Bolt Confirms Sprints for Rio, Chicherova out of Winter season, Martin Lel for NYC, by Alfons Juck, note by Larry Eder

 

 

BOLT CONFIRMS SPRINTS FOR RIO

AUCKLAND (NZL): Usain Bolt during his tour in New Zealand said that his goal of lowering the 100 m mark to 9.4 level still stands and hints at a possibility of it happening next season. Bolt made his declaration Monday as he ended a whistle-stop promotional tour, which has seen the world’s fastest man on New Zealand soil for less than 24 hours. “There’s a possibility for 9.4s, there’s a definite possibility. I think this season won’t be so stressful, I can relax a little bit more, focus a little bit more,” said the six-time Olympic gold medallist. The most popular athlete also confirmed he will defend his sprint titles at the Rio de Janiero Olympic Games in 2016. Bolt swept aside speculation that he could challenge for the 400 meters or long jump in Brazil. „Rio is about going and defending my titles. I don’t want to try any different events at Rio because at Rio I will just defend my titles to show the world that there is a possibility that I can do it again – to do the three-peat, that is the focus,” he said. New Zealand media are informing.

 

CHICHEROVA OUT OF WINTER SEASON

MOSCOW (RUS, October 10): High Jump reigning Olympic and World Champion Anna Chicherova promulgated her proximate plans after Egypt holiday. In an interview with News Agency “All Sports” she said that now she wants to go to Dead Sea for another stay. “I want to help a little bit my body to take a full rest. Definitely I need therapeutic muds before starting my training. Most probably I’ll not be able in time to make necessary technical preparation for next winter. That is why I’m about to miss indoor competitions. For me it’ll be a time to gain a potential for summer 2013”.

 

NOMINEES FOR IAAF WORLD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARDS

MONACO (MON): IAAF announced top 10 men and women for the World Athlete of the Year Award. The voting of IAAF Family will directly contribute to the nomination of finalists for the 2012 World Athlete of the Year Award. The Council of the International Athletic Foundation will then select the male and female winners from the finalists with the announcement taking place in a special ceremony in Barcelona, during the 2012 Centenary Celebrations, on 24 November 2012. The vote will close on Sunday 28 October 2012, midnight CET. Men top ten is including Jamaican sprinting stars Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, also world record breakers David Rudisha, Aries Merritt and Ashton Eaton. British star and double olympic winner Mo Farah, unbeaten discus thrower Robert Harting, Grenada´s special star Kirani James, French Pole Vaulter Renaud Lavillenie and US triple hero Christian Taylor. The only woman with individual world record nominated is Russian walker Yelena Lashmanova, relay world record holder is triple olympic winner Allyson Felix, other US athletes are Sanya Richards-Ross and Brittney Reese. Not missing of course last year award winner Sally Pearson, another Oceanian star shot putter Valerie Adams, Jamaican 100 m olympic winner Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, British multi star Jessica Ennis, Ethiopian distance legend Tirunesh Dibaba and Czech double olympic winner in javelin Barbora Spotakova. The email voters will be: IAAF & IAF Council Members; IAAF Member Federations; IAAF Committee & Commission Members; IAAF Meeting Directors; IAAF Ambassadors; Athletes’ Representatives; Top Athletes; Members of the International Press; IAAF Staff Members.

 

HEJNOVA CHANGES COACHES

PRAHA (CZE): Czech olympic bronze medalist and national record holder Zuzana Hejnova is switching coaches. The 400 m hurdler is leaving the female training group of coach Martina Blazkova and is starting to work with Dalibor Kupka. He is former 400 m hurdler and currently has in the group European 400 m champion Pavel Maslak, 800 m world indoor medalist Jakub Holusa, fastest Czech 100 m runner Jan Veleba, best national male 400 m hurdler Josef Prorok. „I needed a change, we separated our ways with coach Blazkova in a friendly way. I need something new, I am happy that coach Kupka accepted me,” said Hejnova. Kupka also coached Roman Sebrle from 2002 until last year and world finalist at 400 m hurdles Jiri Muzik in the past. In other Czech coaching changes heptathlete Eliska Klucinova also left Martina Blazkova and will continue under former sprinter Frantisek Ptacnik. Decathlete Adam Sebastian Helcelet who this year for first time achieved more than 8000 points ended his cooperation with Tomas Dvorak and will train with Rudolf Cerny, the former coach of Barbora Spotakova.

 

UKRAINIAN FEDERATION WITH OPPOSITION

KYIV (UKR): Current Executive Committee of Ukrainian Athletics Federation (FLAU) with its president Valeriy Borzov is continuing in the fight for the future of Ukrainian Athletics. Situation became difficult after London Olympics with results not as expected. Group of Ukrainian athletes promulgated an open letter to Chairman of State Service of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Ravil Safiullin and accused FLAU of not improving the training conditions during last years. After their meeting the official website of State Youth and Sports service of Ukraine published information that FLAU wasted 36 million UAH (3,6 millions Euros) from the state budget which were allocated for the athletes training camps what drew a wide response in local media. State and Head coaches Valeriy Aleksandrov and Oleksandr Apaychev refuted that information and opposed the views of the State Youth and Sports service department. A few days later they were fired from their positions. In the same time special investigation commission revealed financial improprieties during last year’s training camps in Russian Kislovodsk made by senior coach of middle and long distances runners Konstantyn Stepantsov what isn’t confirmed yet by relevant authority. FLAU’s Elective Conference will be staged on November 8 and the Ukrainian officials informed in an open letter other national federations in Europe about the situation. New candidate for the president post is Andriy Onistrat, owner of a bank and also 2:42 marathon runner. Based on informations from Ukrainian media and from the letter sent to European federations.

 

TOLA READY TO IMPROVE

EINDHOVEN (NED) : Ethiopia’s Tadesse Tola will be looking to improve his personal best and also the course record on his return to the De Lage Landen Marathon Eindhoven this Sunday announce organizers. Tola, 24, was fourth last year in the Dutch city in 2:07:13 but improved his personal best in January when finishing second at the Dubai Marathon to 2:05:10. The current marathon Eindhoven course record is held by Kenya’s Jafred Kipchumba who clocked 2:05:48 on the fast two-lap circuit in 2011. The Dutch 3000m steeplechase record holder Mirand Boonstra (40) moved up to the marathon three years ago and ran a personal best of 2:27:32 at the Rotterdam Marathon in April this year. She claims to be in the best form of her life and aims even for a win. „I’ve never won a marathon so I want to win this marathon. I’m also looking to drop my time,” said the Nijmegen-based athlete ahead of the 29th edition of the event. European winners of top marathon races are nowadays a rarity and the last European, and also Dutch, runner to win in Eindhoven was Agnes Hijman in 2006. Last year’s winner, Kenya’s Georgina Rono, set the current course record over the fast two-lap circuit with a time of 2:24:33.

 

 

 

OTHER NEWS

 

 

NEW YORK (USA): Two-time ING New York City Marathon champ
ion Martin Lel of Kenya, coming off a big win last month in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Lisbon Half-Marathon, will return to NYC on November 4, as will Ed Moran, the Staten Island native who last year finished ninth here in his debut at the marathon distance. Informs nyrr.org.

 

LAUSANNE (SUI): IOC President Jacques Rogge has returned to work a month after undergoing hip replacement surgery. Rogge was back at IOC headquarters in Lausanne on Monday for the first time since having the operation in early September.

 

BERLIN (GER): For leichtathletik.de German long jumper Christian Reif said he will continue jumping until the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Reif had planned to end his career in 2013, but after a disappointing performance in 2012 the former European long jump champion decided he will keep competing until 2016.

 

RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Eduardo Paes has been re-elected as the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil’s municipal elections meaning that he will hold the prestigious position when the city host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympics Games reports Insidethegames.

 

LONDON (GBR): Dwain Chambers will not receive a penny of Lottery funding next season, despite being readmitted to the Olympic fold after the British Olympic Association was forced to drop its lifetime ban for former drug cheats. UK Sport, the government agency that distributes Lottery cash, has reaffirmed its zero-tolerance stance towards drug offenders. It means Chambers will not even be a consideration for the UK Athletics selection panel when it meets this week to decide which track and field athletes will be funded next year writes The Telegraph.

 

LONDON (GBR): The IOC has vowed to tighten up testing procedures after a number of competitors at the recent 2012 Olympic Games in London missed blood test appointments without incurring sanctions. The missed appointments, for blood tests relating to the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), were disclosed in the recent Independent Observer (IO) report on the London 2012 anti-doping program.

 

MONACO (MON): At the heart of the temporary collection of the IAAF Centenary Historic Exhibition, Museu Olímpic i de l’Esport Joan Antoni Samaranch, Barcelona, Spain, (Saturday 13 October to Sunday 25 November 2012) are the artefacts related to World record performances and performers, and some of the great rivalries which have taken place since the foundation of the IAAF in 1912. In Part One the athletics achievements of two of the IAAF Vice-Presidents Sergey Bubka and Seb Coe are celebrated. One of the poles with which the current World Pole Vault record (6.14) was set in Sestriere, Italy, 31 July 1994 will be on display, along with the competition numbers from Bubka’s six outdoor World championship victories. Coe’s spikes and competition vest from his second Olympic 1500m gold medal in Los Angeles 1984 will be the focus for middle distance fans. Alongside those are some marvellous items from Coe’s rivals Steve Ovett (competition vest and 800m gold medal, Moscow 1980) and Steve Cram (1500m World Champs gold medal, Helsinki 1983). Stepping back into the infield, Jan Zelezny’s javelin with which he set the current World record (98.48m), Jena, Germany, 26 May 1996, along with his competition number from his 1995 World championships victory, will be on show. The competition vest of Zelezny’s arch rival Steve Backley from his third European title, Budapest 1998, the competition numbers of Finnish World Championship Javelin gold medallists Aki Parviainen (Seville 1999) and Tero Pitkämäki (Osaka 2007), and the competition T-Shirt and throwing boots (Daegu 2011) of Norway’s two-time Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen help emphasise the exhibition’s quality. Not forgetting the men’s current High Jump World record, Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor’s competition vest from his 2.45m leap in Salamanca, Spain, 27 July 1993, will also be on show. Informs IAAF, more at www.iaaf.org.

 

LAUSANNE (SUI): September saw the 2012 outdoor season come to an end but there were many fine performances in the wake of the 2012 Olympic Games and European Athletics Championships which were, for the first time, held in the same summer. Among the main meetings in September were the Samsung Diamond League final in Brussels and the last of the 2012 European Athletics Outdoor Premium Meetings, which was held in the Italian town of Rovereto. European Athletics is consequently pleased to announce that athletes from 14 different countries have been nominated for the September award. The voting will close on 22 October at noon CET.

 

ANKARA (TUR): Turkish double olympic medalist Elvan Abeylegesse, who was expected to make her return to international competition following maternity leave, suffered a minor injury the day before her departure for Kavarna, and was forced to the sidelines. Informs IAAF.

 

KAVARNA (BUL): Fresh IAAF HM Champion Meseret Hailu trains in the same group as Olympic champion and 2012 London Marathon winner Tiki Gelana, She has already contested seven marathons, and intends to keep road racing as her primary focus. Her next appearance will come in just two weeks when she’ll be contesting the Amsterdam Marathon for which she confirmed a rather modest goal of 2:25.

 

BARCELONA (ESP): The unique exhibition which will open in Barcelona next Saturday (October 13) to mark the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Centenary will contain gold medals won by Britain’s all-conquering middle distance trio of the 1970s and 80s, Steve Ovett, Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram. Ovett has donated his 800 meters medal from the 1980 Moscow Games, Coe is providing the 1500m gold from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and Cram’s 1500m gold from the inaugural IAAF World Championships in Helsinki in 1983 will also be on display. Writes insidethegames.

 

MAINZ (GER): German sprinter Marion Wagner (34) married on Saturday her friend since many years Sven Baumgärtner and is now Marion Baumgärtner. She ended her career after this season.

 

CHICAGO (USA): Record number of finishers at Chicago marathon with 37 455 total, previous record was 36 159 in 2010. In detail 20 688 men and 16 767 women finished on Sunday. In the All-Athletics.com marathon rankings Chicago is after the weekend number three behind London and Dubai. The next best from the weekend Kosice jumped into 16th position.

 

HAMBURG (GER): Ethiopian Netsanet Abeyo will get additional prize money from Hamburg Marathon this year. She was confirmed as winner after Kenyan Rayel Kiyara was disqualified for doping. Abeyo will be given 12 000 E for the first place and 25 000 E for the course record 2:24:12. Kiyara initially won in 2:23:47.

 

 

 

RESULTS

 

 

GIFU (JPN, Oct 8-9): At National Sports Festival Hiroyuki Nakano clocked 45.82 to win the 400 m, world medalist 2009 Yukifumi Murakami got 79.68 in the javelin. Mayumi Kawasaki won the women 10 000 m track walk in 44:22.97 and Kenyan junior Mary Waithera improved at the 3000 m to 8:48.16. It is second best time of the year by a junior.

 

BOSTON (USA, Oct 8): Chelsea Reilly made her 10-K debut a memorable one, winning the national title at the distance on a crisp fall day at the 36th Tufts Health Plan
10-K for Women in 32:41. Reilly, 23, won a long sprint to the line over Tara Erdmann (32:46), while another 10-K debutante, Neely Spence, finished third (32:51). Reilly also beat her coach and training partner, Olympian Magdalena Lewy Boulet, who finished 15th in the championships in 33:51. From RRW.

 

MINNEAPOLIS (USA, Oct 7): Race Results Weekly informs that in a near replica of what happened here a year ago, Mo Trafeh and Janet Cherobon-Bawcom came out on top as USA 10 Mile National Champions (14th 10 miler), with Trafeh winning the „Equalizer” bonus for catching the entire women’s field, who had been given a 6 minute and 31 second head start. His time 46:56 ahead of Ben True 47:19 and Jake Riley 47:22. Kara Goucher was the runner-up on the women’s side with 53:56 and 53:43 for the winner, while far down in the men’s results were Alan Webb (28th, 49:23) and Chris Solinsky (36th, 51:05). In the marathon (31st Medtronic Twin Cities), Jeannette Faber from Portland won by an impressive margin, lowering her personal best by a whopping four minutes and thirteen seconds (she’s run a personal best in ever one of her marathons) 2:32:37. Second Ethiopian Hirut Guangul 2:34:02 and third Melissa Johnson-White the same 2:34:02. Christopher Kipyego was the men’s champion in 2:14:53.

 

OVAR (POR, Oct 7): Portugal´s elite competed at the 24th Meia Maratona Ciudade de Ovar and Ana Dulce Felix won in her preparation for NYC Marathon in 1:11:07. Second Sara Moreira 1:11:35 over Marisa Bastos 1:12:14 and Ines Monteiro 1:16:02. Male winner Rui Pedro Silva got 1:04:42. From RRW.

 

BUENOS AIRES (ARG, Oct 7): Kenyan Eric Nzioki was timed with 2:12:05 to mwin the 12th Buenos Aires Marathon ahead of Patrick Muriuki 2:13:02 and Robert Mwangi 2:14:43. Lucy Karimi as top woman achieved 2:41:38.

 

CHIHUAHUA (MEX, Oct 7): Ethiopian Bado Worku clocked 1:03:23 to win the 22nd Medio Maraton International Oxxo. Just two seconds behind Kenyan Julius Keter 1:03:25. Grace Wambui was the best woman in 1:12:52.

 

KUALA LUMPUR (MAS, Oct 6-7): Top results at the 88th Malaysia Open Champs were 50.97 at 400 m hurdles by Fawaz Al-Shammari from Kuweit 50.97 and on the women side Malaysian triple jump record 13.90 (+0.1) by Noor Amida Mohd Nafiah.

 

SELB (GER, Oct 6): Olympic silver winner Bjorn Otto cleared in the ice-hockey hall in cold weather here 552 in the pole vault.

 

COLOMBO (SRI, Oct 7): Kenyan winner of 12th Colombo Marathon Geoffrey Birgen clocked 2:26:40. Women win for Sri Lankan Ruchina Deepani in 2:55:47.

 

SELESTAT (FRA, Oct 7): Evans Kipkoech won the half marathon here in 1:05:48, top woman Natalya Chavkina of Belarus 1:17:49. In the 10 km race Dickson Kimaiyo 29:27 and Chelangat Sang 33:28.

 

BUENOS AIRES (ARG, Oct 6): Another improvement of South American Youth hammer record (5 kg). Joaquin Gomez achieved at a local meet 77.11 m.

 

SANTIAGO (CHI, Oct 7): Jose Ballivian bettered his own South American Junior shot put record (6 kg) to 19.99 m.

 

 

 

CORRECTIONS

 

 

SAN JOSE (USA): The winner here of the half marathon Simon Bairu is Canadian, not Kenyan.

 

KOSICE (SVK): The second half of winner Kimaiyo was 1:03:07 and not 1:03:57.

 

NANCY (FRA): French HM men title went to Nicolas Fernandez in 1:05:52 and not to the Burundi runner who finished ahead of him.