EME NEWS (JAN 15, 2013)

ENNIS AND VAN ALPHEN

LAUSANNE (SUI): Top European multi-eventers confirmed their participation at European Indoor Championships in Goteborg. Mainly olympic winner Jessica Ennis for women pentathlon and olympic fourth placer and best European Hans Van Alphen for men heptathlon. Also confirmed based on 2012 results are for heptathlon Dutch athletes Eelco Sintnicolaas and Ingmar Vos, French Kevin Mayer, Russians Sergey Sviridov and Ilya Shkurenyov and Serbian Mihail Dudas. One place is reserved for host country Sweden and 7 athletes will qualify based on 2013 indoor results as of February 19. Among them no one from Netherlands or Russia could be included as only two per country are allowed to compete. For women pentathlon confirmed from 2012 lists are with Ennis also Russians Kristina Savitskaya and Yekaterina Bolshova, French Antoinette Nana Djimou, Latvian Laura Ikauniece, Ukrainian Hanna Melnychenko and German Julia Machtig. One place is reserved for Sweden and remaining 7 will be given to best results from 2013 indoor except of Russia where two places are already filled.

LAVILLENIE WITH FULL SCHEDULE

AUBIERE (FRA): After great start to the indoor season Renaud Lavillenie confirmed his schedule which should culminate at European Indoor Championships in Goteborg. The olympic winner will jump this weekend in Reno at Pole Vault Summit in USA. Then Rouen meet of Elite Perche Tour in France on January 26. Next in his calendar will be Karlsruhe IAAF Indoor Permit on February 2 followed by Donetsk Pole Vault Stars in Ukraine on February 9. French Indoor Championships and Metz meeting on February 24 will be the last two meets before Goteborg. In Sweden he could win his third gold from European Indoors in a row after Torino and Paris.

LOWE VS. BARRETT

NEW YORK (USA): The women’s high jump in the 106th Millrose Games will be truly memorable as America’s premier jumpers Chaunte Lowe and Brigetta Barrett announced they will compete February 16 at The Armory. Lowe and Barrett — two of only three American women who have ever cleared 6-8 — are joined by only 1988 Olympic gold medal winner Louise Ritter, who has held the Millrose record at 6-5 ½ since 1989. „I’m very excited to come back home and compete where it all started for me in the world of track and field,” Barrett said. „The Armory has always been one of my favorite places to jump. The energy is always great.” Lowe added: „This will be my only indoor competition in 2013.” Organizers are informing. Both top US jumpers will not be seen this winter in Europe.

A. KIRUI AND GELANA

MARUGAME (JPN): The domestic and international elite fields for the Feb. 3 Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon are headlined by London Olympics marathon silver medalist Kenyan Abel Kirui, who will be joined by Japanese Olympic marathoners Arata Fujiwara and Ryo Yamamoto. London Olympics women’s marathon gold medalist and defending Marugame champion Tiki Gelana returns to face off against 2011 Daegu World Championships marathon 5th-placer Yukiko Akaba and last year’s National Championships 10000 m 5th-place finisher Yuko Shimizu. From European runners also Marisa Barros of Portugal is entered. In men category debut for Eritrean Kidane Tadese, brother of half marathon world champion. Informs Brett Larner on his blog.

MUTAZ WITH DEBUT AT HIGH JUMP MEET WITH MUSIC

HUSTOPECE (CZE): Latest addition into the top field of 9th Moravia High Jump Tour first leg in Hustopece on January 26 is Olympic bronze winner Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar. The 239 national record holder will debut at this kind of meet here (only high jump with music). His clash with olympic winner Ivan Ukhov and reigning world champion Jesse Williams will be something special. For the women field latest top entry is Sweden´s star Emma Green Tregaro who will also continue to the second leg of the series in Trinec on January 29. The 28-years old medalist from Helsinki will start her indoor season which should culminate in Goteborg at European Indoor Championships. She will be there one of the top favorites as another top jumper will not compete indoors. Russian olympic bronze winner Svetlana Shkolina who was initially confirmed for Hustopece will not jump in winter due to slight leg problem. As already mentioned special guest at both meets will be legendary 1968 Olympic winner Richard Fosbury who will make his first ever trip to Czech Republic. All is also prepared the he will meet in Trinec the 1976 Olympic winner Jacek Wszola from nearby Poland.

MICAH KOGO TO DEBUT IN MARATHON

BOSTON (USA): Organizers of the Boston Marathon, one of the six events of the World Marathon Majors, released their full elite fields for the 2013 race on Monday, April 15, and the contest will be stronger and more diverse than ever. Forty elite athletes from 14 countries have been contracted to run by race patron John Hancock Financial. Informs Race Results Weekly. Not surprisingly, African athletes make up the bulk of the elite field with 21 of the 40 spots. Amongst those are defending champions Wesley Korir and Sharon Cherop, both of Kenya. Other top African stars include Kenyans Moses Mosop, Levy Matebo, Dickson Chumba, Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot, Micah Kogo (debut), and Lucas Rotich (debut) for the men, and Rita Jeptoo for the women. The Ethiopian squad will be led by Gebre Gebremariam, Markos Geneti, Shami Abdullah Dawit, and Raji Assefa for the men, and Aselefech Mergia, Meseret Hailu and Mamitu Daska for the women. Two of Europe’s top women, Ana Dulce Félix of Portugal and Sabrina Mockenhaupt of Germany, will both compete in Boston for the first time. The last European woman to win the race was Lydia Grigoryeva of Russia in 2007. Also to note Poland´s Karolina Jarzynska.

OTHER NEWS

LJUBLJANA (SLO): New President of Slovenian Athletics Federation was elected Gregor Bencina who was the only candidate at the assembly of the federation. Peter Kukovica announced already some time ago he will not go for another term after two mandates.

BIRMINGHAM (GBR): The latest coaching appointment by UK Athletics Performance Director Neil Black and Head Coach Peter Eriksson has seen Lloyd Cowan given the role of Lead Sprints Coach (coach based support). Cowan, who coached former 400m World Champion and 2008 Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu to a silver medal at the London Games last summer, commented: “I’m delighted to have the opportunity to continue working with Neil Black and Peter Eriksson so that the athletes in my training group can continue their development and capitalise on the success of London 2012.”

MOSCOW (RUS): Reigning Olympic and World champion at 800m Mariya Savinova has created her own web site http://mariasavinova.ru/. Athlete’s biography, photo and video galleries, subscription for Savinova’s social network accounts are available in Russian and English versions of her web.

SOCHI (RUS): High jump European champion 2010 Aleksandr Shustov said to Russian media about his hopes to compete at Rio Olympics in spite of fact he was on the verge to finish his athletics career after London 2012. “I’m the least titled in current group coaching by Yevgeniy Zagorulko. But there is something to strive for. Why not try to get what my colleagues have achieved already? After 15th place at London Olympics I have been feeling not realized. That is why we decided to perform this indoor season including European Indoor Championships. I don’t try to predict events and guess what results I’ll ready for. I just want to spend good season. I have done a great work to have such hopes” 28-years-old Russian told from his training camp in Sochi. Shustov is sure he is still capable to jump high, fight for the championships’ medals and even to win finally. “I’m training hard for that now. I have to fulfill myself if not this winter then next summer. Because everything Zagorulko is doing couldn’t disappeared without leaving a trace. I have clearly understood that for the eight years of our team-work.”

AMSTERDAM (NED): Dutch sprinter Churandy Martina is featured in a commercial for Remia, a Dutch brand of sauces. Churandy shows off how fast he can make a dish in a clip that is aired on National television reports losseveter.nl.

BERLIN (GER): German decathlete Jan Felix Knobel explained in an interview with leichtathletik.de he has forgotten about his defeat at the London Olympic Games and is looking forward to 2013. Knobel has opened the indoor season locally but is happy about his progress. He is set to compete at the German national indoor combined event championships but already rules out the European indoor championships as his main focus in on the outdoor season.

BERLIN (GER): 24-year old German walker Christopher Linke is in good shape according to leichtathletik.de and keeps as main aim for 2013 the IAAF World championships in Moscow. As walking is a very popular event in Russia, Linke is especially hopeful about the atmosphere in the Russian capital.

DUBLIN (IRL): Ireland´s top runner and European CC Champion Fionnuala Britton launched the SPAR Great Ireland Run 2013. The race will be staged on April 14 in the Phoenix Park. More than 12,000 adults and children are expected for great family running day out. Last year’s event was won in a stunning course record time of 27:49 by multiple Olympic gold medallist Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia. The women’s champion was Gemma Steel of Great Britain in 32:06. Organizers are informing.

MUMBAI (IND): The men’s course record of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon is under serious threat in the 10th edition of the event to be run on January 20, 2013, thanks to the super fast field of international elite athletes assembled by Global Sports Communication (GSC), the elite athlete coordinators to the event. Defending champion Laban Moiben of Kenya, last year’s runner-up Raji Assefa of Ethiopia and third placed John Kyui of Kenya have all confirmed their participation for the 10th edition and are among the top 10 athletes who have clocked faster timings in 2012 than the existing course record of 2:09.54, set in 2011 by Ethiopian Girma Assefa. Giving a fillip to their efforts will be course record bonus of USD 15,000, which is being offered for the first time by promoters Procam International. The women’s field will be led by Lishan Dula, an Ethiopian who now represents Bahrain. Lishan has a personal best of 2:26.56, which she clocked in the 2011 Rotterdam Marathon. Lishan will face competition from Ethiopians Aberume Mekuria, winner of the 2012 Eindhoven Marathon, and Yeshimebet Tadse, third place finisher at the 2012 LA Marathon. The other notable names in the women’s field are Kenyans Valentin Kipketer, with a PB of 2:28.02, and Margaret Toritich, besides Ethiopians Dinknesh Mekash, Fantu Jimma and Desta Tadesse. A total of 40 elite athletes will take the starter’s flag on January 20 with five pacemakers being pressed into action to force the pace.

THESSALONIKI (GRE): One of the most prominent and historical athletics clubs in Greece, Iraklis Thessaloniki (Hercules) announced that on 28 of April 2013 it will organise the first ever international relays meeting on Greek soil, named Thessaloniki Relays “Memorial Stavros Baltidis”. The initiative belongs to the club’s ever active Veterans Union and is in accordance with IAAF’s strategy to expand relay events by introducing the inaugural Relays World Championships in 2014 in Bahamas. The meeting will be held at the Kaftanzogleio stadium, the venue which staged the last ever IAAF World Athletics Final in 2009 and has a capacity of 28.000 people.

BUDAPEST (HUN): The only difference at the very top compared to last year’s situation is that the USA increased the lead both in the men’s and in the women’s All-Athletics.com Rankings of the Countries based on the hurdle events. The top-3 in the men’s ranking is the same as last year, but Cuba is now in fourth position. Puerto Rico slightly dropped to 9th (7th in 2011), but in the 400m Hurdles the country is ranked 3rd. USA not only retained the first position, but regained the leading spot also in the women’s 400m Hurdles from last year’s Nr.1, Jamaica. There is no change in the top five places while the Czech Republic improved to 6th. Belgium is in 9th position ahead of France. Germany continued to go south in the list, taking only the 11th place. More at all-athletics.com website.

BUDAPEST (HUN): Kenya is at the top of both the men’s and the women’s special All-Athletics.com Countries Rankings in the Middle-distance events. There are many changes compared to last year, especially in the women’s list. USA took 2nd position with a big margin ahead of the rest. Such as last year, Ethiopia is in third place. Great Britain climbed to 4th (from 7th in 2011). South Africa, Canada and Germany moved into the Top-12 as 8th, 10th and 12th respectively while Morocco and Russia slipped out of the best 12 countries. Despite being ‚only’ 2nd in 800m (behind Russia) and 3rd in 1500m (Ethiopia and USA are ahead), Kenyan women are ranked 1st in the women’s combined middle-distance ranking. They moved up to the top from the 4th place in 2011. US middle-distance ladies took 2nd position, just ahead of Russia in third. Ethiopia is in fourth and Canada is as high as 7th.

GLASGOW (GBR): World indoor champion Yamile Aldama will look to retain her title and get 2013 off to the best start possible when she takes to the runway for the first time since August at the British Athletics Glasgow International Match on January 26. The 40-year-old, a comfortable winner in Glasgow last year with a jump of 14.03m, says she is looking forward to competing indoors and hopefully securing that strong start to her season. “Hopefully I can perform well again this year and give myself good preparation for the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg.”

GOTEBORG (SWE): European Athletics informs that the majority of the near 800 volunteers who will carry out their important duties at the Göteborg 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships gathered on Monday for their first meeting ahead of the 1-3 March event. 600 of the 786 volunteers who will work in competition, accreditation, security, transportation, media, communications, hosting, support areas, came together at the Svenska Mässan–where the market square will be during the championships–just 45 days before the event for a meeting with the main project team.

ROMA (ITA): Italian outdoor championships 2013 have been confirmed for July 27-28 in Milano. Italy will so belong to the countries with national championships close to the World Championships in Moscow.

RESULTS

PRAHA (CZE, Jan 15): At open meet in Stromovka Hall the 2009 European indoor medalist Lucie Skrobakova clocked Goteborg standard at 60 m hurdles with 8.10.

YAROSLAVL (RUS, Jan 13): New Russian Junior indoor record at 600 m was established at “Gold ring of Russia” meet. 18-years old Anton Kozlov won the race with 1:20.47.

IVANO-FRANKIVSK (UKR, Jan 13-14): European U23 finalist in women shot put Halyna Obleshchuk won regional Ivano-Frankivsk indoor championships with personal indoor best 18.24. Reigning 800 m European Junior champion Anastasiya Tkachuk (still 19 years old) clocked 2:07.2 in the 800 m. Former national record holder in javelin Tetyana Lyahovych (PB 63.23m) came back to the field after long 3-years maternity leave with 50.68 outdoors.

JOFRA (LBA, Jan 14): The first edition of Afro Arab Cross Cup in Libya was won at 8 km by 19-years old Kenyan Simon Cheprot in 22:21 ahead of Ethiopian Abera Tesfaye 22:22 and Frederick Musyoki 22:23. Women race did not had international participation. Informsdehardloopkrant.com.

NOVOCHEBOKSARSK (RUS, Jan 13): At regional championships Yulia Kostrova cleared 191 in the high jump, Alsu Murtazina leaped to 13.75 in the triple jump and Alina Prokopyeva clocked 9:11.31 in the 3000 m.

AMSTERDAM (NED, Jan 13): New fast indoor PB for Koen Smet at 60 m hurdles with 7.69. Jamile Samuel won the 60 m in 7.37. Combined-eventer Eelco Sintnicolaas achieved 8.02 over the hurdles.