by Larry EderThe World Championships is just less than three weeks away and ticket sales have picked up, teams are being picked, A standards are being attempted and visas are being requested. The trip to Moscow for teams from all over the world is beginning, as many will head to training camps soon.
ARISTARKHOVA STEEPLE WINNER, FEOFANOVA OUT
MOSCOW (RUS, Jul 22): Russian Championships serving also as trials for the Global event in August started at Luzhniki Stadium, the venue for the World Championships. European Teams winner Natalya Aristarkhova won the steeple in9:34.33 ahead of Natalya Gorchakova 9:39.47 and Lyudmila Lebedeva 9:39.98. All three qualified for the Worlds with title defender Yuliya Zaripova who had a bye from the nationals. Rinas Akhmadeyev from Tatarstan won the men 5000 m13:49.73 with no Worlds possibility. In the preliminaries biggest surprise in women pole vault as former world record holder Svetlana Feofanova did not qualify with no-heighting at 410 qualification standard. Yelena Isinbayeva did so in second attempt with borrowed pole from Feofanova. Another top name Tatyana Polnova after two failures at 410 injured herself and also did not qualify for the finals. Olympic winner Natalya Antyukh posted the fastest 400 m hurdles heat time 55.20, fastest in women 800 m heats was Yekaterina Kupina 2:00.83. In the 100 m heats fastest times for Olga Kharitonova 11.50 (+0.1) and Aleksandr Brednev 10.44 (+0.1). Vladimir Antmanis was the fastest in men 400 m hurdles heats 50.16. In technical qualifications top marks for Igor Spasovkhodskiy (16.35, triple), Dmitriy Tarabin (79.99, javelin), Aleksandr Lesnoy and Maksim Sidorov (both 19.45, shot), Oksana Kondratyeva (72.48 hammer, and return of Tatyana Lysenko from injury 68.69 also qualified) and Lyudmila Kolchanova (663, long jump).
WORLD CHAMPS PARTLY SOLD OUT
MOSCOW (RUS): The IAAF has announced that tickets for the final weekend of the World Athletics Championships in Moscow are sold out. An average of 80.9% of the tickets have been sold for the 9 days of competition at the Luzhniki Olympic Stadium. The IAAF General Secretary Essar Gabriel said that “enhanced promotional campaigns” has helped to increase the ticket sales, with television, radio, press, billboards and advertising on the metro all being utilised to increase the events exposure. He also stated that the IAAF was “very optimistic that the evening sessions can now be sold out”. The IAAF World Championships will showcase 2000 athletes from over 200 nationalities and will be watched by a predicted television audience of over 5 billion people.
OTHER NEWS
NAIROBI (KEN): Daily Nation writes that Kenya are sending a four women strong team to tackle the marathon at the World Championships in Moscow. The team includes the reigning world champion Edna Kiplagat ,Lucy Kabuu, Margaret Akai and Valentine Kipketer. Kiplagat, who has a PB of 2:19.50, has been preparing for the World Championships marathon by competing in half marathons and believes that team spirit will be a crucial factor towards the success of the Kenyan squad. Lucy Kabuu is the fastest of the 4 Kenyans with a 2:19.34 best, ran when finishing 2nd in Dubai last year, and has ambitions for the gold medal. Peter Some, Michael Kipyego, Bernard Kipyego, Nicholas Kipkemboi and Bernard Koech are all in the running for the men’s squad.
LOS ANGELES (USA): Top U.S. 400 m runner Bryshon Nellum, is all set to join the professional athletics ranks after making a remarkable comeback from a 2008 shooting, where he was shot three times in the legs. Nellum came back to make the US Olympic team in the 4x400m relay for London but decided to complete his NCAA eligibility rather than turning pro. After a spectacular season Nellum is now ready to take that step and will make a decision on his future in the coming months, after he finishes a break from competitive competition. He targets a 43 second run for the 400m as one of his main goals for his professional career. He won the NCAA Championships in life-time best 44.73 but at US Nationals was out in windy heats. Local media are writing.
LONDON (GBR): A year after the London Olympic Games were staged the Anniversary Games will celebrate London’s hosting of the event with a three day
athletics meet at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park . The event, which was sold out in 3 hours (twice 60 000 expected for the IAAF Diamond League meet), features a host of top names that are coming back after their medal winning exploits a year ago. Leading the way is Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt who competes in both the 100m and the 4x100m relay. Other Olympic champions include the 110m hurdle world record holder Aries Merrit, Kirani James and Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce. Home star Jessica Ennis is in doubt due to injury problems, writes the Daily Telegraph. Olympic Long Jump Champion, Greg Rutherford’s injury woes continue as he has been forced to pull out of this week’s Anniversary Games with a hamstring injury. The UK long jump selection will be made on July 30th, informs Independent.co.uk.
AMSTERDAM (NED): 2003 100 m World champion and oldest/fastest sub 10 runner Kim Collins is not seeking another country to represent. Confirms his management company. Local media in St. Kitts informed about Collins exploring the option of representing another country. This is not confirmed by now.
AMSTERDAM (NED): Dutch fastest sprinter Churandy Martina is delighted with his 10.04 win at the Dutch national championships and told media his form is growing towards the IAAF World championships in Moscow. Churandy refused to engage into discussions about the recent doping cases in the sport and said he could only confirm he is not involved in any of those practices.
BERLIN (GER): German European junior long jump champion Malaika Mihambo believes she could go further than the 670 she jumped in Rieti when she competes in Moscow next moth. The junior athlete improved her personal best in the final of the European championships and toldleichtathletik.de she is looking forward to jumping more finals in the near future.
LONDON (GBR): Athletics International points out that Mo Farah after his great 1500 m improvement is fourth best in combination of 1500, 3000, 5000 and 10 000 m personal bests based on IAAF scoring tables. Leader Kenenisa Bekele has 5089 points ahead of Haile Gebrselassie 5085 and Daniel Komen 5021. Farah score is 4976 followed by Eliud Kipchoge 4973 and Salah Hissou 4960. Mo Farah also became the first ever runner to break 3:30 for the 1500m and 27 minutes for the 10 000m. He is the 7th runner to run under 3:30 for 1500m and 13 minutes for the 5000m.
CASTELBUONO (ITALY): The professional field of “88th Giro Podistico Internazionale di Castelbuono” on Friday, one of th oldest road races in Europe at 10 km, has Kenyan World Half Marathon champion Wilson Kiprop as top name. Also running is Italian European CC Champion Andrea Lalli. From other names to note Kenyan Paul Lonyagata with HM 59:53 PB and Dickson Chumba 2011 Roma Marathon winner. Morocco flag will be held by Rachid Kisri (2:06:48 Paris 2009). For Italy other top names will be Gabriele DeNard, Giovanni Gualdi and Stefano Scaini. Writes Alberto Stretti.
LONDON (GBR): AI informs that Simon Hart of the Daily Telegraph has been elected the new chairman of the British Athletics Writers’ Association, which this year celebrates 50 years of existence. Jason Henderson, editor of Athletics Weekly, continues as secretary and founder member Mel Watman as honorary president.
NAIROBI (KEN): Athletics Kenya (AK) chairman Isaiah Kiplagat has sent out a stern warning to teachers who are fond of sneaking athletes out of the country. Kenyan media are informing. Kiplagat said teachers are colluding with agents to take athletes out of the country without permission of guardians and the federation. “We have received reports about athletes who are stranded in Venezuela, Philippines, Mexico and Italy and we at the federation are just wondering how they got there without our permission,” added Kiplagat. The AK boss made the remarks during a breakfast meeting where they hosted the victorious Kenya youth team which arrived yesterday from the World Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine. Kiplagat said they may bid for the 2019 World Youth Championships but on condition that the government will support them.
TORUN (POL): During the Polish Championships during last weekend farewell ceremonies were held for top athletes who in the mean-time ended thier careers. Among this names Lidia Chojecką, Anna Jakubczak, Anna Jesien and male sprinters Marcin Nowak and Marcin Jędrusinski.
CAPE TOWN (RSA): Athletics SA (ASA) announced a provisional 30-member squad for the global showpiece in Moscow. The team, consisting of 22 track and field athletes, six marathoners and two race walkers, includes 15 athletes who have met the IAAF A standard. African 100m champion Simon Magakwe was not available for selection owing to injury. Akani Simbine will secure his berth if no other athlete achieves a faster B standard before July 28. The team – men – 100m/200m: Jobodwana, 400 m: Van Niekerk, 400mH: Fredericks, Beneke, Van Zyl, 800 m: Olivier, 1500 m: Cronje, dec: Coetzen, LJ: Visser, Mokoena, 110mH: Fourie, HT: Harmse, DT: Hogan, Mar: April, Mzima, Ramaala, 20 km walk: Shange, 50 km walk: Mundell. Wom – JT: Viljoen, LJ: Prinsloo, Mar: van Zyl, Maxwell, Joubert. The following athletes have qualified on the B-standard and will be included in the final team provided that no other athlete achieves a better B performance before 28 July 2013 – 100 m: Simbine, 10 000 m: Mokoka, SP: Cremona, JT: Oosthuizen, 5000m: Gelant, women – 200 m: Palframan, 400 mH: Ebersohn.
KARLSTAD (SWE): The Karlstad Grand Prix in Sweden, on the 23rd of July, features the newly crowned World Youth 200m Champion, Irene Ekelund, Olympic 4th placer in the long jump Michel Torneus, the European 400m champion Moa Hjelmer and the Asian 800m champion Musaeb Balla from Qatar. Also to note Jaisuma Saidy Ndure from Norway in the men 100 m, in women high jump Ebba Jungmark vs. Levern Spencer, in the women 1500 m Eritrean Merah Bafta vs. US Brie Felnagle. In the IAAF Hammer Challenge olympic winner Szymon Ziolkowski and Primoz Kozmus are facing Universiade 1-2 Pawel Fajdek from Poland and Slovak Marcel Lomnicky.
RIETI (ITA): Italian twin brothers, Lorenzo and Samuele Dini both medalled in front of their home crowd at the European Junior Championships. Lorenzo won the silver medal in the 10 000 m in a time of 29:31.11 while two days later Samuele also won a silver medal, in the 5000m, finishing in a time of 14:36.25
RESULTS
KARLSTAD (SWE, Jul 22): Slovak Universiade silver winner Marcel Lomnicky won the Karlstad hammer throwing over the Klaralven river with new meet record 78.69. He missed his PB only by 4 cm. Swedish Mattias Jons was second 76.50, his personal best.
OBERAGERI (SUI, Jul 19): At the 15th Ägeriseelauf the course record holder here Viktor Rothlin clocked 44:40 at the 14.5 km distance. He won here for 7th time since 2002. Informs RRW.
SHIBETSU (JPN, Jul 21): Masato Imai 1:03:24 and Mai Ito 1:12:27 won the Shibetsu Half Marathon. Moscow bound Yuki Kawauchi was 22nd 1:06:45.
COLOMBO (SRI, Jul 17): New Sri Lankan javelin record for Asian Championships silver medalist Nadeeka Lakmali 60.64 m.
GAVLE (SWE, Jul 21): Australian discus thrower Ben Harradine showed increased shape with 66.29 here.
HAVANA (CUB, Jul 20):Yoadys Lescay clocked 45.66 at the 400 m at an open meet here.
