by Larry EderAlexsandr Menkov long jumped 8.30 meters in Moscow on Saturday at the Russian Winter Meeting. With six world leading marks, including the World Championship gold medalist, the afore-mentioned Mr. Menkov, the Russian Winter Meeting lived up to the hype. Thanks to Natalya Maryanchick, who wrote this for the IAAF website.
Menkov Magnificent in Moscow Russian Winter Meeting!
by Natalya Maryanchik for the IAAF
Five 2014 world leading marks in championship events and Ethiopia’s Mohammed Aman coming close to the world best over 600m were the highlights of the Russian Winter indoor meeting in Moscow, the second of this year’s IAAF Indoor Permit meetings, on Sunday.
For the Krasnoyarsk-born long jumper Alexandr Menkov, the Russian capital is clearly among his favourite places to compete.
After winning at the 2013 IAAF World Championships last August, Menkov took the third Russian Winter victory of his career with a 2014 world lead of 8.30m, just one centimetre shy of his indoor best set at last year’s European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg.
He also equalled the meeting record, set by Vitaly Shkurlatov in 2000. “The (8.30m) jump came in the third round and felt surprisingly easy,” commented Menkov, who was making his 2014 debut.
“In the warm up, I felt pain in my groin and I even considered if I should compete, but the pain was not too sharp, and I decided to jump.
“This winter, I am doing mostly light training, firstly because of this small injury, and secondly because recently I have been getting lots of invitations to various public events. There has been almost no time to work out so I am really happy with an 8.30m jump in such circumstances.
“Now, I am jumping (at the IAAF Indoor Permit meeting) in Birmingham on 16 February, and then either at the national trials, or I’ll go straight in Sopot.”
For the complete story:
http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/aleksandr-menkov-russian-winter-indoor-meetin
