Saransk, Russia - The Russian championships were greeted in the capital of the Republic of Mordovia with extremely hot conditions as the four-day competition kicked off on Monday.

It’s over 33 C in the city, forcing organisers to take necessary precautions. Valentin Balakhnichev, President of the All-Russian Athletics Federation said that the start of 5000m may be changed if required, that there will be special “refreshment points” at the stadium where athletes may take cold drinks and have a kind of a shower, and that doctors will be on their guard in the call room and will watch attentively if any of the participants have any health problems.

Barcelona team slots on the line

Athletes from 63 Russian regions will take part in what will be the primary selection meeting for the upcoming European Championships in Barcelona. 784 athletes at all have already got registered, with 459 on the men’s side and 325 on the women’s.

According to Valentin Maslakov, the chief coach of the Russian national team, the top-two finishers will be guaranteed a ticket to Barcelona, with the third athlete named by the Coaches’ Council who will meet after the competition concludes on 15 July.

The opening ceremony, headed by the President of the Republic of Mordovia Nickolai Merkushkin, took place hours before the start of competition. Several hundreds young athletes representing different sports of Mordovia were granted diplomas and scholarships by the President. Famous guests such as Yuriy Borzakovskiy were also present. A wave of applause was heard when Mordovian shot putter Anna Avdeeva was invited to accept her presidential diploma. “I feel well prepared for the season,” she said. “But it’s not time for predictions. I’ll try to do my best for the local public who naturally expects me to win.”

It is absolutely obvious that the local folk need not worry about the future success of their race walkers. The special school organised by coach Victor Chegin is to “produce” tens and dozens of new champions like Valeriy Borchin or Olga Kaniskina. Among those granted the scholarships were a lot of young disciples out to repeat the feats of Olympic champions Kaniskina and Borchin. Race walking is on the programme of some secondary schools here lending to its reputation as a world centre. Merkushkin also helps provide government support for many race walkers.

“It’s good that not only very large cities are taking the initiative of inviting Russian nationals in athletics,” said the legendary Russian long jumper and former World record holder Igor Ter-Ovanesian. “It’s extremely positive when cities with populations of 300,000 to 400,000 are graciously playing the role of the hosts and provide the athletic world with the quite adorable atmosphere and stadiums.”

Enthusiastic crowds

The ‘Start’ stadium is considered one of the best in the country, and to our utter amazement and to the joy of the organisers, the tribunes were not only filled by the local crowd. They were jammed with people supporting every heat and preliminary round.

The most enthusiastic applause was given to the to the winners of the women’s 800m heats. Svetlana Klyuka and Tatiana Andrianova dipped under two minutes, clocking 1:59.54 and 1:59.67 respectively.

Borzakovskiy, the 2004 Olympic champion, received the same enthusiastic support in Saransk that he receives in his home town of Zhukovskiy. In his heat he abandoned his usual tactics of a strong closing finish, choosing instead to lead from the opening metres en route to a 1:48.40 performance, the quickest of the day.

Shalin a new Long Jump star in the making?

The women’s Long Jump qualification was dominated by European champion Ludmila Kolchanova who leaped 6.75m.

On the men’s side, a new star is emerging. Pavel Shalin, who has leaped beyond the eight-metre line consistently this season, while taking victories at the European Team Championship and the Brothers Znamenskiy Memorial as well, was among the athletes pre-selected for Barcelona. And again we’ll quote Ter-Ovanesian, with whom we watched the Long Jump: “Shalin looks like a serious young man who is now focused on a very serious aim. He and his coach asked me for a piece of advice and we had a kind of master class. It looks as though Pavel may win not only the Russian nationals but the European Championships as well. I think that he may leap to 8.40m”. Meanwhile, Dmitriy Plotnikov was the best in the qualification round reaching 7.95m.

The fastest performances in the women’s 400m heats were turned in by Natalya Nazarova (50.88), Anastasiya Kapachinskaya (51.14), who was very relaxed in her heat, and Tatiana Firova (50.91).

Two golden medals were at stake at the first day, in the men’s and women’s 3000m Steeplechase.

Kharlamova and Minshin take Steeplechase titles

In the absence of  Gulnara Galkina-Samitova, who recently gave birth, other have emerged who we need to remember and take notice of in the 3000m Steeplechase. One of them is Lubov Kharlamova who was unconditionally the best clocking 9:30.75, swapping her 2009 bronze at the nationals for gold this year. Ludmila Kuzmina was the runner-up in 9:34.88 with Natalya Medvedeva third (9:42.65). Naturally the heat was the decisive factor that prevented faster times.

The Steeplechase is not a distance that is very popular with Russian men – indeed the times of the well-known Semeion Rzhichin have gone with the wind. But nowadays there is a Renaissance, if a low-key one, in the event. Eldar Minshin took the title in 8:24.10. Fighting until the final metres, Andrei Farnosov was second in 8:30.17 with Andrei Olshanskiy (8:40.58) third.

Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF

Click here for RESULTS