in 1:47.74. Dmitri Bogdanov was third - 1:47.89.
In the mixed zone the trio was greeted by Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy who failed to participate at the Russian Challenge because of injury. Asked what would have happened if Borzakovskiy had been on the track, Robinson replied, “That would have been quite a different competition.”
Overall, the USA men’s team won – 52.5pts to 43.5 for Russia, but the host’s women’s squad was the stronger, winning their match by 4 points – 50pts to 46pts.
Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF
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