MOHR
583, DI MARTINO 195

DESSAU (GER, Feb 2): German
world indoor silver medalist Malte Mohr cleared at jumping meeting in Dessau
before 1600 spectators new meet record and seasons second best mark of 583 in the pole vault. The
german elite was represented in full numbers, Mohr achieved his top mark (also
equalled his indoor PB) in third attempt and tried afterwards at would-be
German record of 601. The others must be satisfied with 560. The ranking:
second Ukrainian Maksim Mazuryk ahead of Tim Lobinger, fourth Bjorn Otto and
fifth Czech Michal Balner. Italian record holder Antonietta Di Martino started
her season with 195 in
third and showed she will be a force to count with in Paris. Her next meeting in Banska Bystrica on
February 9. Russian veteran Viktoriya Klyugina was second ahead of Julia Wanner
(both 189, and indoor PB for the German), only fourth Spanish record holder
Ruth Beitia (186).

EATON
READY FOR WR

TALLINN
(EST): US World indoor
record holder Ashton Eaton is ready for a big mark during the weekend in Tallinn at the only
international combined events meeting of the indoor season (EA Permit). The US young star is already in Estonia. ” I
will go for the world record, I m feeling in the shape for that. I need more
competition and this I will have here. When I competed for my university we had
competitions every weekend, no time to rest. Now I m rested enough and ready.
Additionally I beat world and olympic champions in New York last week and that gives additional
motivation and also I was able to improve recently in the shot put,” said Eaton
for Estonian TV. He improved this indoor at 60 m hurdles to 7.64 and in
the shot put to 14.22 and ran very solid 800 m (1:55.90). Comparing to his results
during the record breaking 6499 points last year (6.71 – 773 – 13.12 – 211 –
7.77 – 510 – 2:32.67) the chances to achieve the global mark looks like real.
For Eaton it will be his first pro combined eventer of the career. In the field
also world record holder outdoors Roman Sebrle who had good training in Prague
on Wednesday and travels on Thursday back to Tallinn after two years of absence
here. Last time in 2008 he finished 5th but won five times before. Also in the
field Dutch European medalist Eelco Sintnicolaas, last year US champion Jake
Arnold, young Austrian Dominik Distelberger among others. Women´s pentathlon
will be held too, but not at international level.

ISI
FEELING WELL BEFORE HER COMEBACK

MOSCOW (RUS): “I believe 100 percent in
myself. That is the key before my return competition on Sunday in Moscow,” said multiple
pole vault world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva who will jump in her return
against World Champion 2009 Anna Rogowska and 2010 European Champion Svetlana
Feofanova.  “My time-out is ending, it´s
time to return, new challenges are here,” added Isinbayeva. In the field also
Czech Jirina Ptacnikova and other top Russians. Isinbayeva plans before
European Indoor Championships three competitions – Moscow,
Donetsk and Stockholm. Also to jump in Paris she must recieve wild card from her
national federation. Rogowska plans also three meetings (Moscow,
Donetsk, Bydgoszcz)
and then Polish National event and Paris.

ALL
THREE NOWHERE

HURDLERS WARS: It looks like
the top three most popular hurdlers Dayron Robles, Liu Xiang and David Oliver
will not meet together during the winter season. They never met together
indoors in a meeting on the circuit, only once before in Doha in the finals of the World Indoor
Championships (Robles won, Oliver was third and Liu 7th). The duels will start
in Stuttgart this Sunday (Robles vs. Oliver),
continue in Dusseldorf (Robles vs. Liu) and Karlsruhe (Liu vs.
Oliver). After that in Birmingham
Oliver will clash with Robles again and they will be added by current world
leader Aries Merritt. And it is not yet known who will be running in Stockholm on February 22
and Lievin on February 8 where other top hurdles clashes are expected.
Europeans headed by Andy Turner and Petr Svoboda want also mix the cards.

VCB
CLOSED THE INDOOR SEASON

ATLANTA
(USA): World´s fastest last
year at 100 m
and 200 m
Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown
closed her short indoor season after the Millrose win. “She will now get ready
for outdoors with a view towards the early Diamond League meets in her build up
to the Jamaica National Championships,” informed her agent Claude Bryan. So far
the only confirmed meet for summer is the jubilee 50th Ostrava Golden Spike
event on May 31 in
Czech Republic (IAAF World Challenge).

PRISCILLA
AGAINST THE TIME

TORONTO (CAN): World and olympic hurdles
medalist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep did not compete at Millrose Games. And she
will miss also Stuttgart
this weekend. “Sorry everyone, still feeling under the weather, I wont be
making the trip over to Stuttgart,
Thank you for your ongoing support,” she said on her twitter. She’s overcoming
a cold and has withdrawn from most competitions as a result of lost training.
She is taking things one day at a time, informed her agent Kris Mychasiw.

OTHER NEWS

TOKYO (JPN): Ken Nakamura
points out that Haile Gebrselassie will chase at Tokyo Marathon this month the
course record (2:07:23), fastest time by an 37 years old (2:06:55), fastest
race in Tokyo (2:06:33) and Japanese All-comers record (2:05:18). Four
statistically interesting points.

MOSCOW (RUS): Moscow Cup in high jump, the
special meet with music will celebrate on Thursday 15 years of staging. In the
Znamensky Hall as a warm-up competition before Sunday´s Russian Winter Ivan
Ukhov will jump against Aleksandr Shustov, Andrey Tereshin, Sergey Mudrov, Mikhail
Tsvetkov, Aleksey Dmitrik and Eduard Malchenko among others.

SOFIA (BUL): Bulgarian top
athlete and current 400 m
world indoor leader Vanya Stambolova missed the Vienna meet on Tuesday. The reason was that
the battery in the car of her coach Georgi Dimitrov broke her due to low
temperatures. She is at training camp in Budapest
and could not start the drive. Additionally she started to have a fever. Now
new plan must be ready for next competitions.

BIRMINGHAM
(GBR): IAAF informs about top names for Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham (Feb 19, IAAF Indoor Permit). Ethiopia’s
reigning World indoor 1500m champions Derese Mekonnen and Kalkidan Gezahegne
are the stars of their events. Main male rivals will be last years fastest
Silas Kiplagat and Augustine Choge. World indoor champion Abubaker Kaki of Sudan
will lead the 1000 m
field, Phillips Idowu and Christian Olsson will square off in the Triple Jump,
and Jenny Meadows returns to the scene of her first of two British 800m
national records set last year.

OSLO (NOR): Norwegian multiple
walking record holder Erik Tysse has been suspended for 2 years following a
positive doping test for CERA. The suspension started on July 8th 2010 but
Tysse continues to fight the decision saying he is innocent. The Norwegian Athletics
Association confirmed the doping tests where conform all rule both for the A
sample in Roma as for the B sample in Paris.
However, Tysse partly won his case claiming his performances have always been
stable and also his bloodlevels have always been constant.

ZWOLLE
(NED): Kenyan Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich has been announced for the Silver cross
Achmea half marathon in Zwolle
on June 18th. Kipsang is running in Zwolle
in preparation for a fall marathon in which he wants to attack the marathon
world record. Kipsang hasn’t yet decided in which marathon he will start but it
might most likely be in Berlin.
Kipsang’s half marathon personal best stands at 58:59 from Ras Al Khaimah 2009.
The course record in Zwolle
is 1:01.51 by Ben Kimwole in 2008.

RAS AL KHAIMAH (UAE):  Attracting just 636 participants in its
inaugural year the RAK Half Marathon certainly had quite a mountain to climb to
be taken seriously on both the local and international road racing scene. Yet this
was one new race that chose not to focus immediately on promoting huge crowds
from the get-go or offer huge prize money to lure the best talent to the start
line. It did instead decide what it wanted to be and then set about following
that ambition year after year. Now, nearly 5 years on the RAK Half Marathon has
firmly established itself as one of the premier competitive half marathons in
the world, for men and women. With registration now closed, organizers have
announced a record field for 2011 of 2,066 individual half marathoners and 138 Relay
Teams pushing the total number of runners on the start line this February to
over 2600. With overall prize money reductions a result of the recent global
situation, the spirit of participation appears to shine through brighter than
the prize pot, indeed with nearly 10% of the field flying in to the country to
participate this 18th February. Additionally, the 89 nationalities that will
collectively line up represent a growing trend organizers and local government
officials’ hope will only get bigger and better with each new edition. The RAK
Half Marathon will be held on 18 February 2010 and is an IAAF Silver Label Race
and a full member of the Association of Marathons and Distance Running (AIMS).
Organizers are informing in a release.

BERLIN (GER): There is one new modification
at the Berlin Half Marathon 2011, starting on April 3rd, which will eliminate
the route by having only one significant climbing. The starting line and also
the finish line will be on Karl-Marx-Allee. The main route will be on the
Alexander Platz and the Karl-Liebknecht
Street.

TOKYO (JPN): The car maker BMW has announced
the creation of a new Japanese Men’s Incentive Prize, with a bonus of a new
model of BMW 523i sedan going for the best Japanese man at the 2011 Tokyo
Marathon. The prize is intended to give extra motivation to the Japanese men
who will be at the Tokyo Marathon competing for a spot on the Japanese national
team for the 2011 World Championships. BMW has also launched a new Tokyo
Marathon Special Site. At the new site visitors can view the “42.195 Efficient
Running Movie,” a course tour video shot from an Active Hybrid X6. While
watching the video viewers can listen to expert advice on improving their own
running. Informs Brett Larner.

DUSSELDORF
(GER): The 6th edition of PSD Bank Meeting in Dusseldorf in summarizing the start list
proudly announced among 150 athletes with 40 world medals mainly four olympic
winners and seven world champions. Internationally top names are hurdlers Liu
Xiang vs. Dayron Robles on the men side and Lolo Jones in the women race. Paul
Kipsiele Koech and Eliud Kipchoge are running the 5000 m, Brimin Kipruto the 1500 m and Christian
Cantwell is the star of shot put.

BEIRUT (LIB): 
Beirut Marathon founder May El Khalil was one of the first receiptients
of the AIPS Power of Sport Awards at a glittering dinner in Laussane, and in
the presence of the International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge.
Khalil a keen runner who sustained a life threatening injury during a training
accident a decade ago, successfully recovered and promptly set about organising
the BLOM Beirut Marathon. Despite the sometimes unstable political situation in
Lebanon,
she and her fellow committee members have ensured the meeting has taken place
annually since the first event in 2003. Writes David Martin.

RESULTS

VIENNA
(AUT, Feb 1): The biggest development meeting in Central
Europe saw a new star born during Vienna Indoor Classic. Only 19
years old Irish runner Darren McBrearty improved to European 2011 leader at 800 m 1:47.87. His best from
last summer was 1:49.37. Second new Austrian name with Paris standard Raphael Pallitsch 1:48.37.
Hungarian Barnabas Bene won after Bratislava
also here in 3:43.37 and beat Austrian Barcelona finalist Andreas Vojta
(3:43.51, missed Paris
standard by 0.01). Another top Irish mark in the 400 m by Brian Gregan 46.82.
In women events Ireland´s Kelly Proper scored two wins at 200 m (23.97) and in the long
jump (644). Meliz Redif from Turkey
achieved 53.19 to win the 400
m and US Yvette Lewis posted 8.18 in the 60 m hurdles. In men´s sprints
Czech Jan Veleba was the fastest over the 60 m (6.77 and 6.78).

NEW YORK
(USA, Feb 1): German Thomas
Dold won the run up to the 86th floor of the Empire State
Building in 10:10 after
1576 steps. Australian medical student Alice McNamara won the women’s event in
13:03. Dold became the first man to win the race six years in a row.

CORRECTION

GOLD COAST (AUS): The sprint
results of Sally Pearson from last weekend (11.46/23.32) were achieved at the
Gold Coast track in Queensland and not Melbourne. Informs Paul
Jenes.

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