A lot of top Russian athletes took part in two popular tournaments in Moscow (19 / 20) and in Volgograd (19) last weekend with a good showing from Olympic champions Yuriy Borzakovskiy (800m) and Yelena Slesarenko (HJ), and early world indoor season leads for Yelena Soboleva in the women’s 800m and Yuliya Golubchikova in the Pole Vault.

Double for Borza
 
The open Moscow Championship with the participation of guests from other Russian cities was held at the indoor Vladimir Kutz arena, and witnessed the triumph of Yuriy Borzakovskiy in two events. The Olympic 800m champion won the 400m - 47.06 - and 800m - 1:47.80. Dmitriy Forshev (47.47) was left rather far behind in the 400m, while at 800m, Yuriy Koldin was the runner-up, 1:48.02.

Of the best other men’s track results from Moscow, Roman Smirnov won the 200m in 21.12 seconds and Sergei Molchanov was first at 60m Hurdles - 7.90.

In the men's High Jump, the 21-year-old Eduard Marchenko cleared the bar at 2.28m and left behind the reigning World Indoor champion Yaroslav Rybakov on count-back. 1999 outdoor World champion Vyacheslav Voronin and Pavel Fomenko could progress no higher than 2.26m. It's interesting to mention that Eduard Marchenko's father Sergei Marchenko was a well-known high-jumper and even the record holder of the national Russian record for a period. The success in Moscow is the first major victory in his son's career.

It looks like that the injuries of Tatyana Kivimyagi are healed and in her second start of the year she cleared the bar at 1.98m to take the women’s High Jump. That is the best result of the season in Russia so far and equalled her personal best.

Yuliya Golubchikova won the women's Pole Vault with the world season's best of 4.65m, while the men's Pole Vault was again won by Sergei Kocheryanu - 5.70m, with Pavel Prokopenko in second - 5.60m

In the men's Triple Jump it was Yevgeniy Plotnir who celebrated victory with a 16.88m effort, while in the men's Shot Put the competition was unexpectedly dominated by Aleksandr Grekov with 19.03m. It was his first major win and in the process left behind the champion of Russia, Pavel Sofiyn, who with a 18.83m heave finished second.

In the women’s track events Yevgeniya Polyakova clocked the best time in Russia for 60m so far this season - 7.17 seconds.

Olesya Zykova from Tula is back to form. She won the 200m in 23.38 seconds with the former World champion Anastasiya Kapachinskaya the runner-up in 23.40. Kapachinskaya also failed to gain victory over Natalya Nazarova in the 400m beaten 52.51 to 52.20 seconds.

Yelena Soboleva was the winner in the Women's 800m clocking the current best result of the 2008 world indoor season - 2:01.61 – while Yekaterina Martynova was the fastest woman at 1500m - 4:06.37.

Slesarenko starts well

"The Governor's Cup" in Volgograd a traditional regional competition turned out to be popular not only among the athletes of the region with the women’s events providing the main highs.

Oksana Forsheva (Krasnomovetz) clocked 52.26 at 400m, with Anastasiya Ovchinnikova (52.88) and Tatyana Firova (52.99), the next best.

Anna Geflikh won the 200m in 23.42, while Larisa Kruglova was the first at 60m - 7.32, though the best result in Russia so far this year was clocked at 60m Hurdles with 8.03 seconds being the winning time of Tatyana Dektyareva.

The Olympic champion in the women’s High Jump Yelena Slesarenko started the season with an encouraging 1.97m.

In Men's Shot Put, Aleksandr Lobynya was took the win with a 19.18m release, while the other men’s division highlight was provided by the 23-year-old Yevgeniy Borisov who clocked 7.64 seconds at 60m Hurdles.

Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF