31 January 2003 – Moscow - The “Russian Winter” IAAF Indoor Permit meeting held last night in Moscow (30 January) is the traditional opener of the European indoor season.

As usual the competitors didn’t disappoint, producing an array of excellent performances, which if not exactly launching the season with a bang, certainly provided a firm foundation for the next two months of packed international competition around, which will culminate at the 9th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics in Birmingham, 14 – 16 March 2003.

In the women’s High Jump, European Indoor champion Marina Kuptsova, easily jumped 1.99m with her first attempt, and then in reaction to Anna Chicherova’s surprise 2.04m national record which occurred at the beginning of the month, immediately asked for the bar to raised to 2.05m.

Kuptsova made three impressive attempts at the new record height, and on the third was very near to success. She was evidently not too disappointed by this failure and promised to jump the record later, confirming that she is going to attack the record at her next competition in Stuttgart, where she will also face Chicherova.

She now believes that during the rest of her season, her base clearance level will realistically be 2.00 metres, giving her the foundation to potentially jump as high as 2.08.

Her father and coach confirmed that he has already made a computer model of his daughter’s jump over 2.08 but that at last night’s competition her techinique was not good. He confirmed that, “Anna Chicherova is not a rival for Marina. At the World Indoor Championships, Marina will be first of all fight with Bergqvist and Cloete, and by then she will be stronger.”

Chicherova’s coach Yevgeniy Zagorulko admitted that he had not wanted his athlete to compete at the “Russian Winter” because of tense atmosphere of rivalry that exists with Kuptsova.

The leading Russian one lap sprinters were in action last night. Natalya Nazarova was first home in the women’s 400m in 51.35. The European Champion from Munich last summer, Olesya Zykina could do no better than 52.10, when winning the second 400m race.

However, the main interest at 400m was focused on Irina Privalova. It was the Olympic 400m Hurdles champion’s first competition after about a two years break from competition. Privalova managed to produce a 53.88 second run, and commented that it was what she had been expecting, given that she is preparing to concentrate on 800m this year.

”I am going to run 800 metres, and in case it will be impossible to become the best in that event I can always return to 400 metres Hurdles. But I have a feeling that I’ll manage to get what I want at 800 metres. I like it because each day I am achieving my personal best in different distances, and it is easier to train for my new event, than it was when I took up the Hurdles!”

”In 1998, when I last returned from a long break, on that occasion returning to sport after a serious injury, I began in this same 400m race and my time then was 54.18.”

Yulia Kosenkova from Siberian Omsk won the women’s 1500m. She ran 4:07.22 and promised to win one of the medals at the World Indoor Championships, where she hopes to produce a result close to four minutes.

In the women’s Triple Jump, there were six competitors over 14 metres headed by Inessa Kravets of Ukriane, the World outdoor record holder, who jumped 14.44m.

Not surprisingly given that the Moscow Winter is one of the first serious international meetings of the indoor season, Kravets’s distance along with many others event winners was a world indoor season lead, in her case jointly sharing with Anna Pyatykh’s previously recorded 14.44m performance.

Other top World season marks were – Women: 60m, Marina Kisalova 7.17; 400m Nazarova 51.35; 800m Irina Vashhentseva 2:01.69; 1500m Kosenkova 4:07.22; Men: Long Jump Ruslan Gataullin 8.11m.

The following performances though not world leads, were also significant all the same: Gennadiy Chernovol (KAZ) 6.63 60m dash, Pavel Formenko’s 2.28m men’s High Jump, Pavel Chumachenko’s 20.38m Shot Put, and Svetlana Laukhova’s 7.99 women’s 60m Hurdles.