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Russian Championships - PREVIEW.

09.07.2005

Tula, Russia - The main Russian Championships - 38 gold medals are at stake - will take place 10-13 July in Tula, after which the names of the Russian team for the 10th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Helsinki, Finland will be officially declared.
The winners from the Athens Olympics as well as the victors at the recent European Cup of 2005 are permitted not to participate at the Russian Championships, so it is not clear whether Yuriy Borzakovskiy, Tatyana Lebedeva, Yelena Isinbayeva, Yelena Slesarenko, Sergey Makarov and other stars will decide to compete in Tula.

So, what is the situation in Russian athletics on the eve of the Championships? There is a large black hole practically in 12 men’s running events out of 13. The only exceptions being Yuriy Borzakovskiy and his training partner Dmitriy Bogdanov who is the European Indoor champion of 2005. The All-Russian Athletic Federation has set special standards for the participants of the World Championship in Helsinki. Only two other runners, Andrei Epishin (sprints) and Igor Peremota (Hurdles) have succeeded in meeting those high standards.

On the other side women runners seem to be at their best. In some events there are more then 8 – 10 contenders for the limited number of 3 places per each event. For instance Olga Fedorova from Ekaterinbourg is only 21-years-old but she is already the a relay medallist from the Olympic Games and World Champs. At the 2005 European Cup she was second in the 100m with a personal best 11.21 loosing only to Christine Arron. At the Znamenskiy Memorial in Kazan the same time was also clocked by Ekaterina Grigorieva from Volgograd who seems to be making a comeback. Grigorieva reached the result with the wind exceeding the norm (+3.3 m/s). And Fedorova was only 0.03 seconds behind.

The new wave of sprinters has also appeared in the 200m.When the absolutely unknown Yelena Bolsun from the city of Irkutsk is running faster and faster and took second place at the European Cup. Yuliya Guzshina from Rostov-on-Don and Ekaterina Kondratieva from Kazan are also upcoming talents, and them there is also 20-year-old Olga Zaitzeva from St-Peterbourg who finished 2nd at the recent Znamenskiy Memorial, and she also has a 400m season’s best of 50.06.

The 400m will be the main attraction of the championships on the track. There are 10-12 contenders for six places (including 4x400m relay) in the national team. And seven out of 12 have run faster than 51 sec. The 10th result is 51.48. And let’s not forget that the World champions Natalya Nazarova from Moscow and Olga Kotlyarova from Ekaterinbourg who so far have taken part in nor big time competition this year.

Kotlyarova has tried 800m and at her first start in Kazan ran better than 2 min, though she took only the 6th place in the race which was one of the fastest in world history.

According to the rules as a defending World champion (1500m) Tatyana Tomashova goes to Helsinki automatically. Yuliya Chizhenko from St-Petersburg won the European Cup-2005 and so her team spot is safe. But the leader at this distance among Russian runners Olga Yegorova from Cheboksary who won at Znamenskiy Memorial with the then 2nd world season best – 3:59.47. As well, there are three other women with the same Christian name of ‘Yelena’ who are in the list of the 10 best runners of the season – Zadorozhnaya, Kanales and Soboleva.

At 5000m the leader is obvious – it is Lylya Shobukhova from Bashkortostan Republic who won the distance at the European Cup and so secured her place in the national team.

The Olympic Games 2004 finalist in 100m Hurdles Marya Koroteeva from the region of Moscow clocked 12.74 in Sochi but then she got injured, and she’ll have to prove in Tula that her troubles are left in the past. There are two other contenders namely Irina Shevchenko from the region of Moscow who clocked 12.80 at the heats of the Znamenskiy Memorial. In the final her result was a bit worse - 12.85 – but she still got the win, defeating Natalya Rusakova (Kresova) from St-Peterbourg who clocked the same time.

Yuliya Pechonkina is the definite leader at 400m Hurdles but unfortunately there are no strong Russian contenders near her. The closest result is one second worse then Yuliya’s time.

Both the High Jumps are considered to be the most medal profiting events for Russia. In the men’s event, Yaroslav Rybakov and young Aleksei Dmitruk, who won at the 2005 European Cup, are the leaders of the season. Sergei Klyugin, Vyacheslav Voronin, Pavel Fomenko, and may be Andrei Silnov who cleared 2.28 in Kazan are also very eager to go to Helsinki.

In women’s High Jump it is the European Cup winner Tatyana Kivimyagi who is doing her utmost to prove that she is not worse then the Olympic champion Yelena Slesarenko who is struggling hard to obtain her best form.

In women’s pole vault Svetlana Feofanova, as the World champion and naturally Yelena Isinbaeva have already been included in the team that goes to World Champs.

In women’s Long Jump the Olympic champion Tatyana Lebedeva and the European Cup winner Irina Simagina have got the same honour. There are at least five other contenders who’ll be vying for team places. But in men’s Long Jump the situation is far from being optimistic. There are only two contenders – Vitalyi Shkurlatov and Kirill Sosunov who have both failed to make 8.20 that is set by IAAF.

In men’s Triple Jump the positions of Russian athletes seem to be much better. The European Indoor champion Igor Spasovkhodskiy landed at 17.32. Others have still failed to pass to break 17m this summer. In women’s Triple Jump, the World champion Lebedeva and Anna Paytykh who won European Cup for the fourth time in the row have already got their tickets to Helsinki. There are two more places at stake and an ocean of contenders.

The women’s Hammer Throw is an event where the chances of Russian athletes seem to be rather high. Four of them have passed the “barrier” of 70m. The 21-year-old Tatyana Lysenko looks to be at the peak of her form at the moment. Her new Russian record – 75.95m set at the championship of Moscow unfortunately passed practically unnoticed. But it is the best result in the world this season.

Olga Ryabinkina is the new leader in women’s Shot Put. But the question is can reigning World champion Svetlana Krivelyova make a serious attempt to get back into form.

Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF
RusAthletics - Russian Athletics
E-mail: info@rusathletics.com

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