HARTING LATEST ADDITION

HENGELO (NED): Latest addition into the Hengelo start list on Saturday is discus world and olympic winner Robert Harting. He was supposed to throw in Germany this weekend, but the meet of Schonebeck was canceled due to high water. Also interesting is the entry of Swedish star Abeba Aregawi in women 800 m, she might well attack the national record of Malin Ewerlof 1:59.44 in 1998. Sprint events at the FBK Games in Hengelo on Saturday (IAAF World Challenge) will have local star Churandy Martina in the 200 m. Against him Jamaican Marvin Anderson and relay olympic winner Ramon Miller of Bahamas. In the 110 m hurdles 2009 World champion Ryan Brathwaite will face African record holder Lehan Fourie and US Olympian Jeff Porter. In the 400 m hurdles world medalist LJ Van Zyl will run with US 2011 Champion Jeshua Anderson and European leader 2013 Rhys Williams. In the women 400 m British in-shape hurdler Eilidh Child against US Keshia Baker and Jamaican Patricia Hall. In the women 200 m European champion Mariya Ryemyen who recently improved in the 100 m and home star Dafne Schippers are the main names.

BONDARENKO AND OTHER TECHNICAL EVENTS

RABAT (MAR): The 6th edition of the Meeting Mohammed VI will have on Sunday good competition on Sunday (IAAF World Challenge) also in the technical events. Doha DL winner Bohdan Bondarenko of Ukraine is in the main name of the high jump with Russian Aleksey Dmitrik along with French Mickael Hanany and Czech Jaroslav Baba making it a European party. In long jump Greek record holder Louis Tsatoumas will compete with Khotso Mokoena. Spanish Mario Pestano and Turkish record holder Ercument Olgundeniz are the discus favorites. In women triple olympic fourth placer Hanna Knyazeva of Ukraine is jumping against Italian Simona La Mantia and fourth in Eugene Slovak record holder Dana Veldakova. European Champion 2010 Linda Stahl is in javelin against improved Latvian Sinta Ozolina-Kovala and African record holder Sunette Viljoen.

RYEMYEN 11.06, POVKH 11.14

YALTA (UKR, Jun 5): First day of Ukrainian Team Championships saw European leading 100 m times by local stars and European champions. Mariya Ryemyen clocked 11.06 (+1.1) lifetime best ahead of Olesya Povkh 11.14, third Natalya Pogrebnyak 11.27. Fast also men 100 m with Sergiy Smelyk 10.28 and second Ihor Bodrov also 10.28 (+1.4). Anna Potitsina got 13.03 (+1.3) over the hurdles. In distances Olena Zhushman won the 1500m in 4:13.03 and Viktoriya Pohyrelska in a solo race the 5000 m in 15:28.35 PB. In jumps Iryna Kovalenko 192 ahead of veterans Viktoriya Styopina 189 and Vita Palamar also 189. Male winner (without Bondarenko) was Andriy Kovalov with 224.

LOCKE 9.97 IN 100 M SEMIFINAL

EUGENE (USA, Jun 5): First day of NCAA Championships saw Sam Kendricks winning the pole vault 570 (second Jack Whitt 565), Lorraine Ugen long jump 677 (+1.9), Chelsea Cassulo hammer 69.12, Ryan Crouser shot 20.31 (second Jordan Clarke 20.28) and Betsy Saina from Kenya the 10 000 m 33:08.85. In prelims lucky with wind Dentarius Locke as his semifinal was aided by +1.9 and he clocked 9.97 PB ahead of Canadian Aaron Brown 10.05. Other semis were wind-aided, Isiah Young 10.00 (+2.7) and Charles Silmon 9.92 (+3.0). Windy also women 100m semifinals: Auriyeall Scott 11.00 (+2.6), Octavious Freeman 10.99 (+2.8) and Kimberlyn Duncan 11.02 (+2.3) in their races. Fastest in 400 m semifinals David Verburg 45.19 and Shaunae Miller with Regina George 51.57. In the 400 m hurdles semifinals fastest Reggie Wyatt 49.23 and Kori Carter 54.67 with Georganne Moline 54.89. In relays semis Texas AM 42.84 and Auburn 38.76.

Heard at the ROME GOLDEN GALA press conferences

HJ: “But I’m not worried because New York was such a huge test for me and it was so cold. I was thinking, ‘If nothing breaks, I’m okay.’ I passed that test and I got examined at home and it showed that I didn’t do any harm to myself,” said Blanka Vlasic. Young Italian talent Alessia Trost will have her season debut this eventing: “It’s great to have Blanka back. She’s always been my idol. In fact, I bumped into her in the lift and I couldn’t say anything to her. I was star struck.” Trost admitted that the weight of expectation overwhelmed her slightly in Gothenburg. “It was a big surprise to me the amount of public attention I got for my jumping indoors and I wasn’t comfortable with it but now I’m learning to deal with it. However, I think I let the pressure and expectations get to me in Gothenburg.”

TJ: Christian Taylor welcomed back France’s World indoor record holder Teddy Tamgho, who will be competing in his first major international meeting in almost two years when he goes through his paces in Rome on Thursday. “It’s not a small thing he’s coming back from but I’ve been looking forward to this since 2008. I’m thinking back to the World juniors that year and he dominated it. It’s been a long time coming, I’m excited. I’m hoping Phillips (Idowu) shows up as well. I’m here to compete. I want to be the best and if you want to be the best then you have to compete with the best,”. Tamgho is in Rome with his coach former great long jumper Ivan Pedroso from Cuba.

PV: Renaud Lavillenie is optimistic: “I get the best opponents in every competition so every time it’s hard to maintain my best level but Rome is a good stadium, why not another world best performance?” said Lavillenie, who jumped a world-leading 5.95m in Eugene last Saturday.

100 m: Justin Gatlin: „My season has been going really good, from Beijing to Shanghai to Doha and hopefully I can keep that streak going. ‚m working on the finish of my race. I watched my races last year including the Olympic final he said. „They (Bolt and Blake) had extraordinary last 20 meters. So I’ve been working on that.” In the lanes Bolt will have 4, Rodgers 5 and Gatlin 6.

OTHER NEWS

LONDON (GBR): UK media are informing that an injury has forced Jessica Ennis-Hill to pull out of her first scheduled appearance since winning Olympic gold last year. Ennis-Hill was to have competed in a club competition in Edinburgh on Saturday but will delay her return until next week at the earliest. Ennis-Hill is scheduled to compete in Oslo next Thursday, running in her strongest event, the hurdles. She is entered in her first heptathlon of the year – her first since her stunning performance in London – in Tallinn at the end of this month as she builds towards August’s World Championships in Moscow.

LONDON (GB): In another injury report from British Athletics it was reported that 800 m runner and world medalist Jenny Meadows was ruled out for a second successive season due to a stress fracture. She said for Athletics Weekly her pre-injury training shape gives her the confidence that she can be in the form of her life next year. A scan revealed the 32-year-old had a problem in her left femur, the same injury that struck Paula Radcliffe pre-2008 Olympics.

EDMONTON (CAN): The 2012 IAAF Diamond League winner of the steeple and third fastest ever, Paul Kipsiele Koech from Kenya is confirmed to be headlining that event at the Edmonton International Track Classic on June 29. Joining him at the starting line is one of the strongest groups of 3000m SC runners in Canadian history: Alex Genest, Chris Winter and Taylor Milne, the top three of the four Canadians to meet the standards for the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. “It will be great to run in Canada for the first time,” says Koech, “and my goal is definitely to break the record for fastest time in Canada and the USA.”

ATHENS (GRE): AIMS announced the establishment of a new major international annually Marathon event, named ‘AIMS BEST MARATHON RUNNER’ (BMR) Award Gala. The 2013 AIMS BMR Award Gala will take place in the evening of Friday, November 8, in Athens, Greece. At the Gala the best Marathon Runners of the year (male & female) will be announced, extra-ordinary Marathon Figureheads and unique personalities will be recognized, the best initiatives and practices of the AIMS Members (300+ Race Organizers) will be promoted through the establishment of special awards (environmental & social). The prize award given to the candidate runners is 50.000 USD in total, 15 000 USD will be for the winners and 5000 to remaining candidates for the title.

MOSCOW (RUS): IAAF Ambassador for Moscow 2013, the World record holder in the long jump Mike Powell will host kids’ event during the IAAF World Challenge meeting „Moscow Challenge” on June 11. Powell has already hosted a master-class in Moscow in 2009 prior to the „Russian Winter” meeting. By the way, Darya Klishina took part in that master-class and the World record holder promised her a bright future in the event.

CESKE BUDEJOVICE (CZE): The 2nd edition of Mattoni Ceské Budejovice Half Marathon will be held on Saturday. Kenyan runners Nicholas Kamakya together with the Ethiopian Ketema Behaile are the main favourites in the men category. They want to attack the course record 59:49 of Daniel Chebii. The winner of the recent Mattoni Karlovy Vary Half Marathon Daniel Wanjiru (1:01:10) and Henry Chirchir (1:01:25), both from Kenya, need to be taken into account also. In the field also Moroccan Hicham El Amrani and Moses Kibet from Uganda who will debut at the distance. The leading duo in women category is Shure Demise (1:11:03) and Hurtesa Kedija (1:12:13) from Ethiopia with Ugandan Rebecca Cheptegei and a strong trio from Russia and Ukraine: Yulia Ruban, Eugenia Danilova and Tatyana Vilisova.

HENGELO (NED): Something for the crowd at FBK Games in Hengelo on Saturday will be the appearance of „Blade Babe” the paralympic star Marlou van Rhijn. During the Paralympic Games in London Van Rhijn ran to gold in the 200 m in a new world record of 26.18 in her category. The race with her will have a special place in the programme just before the 200 m with top male star Churandy Martina.

AMSTERDAM (NED): Bitter news for Dutch hurdler Koen Smet. The talented athlete was diagnosed with overuse injuries in his foot and has to keep rest for at least five weeks. Smet is one of the favourites to medal at the European U23 championships in a few weeks and will later decided whether he can travel to Tampere.

KUALA LUMPUR (MAS): In a doping case of local sprinters which lasted from May 2011 until the current decision of CAS in Lausanne. Noor Imran Hadi (10.40 and 21.36 bests), female sprinters Norjannah Hafiszah, Nurul Sarah, Siti Zubaidah, & Yee Yi Ling are suspended for 2 years commencing 24 May 2013 (until 23 May 2015). Female sprinter Siti Fatimah suspended for 18 months commencing 24 May 2013. Coach Harun Rasheed suspended for 10 years commencing 12 Sep 2011 and all their results achieved from 24 May 2011 until now (such as from the World Championships, World University Games, SEA Games & ASEAN University Games) are considered null and void. Informs Malaysian reports.

RESULTS

CHENNAI (IND, Jun 5): The second day of National Inter-State championships saw long jumper Kumaravel Prem Kumar, after a short training stint in the United States, achieving his aim of joining the magical 8 meter club with exactly 800 cm. H
e is the fourth Indian over 8 meters. In the 800m, Tintu Luka defends her title with a modest2:04.14 while her Kerala teammate Sajeesh Joseph took the men’s race in 1:49.04. Inderjeet Singh was a surprise shot put winner 18.92. In the much anticipated 400m, Kerala quarter-miler Kunhu Muhammed retained his position in the men’s race with a time of 46.71 secs while Karnataka’s M.R. Poovamma clocked 52.85m to pocket the gold. National record-holder Sahana Kumari also successfully defends her title in the women’s high jump when she sailed over 188 cm.

MOSCOW (RUS, Jun 5): At Moscow U20 and U23 Championships senior athletes started as guests. Steeple world record holder Gulnara Samitova-Galkina won the flat 3000 m in 9:12.12. Vera Rudakova clocked 56.21 in the 400 m hurdles. In men race junior Aleksandr Skorobogatko was timed with 50.47. Good pole vaulting with 450 by Angelina Krasnova and Anzhelika Sidorova.

BIALYSTOK (POL, Jun 4): Wojciech Nowicki won the hammer here with 73.60, Kamila Stepaniuk cleared 189 in the high jump.

TALLINN (EST, Jun 4): Sweden´s Leif Arrhenius achieved a good double here 19.98 shot and 61.55 discus. Estonian Risto Matas got 80.90 in javelin. German decathlete Pascal Behrenbruch who trains here was fifth in shot put with 16.69 season best.

HAVANA (CUB, Jun 4): Addition to Barrientos Memorial was good discus by Yareli Barrios 63.31 over Yaime Perez 62.49 and 800 m1:45.72 from Andy Gonzalez.

PAPEETE (FPY, Jun 5): Leslie Copeland from Fiji won the javelin at Oceanian Championships with good 76.87. Toea Wisil from Papua New Guinea after 200 m dominated also the 100 m in 11.90 -0.7.

TEHRAN (IRI, May 31): At the qualification competition in discus Mahmoud Samimi 64.09 and Mohammad Samimi 63.55.