Edwin Soi, 2011 FBK Hengelo, photo by PhotoRun.net

Karlsruhe will have a very fast field for the 3,000 meters. Edwin Soi, Augustine Choge, Eliud Kipchoge are among the field, so do not be surprised if the meet record, then a WR in 1998, goes…2012 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston should be a memorable event, with some fantastic fields on a very fast track, with great fans! February 11 is looking like a huge day of indoor track, in two sites, one, in the Armory NB Track & Field Center in New York, where the Millrose Games will be hosted. Also in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with the USA Track & Field Invitational. Watch for more details.

STAMBOLOVA
WL 51.26

VIENNA
(AUT, Jan 31): Bulgarian Barcelona hurdles silver winner Vania Stambolova
clocked world leading 51.26 at 400 m during the Vienna Indoor Classic meet in
Ferry Dusika Hall. Top European times of 2012 indoor season were registered by
Austrian Andreas Vojta in the 1500 m 3:38.99 (also indoor PB) and Czech talent
Pavel Maslak 46.60 in the 400 m. Second Briton Lewis Moses improved to 3:41.33
and second in the 400 m Turkish Ali Ekber Kayas achieved national record 46.91.
Fast times also in menÂ´s 800 m when Austrian Andreas Rapatz with 1:47.24 beat
Czech Jakub Holusa 1:47.48 but in second section also fast 1:47.28 for Glasgow
match winner Joe Thomas (also indoor PB). More British wins for Greg Cackett in
the 60 m (6.69) and Andrew Pozzi in the 60 m hurdles (7.68) over Gianni Frankis
(7.70). In interesting women hurdles US Yvette Lewis with 8.11 (and 8.04 in
heats) beat former World indoor champion Derval OÂ´Rourke of Ireland (8.16).
Romanian Liliana Barbulescu won the 1500 m in 4:12.41.

NO
BYES FOR ISTANBUL

MOSCOW
(RUS): Russian head coach Valentin Maslakov confirmed there will be no wild
cards this time for World Indoor Championships. â€žAll who wants to be selected
must compete at our national championships end of February,” said Maslakov. He
also informed that for the summer situation with European Championships, close
afterwards the national championships and deadline for olympic qualification on
July 8 no guidelines have been agreed so far. â€žWorld champions from Daegu will
get preference,” added Maslakov.

RUDISHA
THINKS 400 M PB

SYDNEY
(AUS): As EME NEWS already reported 800 m world champion David Rudisha will
open his 2012 campaign as in previous years in Australia. The 400 m race in
Sydney in February will be also about his PB (45.50 in Sydney 2010). â€žMy personal
best in the 400m is still from when I ran in Sydney two years ago, so I’m
hoping that I can maybe lower that time. People have asked me if I will
run on our 4×400 relay team, at the moment all I can say is that anything
is possible but the focus for me is the 800m. Having won the World
Championships I of course want to add that Olympic title,” he said. Also
IAAF World Athlete of the Year Sally Pearson, 2009 world champion Dani Samuels
and Commonwealth champion Fabrice Lapierre will lead the Australian charge
against international starters including Stephanie Brown-Trafton (USA, discus),
Kara Patterson (USA, javelin), Greg Nixon (USA, 400m) and Valerie Adams (NZL,
shot put) in Sydney.

TOP
NAMES FOR MENÂ´S 3000 M

KARLSRUHE
(GER): Top field is assembled in menÂ´s 3000 m for the IHM Karlsruhe meet on
February 12 (IAAF Indoor Permit). The meet record of legendary Haile
Gebrselassie (7:26.15 in 1998, was at that time also world indoor record)
should be under attack. Kenyans Augustine Choge, Eliud Kipchoge and Edwin Soi
will compete with Ethiopian Yenew Alamirew.

OTHER NEWS

INDIANAPOLIS
(USA): Team USA coaching staff was announced for World Indoor Championships in
Istanbul. Rhan Sheffield, who will be the women’s team head coach along with
coaching sprints and hurdles, is the lone representative from the team staff
that also traveled to the 2010 World Indoor Championships, where Team USA won
the medal table with a total of 17 medals. MenÂ´s head coach will be John
Moon, also responsible for throws. Informs USATF.

CHICAGO
(USA): Registration for the 2012 Bank of America Chicago Marathon will open to
the public beginning at noon (CST) on Wednesday, February 1, at www.chicagomarathon.com. The 35th
anniversary of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon will be held on Columbus
Day weekend, Sunday, October 7, starting and finishing in Chicago’s Grant Park.
Registration will be open to the first 45,000 entrants.

ERFURT
(GER): Agencies are informing that German doctor Andreas Franke who has worked
with at least 28 national team athletes – including five-time Olympic champion
speed skater Claudia Pechstein – is being investigated for possible blood
doping transfusions. The German Olympic Committee has suspended the doctor. The
German anti-doping body, NADA, said Monday it will review court documents from
a case against Franke. German public broadcaster ARD said its list of the
28 athletes alleged to have worked with Franke include Pechstein, former 800 m
Olympic champion runner Nils Schumann, German cyclist Marcel Kittel and
Jamaican long jumper James Beckford.

LIEVIN
(FRA): Another top event at the Pas de Calais meet in Lievin on February 14 is
womenÂ´s 60 m hurdles with US world medalist Danielle Carruthers, menÂ´s 1500 m
with Kenyan Silas Kiplagat and home star Mehdi Baala, menÂ´s 60 m will have
legendary Kim Collins and 3000 m Kenyan Edwin Soi. French European Champion
Renaud Lavillenie should compete against Cuban Daegu medalist Lazaro Borges and
world champion Pawel Wojciechowski of Poland.

KYIV
(UKR): No luck this winter for Daegu high jump finalist Dmytro Demyanyuk. He
has problems with his leg and all looks as he would miss the indoor season.

VAXJO
(SWE): Special throwing indoor meet in Sweden is back also this year. World
Indoor Throwing Challenge will be staged in big Tipshallen in Vaxjo on March
10-11. For all ages from 11 to senior.

BRIGHTON
(GBR): Commonwealth Games Marathon champion, John Kelai, has signed up to run
the Brighton Marathon on Sunday April 15th. Given the faster course in Brighton
this year, with two inclines at miles five and nine taken out, Kelai is
expected to challenge the course record of 2:16:07.

MONACO
(MON): Four time long jump world champion Dwight Phillips who is not competing
during the indoor season said in his entry for IAAF that “I know this could be
my last Olympics and that’s something I have thought about. I won the
Olympic gold in Athens in 2004 but due to injuries I wasn’t able to defend
my title in 2008 so I look at this as my opportunity to defend the title I wasn’t
able to defend in Beijing. 2012 is going to be a very special year for me.”

KINGSTON
(JAM): It seems that anything Usain Bolt touches turns to gold, and his
endorsement of the energy drink Gatorade has seen sales through the roof in
Jamaica. In addition to Bolt, Gatorade has a history of recruiting
top-ranked athletes as ambassadors for the brand. Some of these include Derek
Jeter, Michael Jordan, Kevin Garnett, Peyton Manning, Serena Williams, Chad
Ortiz and Dwayne Wade to name a few. Informs Jamaica Observer.

BOSTON
(USA): More top names were announced for New Balance Indoor Games which will be
held in Boston this Saturday. Kenyan 1500 m specialist Silas Kiplagat will run
the 3000 m (against world medalist at 1500 m Matt Centrowitz and Ethiopian
Dejen Gebremeskel). Other winners of US Open are also David Oliver at 60 m
hurdles (against Aries Merritt, Omo Osaghae and Jeff Porter) and Ethiopian
Fantu Magiso in the 800 m (with Maggie Vessey and talented Ajee Wilson).

LOS
ANGELES (USA): Beijing Olympic Silver Medalist, Hyleas Fountain is among the
featured athletes chosen for the Budweiser 2012 direct promotional campaign.
Athletes will be featured in print advertising, Outdoor advertising and
commercial Internet distribution to promote the 2012 London Olympic Games for
Olympic Sponsor, Anheuser-Busch. Fountain is a 6-Time U.S. National Champion.
She is the American Indoor pentathlon record holder and has won U.S. national
titles in both the heptathlon and long jump.

PRAHA
(CZE): Kenyan runners Philemon Limo and Lydia Cheromei, the big stars from last
year’s runs in the Czech Republic will be returning to defend their titles at
the Hervis 1/2Marathon, Prague which is being held this year on Saturday, 31st
March 2012 as a part of the RunCzech.com series. Organisers are informing
in a release. Cheromei who is one of the 6 Kenyan Olympic pre-selected
marathon runners clocked last year in Prague 1:07:33 half marathon and 2:22:34
full distance. Interest in the Hervis 1/2Marathon among runners is huge. With
two months to go before the race starts, over eighty percent of the 11 000
start numbers have already been sold.

NEW YORK
(USA): RRW informs that under a new agreement struck between the Armory
Foundation and YouTube, the 105th Millrose Games will be broadcast live with
high definition resolution through YouTube Sports. Veteran commentators Tim Hutchings
and Dwight Stones will call the meet, scheduled for Saturday, February 11, at
the Armory track and field center here in Upper Manhattan.

JOHANNESBURG
(RSA): South African runner Hendrick Ramaala knows he still faces a stiff
challenge if he is to qualify for his fifth Olympic Games appearance in London
this summer. Ramaala winner of the world’s biggest half marathon race from
Newcastle to South Shields in 1997 then 2003 and 2006 easily gained the Olympic
marathon qualifying standard of two hours 15 minutes in the Standard Chartered
Dubai Marathon last Friday. The former two-time IAAF World half marathon silver
medallist clocked a time of 2:12:12 in the Middle East’s biggest marathon
event but is well aware he needs to run faster if he is to claim one of the
three positions in the South African team. Already ahead of him in the country’s
national rankings are Stephen Mokoka – a runner up behind Briton Mo Farah
with a South African record in the 2009 Bupa Great South Run – who ran
2:10:29 in Shanghai last December. Other contenders for Olympic vests Coolboy
Ngamole clocked 2:10:43 in Valencia the previous month and Lusapho April
recorded 2:11:09 at the Frankfurt Marathon in October. Now Ramaala the former
New York Marathon champion who will celebrate his 40th birthday on Thursday
will be looking for a spring marathon to better those performances as he
bids to become the nation’s first ever athlete to notch up what will also be a record
fifth consecutive Olympic appearance. Writes David Martin.

MONACO
(MON): IAAF informed about approval of the changed nationality of Kenyan
Patrick Langat to Turkey. His new name is Tarik Langat Akdag and is eligible
for results on behalf of Turkey since January 25, 2012. But he will be able to
compete for Turkey at international championships only since June 21, 2013.
That means for example at World Championships in Moscow. He clocked his steeple
best last year 8:08.59 but that counts still for Kenya.

MONACO
(MON): In latest IAAF doping confirmations Russian 11.24 sprinter Anna Gurova
(30) is mentioned. She was positive at Russian Championships last July in
Cheboksary (she was 5th in the 100 m final and clocked season best 11.41 in
semis) and will be banned until August 8, 2013. IAAF also confirmed bans for
two positive athletes from World Championships in Daegu, names were already
reported. Portugal runner Sara Moreira competing in the 3000 m steeple and
Korean sprinter Hee Nam-Lim will be unable to compete for 6 months. The
sanction is ending for both in spring 2012.

ALGER
(ALG): Algerian runner Taoufik Makhloufi, 800 m winner of the 2011 All-Africa
Games, has decided to try his chance abroad and join Jama Aden’s training
group, which also includes Sudanese 800m world indoor champion Abubaker Kaki.
Aden, who is currently a national coach for Qatar, contributed to the
revival of Sudanese athletics in the 2000s. Informs African Confederation
website.

RESULTS

BELGOROD
(RUS, Jan 29): World leading 800 m for Yulia Rusanova at the indoor meet here
2:00.45. In the 60 m Yelena Sokolova beat with 7.34 Ukrainian Natalya
Pogrebnyak 7.35.

OSAKA
(JPN, Jan 29): Two interesting additions from Osaka women marathon. Romanian
Olympic winner from Beijing Constantina Dita was 11th in 2:40:08. She is still
missing the Olympic A qualifier of 2:37. Ukrainian Tetyana Gamera-Shmyrko
with her 2:24:46 registered new national record.

MIAMI
(USA, Jan 29): ING Miami Marathon winners were Kenyan Sammy Malakwen 2:16:55 in
close finish over Ethiopian Teferi Bacha also 2:16:55. Argentinian Raquel
Maraviglia was the best woman in 2:41:39 ahead of PolandÂ´s Wioletta Kryza
2:45:32 (at age of 43).

RIGA
(LAT, Jan 28): Aige Grabuste totalled 4396 points in pentathlon here.

POMBAL
(POR, Jan 29): Two solid results from Portugal Clubs Indoor Cup second day.
Marco Fortes got 20.10 in the shot put and Marcus Chuva 788 in the long jump.

SPALA
(POL, Jan 29): World champion Pawel Wojciechowski was jumping with 520, women
winner Joanna Piwowarska cleared 440 cm.

MALMO
(SWE, Jan 29): European junior silver winner from 2011 Jannick Klausen (still a junior
in 2012) cleared at home good 225 cm in the high jump.

TORONTO
(CAN, Jan 29): Canadian sprinter Justyn Warner opened with great personal best
6.59 at 60 m here. It was also new track record, former was held by Ben
Johnson. Last year improved hurdlers Nikitta Holder and Phylicia George got
8.20 and 8.21 at 60 m hurdles.

FAYETTEVILLE
(USA, Jan 28): In high quality heptathlon competition at Razorback Invitational
with world junior indoor record another all-time best was set. 11th placer Nick
Ross (5269) cleared in high jump 224 what is all-time indoor best in the high
jump during the heptathlon.

PENZA
(RUS, Jan 28-29): Best result at Russian U17 indoor championships was new
national indoor boys record in shot put 19.68 by Aleksey Chizhelkov.

NITRA
(SVK, Jan 31): Slovak Michal Kabelka won the special indoor high jump meet with
220 and good attempts at 223 cm.

ZAPORIZHYA
(UKR, Jan 31): Ukrainian top high jump talent Tatyana Biryuk (born 1995) won
the schools indoor championships with 185 cm.

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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