ADDIS
ABABA (ETH): Ethiosports.com informs that the situation in Ethiopia is changed
and the ban on top runners is lifted. National federation EAF informed that the
ban of 34 top athletes including Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba is ended.
The federation had set up a training camp for its leading athletes early
this month to improve preparation for London after a poor showing at the
world championships in Daegu, South Korea, last August. But top runners did not
show up in the camp. The lift of the ban also means that specially the runners
for Dubai marathon on Friday who were worried are now ok.

TURNER
VS US DUO

MOSCOW
(RUS): Russian Winter announced top hurdlers from USA for February 5 IAAF
Indoor meet. Joel Brown and Dexter Faulk will be the top names against home
record holder Yevgeniy Borisov who is returning from a surgery. Also
European Champion 2010 from Barcelona Briton Andy Turner is entered. In the
5000 m walk not only Russian top names Valeriy Borchin, Sergey Bakulin, Denis
Nizhegorodov and Vladimir Kanaykin will be competing. Also Spanish Juan Manuel
Molina and Mexican Eder Sanchez are in the race. In women 3000 m walk world
champion Olga Kaniskina will be facing Melanie Seeger of Germany, Ukrainian
Yelena Shumkina, Sylwia Korzeniowska and home rivals Anisya Kirdyapkina.

UKHOV,
SILNOV, FRIEDRICH – TOP NAMES FOR THE SERIES

HUSTOPECE
(CZE): First meet of the 8th Moravia High Jump Tour in Hustopece on Saturday
January 28 will see some top clashes. Indoor high jump king Ivan Ukhov of
Russia will open here his indoor season (last two years 237 and 238 as openers
in Hustopece). Main rivals will be two Daegu medalists, silver winner Aleksey
Dmitrik (last weekend 232) and Bahamian Trevor Barry. Reigning olympic winner
Andrey Silnov of Russia is another key name opening his season in this Czech
city. Home hero and European indoor silver winner Jaroslav Baba will have big
support of the spectators. Greek top events finalists Kostadions Baniotis and
Dimitrios Hondrokoukis are another top edition to a high quality field of
12 jumpers, only one having a personal best below 230 cm. In the women
competition all eyes will be on German Ariane Friedrich returning to the
competition after 13 months. Her main rivals will be another returning athlete,
double mother US record holder Chaunte Lowe, with two meters bests Russian duo
Svetlana Shkolina with Irina Gordeyeva. Romanian European U23 record holder
Esthera Petre already did 194 this winter and young Russian Mariya Kuchina is
world junior record holder from last year in this series (197, but at the
second meet in Trinec). The lowest PB in the field is 190 cm. The series
continues then on January 30 (Monday) in Trinec. Only Greeks and Silnov with
Friedrich are making just one stop in Hustopece, the others will continue to
the southeast part of Czech Republic close to Poland. Meet records at both
events (238 Ukhov and 200 Friedrich in Hustopece and 234 Ukhov and 201 Vlasic
in Trinec) will be under threat. Full start lists and also live results at www.moravskavyskarskatour.cz

SUPERB
5000 M FOR MILLROSE

NEW YORK
(USA): Three U.S. national records could fall during the men’s 5000 m run in
the 105th Millrose Games, February 11 at the Armory’s New Balance Track &
Field Center. Millrose Games’ meet director Ray Flynn announced the completion
of a super 5k field that includes eight-time Wanamaker Mile winner and
record holder Bernard Lagat, who is attempting to break Galen Rupp’s American
record of 13:11.44. The two other records at stake in the race will be the
collegiate and high school marks. A fourth record — the Millrose mark of
13:20.4 — could be eclipsed. Suleiman Nyambui of Tanzania established that
record in 1981 as he edged Alberto Salazar (13:22.6) to set a World
record. Salazar’s second-place time was an American record. Joining Lagat in
the 5000 m event will be five of the country’s premier collegiate runners, each
with an excellent chance to surpass Rupp’s college mark of 13:18.12. Those
runners are Lawi Lalang, the NCAA Cross Country Champion from the University of
Arizona; Leonard Korir, the NCAA Indoor 5,000m champion from Iona; Elliott
Heath, the NCAA Indoor 3,000m NCAA champion from Stanford; NCAA Cross Country
runner-up Chris Derrick of Stanford; and first-team All-American Steven Sambu
of Arizona. Juan Luis Barrios of Mexico — a training partner with Lagat —
is also featured in the event. Britain will be represented by Andy Baddeley and
Mark Draper. Edward Cheserek, who ran the second-fastest indoor mile (4:02.21)
in U.S. high school history over the weekend, is another entry and will aim at
the 5000 m indoor HS mark set by Lukas Verzbicas at 14:06.78. Organizers are
informing.

KENYA
VS ETHIOPIA DUELS

DUBAI
(UAE): First big marathon of 2012 will be the Standard Chartered Dubai race on
Friday. Top male favorites are Kenyan and former London winner Martin Lel and
Ethiopian Deriba Merga. For Merga in case of winning this could be very
important towards his olympic selection. Another Kenyans in good shape running
are Stephen Kibiwott and Jonathan Mayo. In total 12 runners are having a personal
best under 2:07. Among them title defender David Barmasai. From new wave to
note Markos Geneti of Ethiopia and Kenyans Gilbert Yegon with Elijah Keitany.
Kenya vs Ethiopia also in women race. World bronze medalist Sharon Cherop with
Lydia Cheromei are the two Kenyans who belong to the elite group of 6 olympic
pre-selected Kenyan runners. A win could be very helpful in this case. But
also debuting Lucy Kabuu should be mentioned. Ethiopians to be considered are
Aberu Kebede, Aselefech Mergia (title defender) and Koren Yal along with Mamitu
Daska (2010 winner here) and Mare Dibaba. For both winners 250 000 USD is
ready. In all races 15 000 runners are expected. Mainly women course record
2:22:42 by Berhane Adere in 2008 will be under threat. Men´s course record by
Haile Gebrselassie who is not running this year is 2:04:53 from 2008 (his first
win from three in a row 2008-10). With help from Alberto Stretti blog.

FAYTTEVILLE
IS BACK

INDIANAPOLIS
(USA): USATF website informs that the host of USATF’s Indoor Visa Championship
Series for the past 10 years, Fayetteville, Arkansas, will stage the USA Track
& Field Classic February 11 as part of the nationally televised series, USA
Track & Field announced. The USATF Classic will be held in conjunction with
the 2012 Tyson Invitational, one of the nation’s premier collegiate meets, on
the campus of the University of Arkansas. The meet joins USATF’s 2012 Indoor
Visa Championship Series that also includes the U.S. Open January 28 in New
York City; the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix February 4 in Boston; and the 2012
USA Indoor Track & Field Championships Feb. 25-26 in Albuquerque, N.M.
Fayetteville hosted the Visa Championship Series from 2000-2009. In 2012 it
re-enters the series thanks to a 10-event professional lineup that will
feature some of the strongest fields of the indoor season. “When we saw the
fields that the University of Arkansas and Nike had put together, it was
obvious that this meet would be a highlight of the indoor season,” said
USATF CEO Mike McNees. Among the athletes currently slated to compete are Galen
Rupp in the men’s 2 mile, world champion Kirani James of Grenada in the men’s
400m, American record holder and World Outdoor bronze medalist Jillian
Camarena-Williams and USA Outdoor champion Michelle Carter in the women’s shot
put; world champion Brittney Reese, Olympic medalist Hyleas Fountain, Marshevet
Hooker and Funmi Jimoh in the women’s long jump; Shawn Crawford, Richard
Thompson and Churandy Martina in the men’s 60m; and Silas Kiplagat and Leo
Manzano in the men’s mile.

OTHER NEWS

INDIANAPOLIS
(USA): USATF informs that USA Track & Field’s Board of Directors has
welcomed athlete and activist Jackie Joyner-Kersee, sports attorney Eve Wright
and network television executive Mickey Carter to its ranks. Wright and Carter
assume independent seats, while Joyner-Kersee takes the board’s High
Performance seat. Board member Steve Miller has been elected to the position of
board vice chair.

TORONTO
(CAN): A game changing world first in the sport of athletics (track and
field) was announced by the National Track League (NTL). For the first time in
the history of the sport, a competition, in this case a complete
series, will share race bib inventory with the participating athletes. In the
coming weeks the NTL will finalize and make public the exact specifications of
the race bib which participating athletes will own.

BRUSSELS
(BEL): Belgian decathlete Thomas Van der Plaetsen has confirmed his
participation at the Indoor Combined Events meeting in Tallinn on February 3
and 4. Van der Plaetsen last year scored a Belgian indoor record of 6020
points and hopes to improve on that mark. He will most likely only compete in
one heptathlon this indoor season and in February returns to South Africa for a 10
week training camp.

LONDON
(GBR) : If the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics were being awarded on the basis of
local opinion polls then Baku would be the early favourites after they released
a survey claiming that 95 per cent of people in Azerbaijan backed their
bid, nearly 30 per cent higher than in Tokyo, the bookmakers choice reports
Insidethegames.

NAIROBI
(KEN):The Athletics Kenya (AK) Sprints, Field and Medley Relays championships
get under way on Wednesday at Nyayo National Stadium and national sprints head
coach Stephen Mwaniki said Monday AK will use the event to assess and monitor
athletes ahead of the London Olympic Games. “We want to try and refine them so
as to qualify more numbers to the London Olympic Games,” he said for The Daily
Nation. On the card are the men’s and women’s 4x800m and 4x200m medley relays,
All the field events, including shot put, discus, javelin, hammer, pole vault,
high jump, long jump and triple jump , as well as hurdle races.

MONTE
CARLO (MON): Russian long jumper Darya Klishina has written her first IAAF
Online Diary and reported about her university diploma in sports management,
her successful surgery on her leg after the World championships in Daegu and
her birthday party. Klishina also revealed that following surgery training now
is going well and she will start competing in Glasgow on January 28th followed
by the Russian Winter in Moscow on February 5th, after that she will evaluate
whether she competes at the Russian national indoor championships.

ADELAIDE
(AUS): Australian Flame captain Steve Hooker will launch his 2012 campaign at
the Adelaide Track Classic this weekend, as theQantas Australian Athletics Tour
begins with a bang on Saturday. Seeing the return of international
athletics to South Australia for the first time in six years, the Adelaide
Track Classic will see Hooker, the reigning Olympic pole vault champion, join
Australia’s biggest track and field names including Sally Pearson (100m, 200m),
John Steffensen, Jana Pittman, Benn Harradine, Dani Samuels and Tamsyn Manou.
“It’s been a promising few weeks. I jumped five metres off six steps
a couple of weeks ago in Perth and the plan for Adelaide is to extend out
to eight steps and look for a height of around 5.30m,” Hooker said for
Athletics Australia.

MINSK
(BLR): Vladimir Potupchyk remained the President of Belarus Athletics
Federation. That is the result of the election conference of the federation on
Tuesday. His deputies are Grigoriy Kosyachenko and Anatoliy Baduev. Former
olympic winner at 400 m hurdles will continue as general secretary. In the 26
strong board of the federation also hammer thrower Vadim Devyatovskiy and discus
thrower Ellina Zvereva, olympic winner from 2000.

MADRID
(ESP): Spanish Athletics federation RFEA informed that according to the rules
non Spanish International level athletes can only compete in those races, which
are included in the RFEA Calendar. Marathon of Seville will not be included in
our Calendar, as they do not comply with some requirements established by RFEA.
For this reason it is not possible that foreign athletes participate in this
race. The Sevilla City Marathon is planned for February 19.

RESULTS

MOSCOW
(RUS, Jan 24): European 200 m bronze winner from Barcelona Aleksandra Fedoriva
is apparently moving to the 400 m. At Moscow City U23 Championships running as
a guest she clocked in her only second ever 400 m race more than solid 52.39.
Former world indoor champion at the distance Natalya Nazarova posted in her
race 53.39. Barcelona bronze steeple winner Lyubov Kharlamova won the 2000 m
steeple in 6:13.10. It is 6th best ever all-time performer. In the men 2000 m
steeple Ildar Minshin achieved 5:24.80 ahead of European Junior Champion from
Tallinn Ilgizar Safiulin 5:27.09. In the women 60 m Natalya Murinovich won the
guest race in 7.35 after faster 7.29 in heats. Konstantin Shabanov clocked 7.71
at 60 m Hurdles and Yuriy Koldin 3:44.73 in the 1500 m.

OSTRAVA
(CZE, Jan 24): European indoor silver winner Jaroslav Baba started his indoor
season in a good manner. At „Ostravska latka” special high jump meet he
cleared in third attempt the Istanbul standard of 229 cm. Baba then tried at
233 cm. Second Romanian Mihai Donisan, third US Keith Moffat with Poland´s
Piotr Sleboda and 5th Slovak Matus Bubenik, all cleared 223 cm. For Bubenik new
life-time best. Oldriska Maresova won on count-back the women competition with
185, also Poland´s second Urszula Domel and third Karolina Blazej cleared 185
cm.

PRAHA
(CZE, Jan 24): Czech fastest woman Katerina Cechova started her season with
fast 7.38 in the 60 m. Hurdler Lucie Skrobakova was close in 7.48, new personal
best. Young Pavel Maslak achieved good 33.65 in the 300 m and old-timer Roman
Sebrle tested his shape before weekend´s match with 7.30 at 60 m and 8.26 at 60
m hurdles.

LASNAMAE
(EST, Jan 24): Estonian series Big Bank Kuldliiga started with national record
holder Anna Iljustsenko clearing 190 in the high jump. Latvian guest Elvijs
Misans leaped to 772 in the long jump and Russian Yuriy Kovalev got 16.65 in
the triple jump. Caribbean guests coming from Volgograd won the 200 m races.
Jamaican Patricia Hall 23.65 and Antoine Adams of St. Kitts 21.58. Decathlon
star Mikk Pahapill achieved 15.18 in the shot put (his best is 15.73).

BYDGOSZCZ
(POL, Jan 22): Lukasz Michalski tested his shape here before Cottbus with 550
clearance. World champion Pawel Wojciechowski took it as a training with 5
meters.