Russian Indoor Championships, Day Three

There were 10 golden medals at stake on the last day of the Russian Indoor Championships in Volgograd (12 Feb) and immediately after competition concluded the Coaches’ Council started to determine the composition of the national team that is to take part in the European Indoor Championships in Madrid, next month.

And there were several big surprises yesterday and one of the unexpected winners was Natalya Ivanova. An Olympic 4x400m silver medal winner in Athens she was the fastest at 200m which is not her favourite event. She clocked 23.29 and left behind Yuliya Gushchina. The world leader of the season (23.29) finished second in 23.46. Ekaterina Kodratyeva got the bronze – 23.50.

The track in Volgograd is really not the fastest in the country and may be this explains the level of the results in running events. The medallists' performance in men’s 200m final was even worse than in the heats. The winner Sergey Bychkov clocked 21.53, though running in his qualifying heat his time was 21.41.

Oksana Zbrozhek won a tough women’s 1500m race in 4:11.09. The gap between the winner and the bronze medallist was only 0.6 seconds. Lylya Shobukhova who took the 3000m on the Friday (11 Feb) finished second – 4:11.26, and Yuliya Chizhenko (silver at 3000m) took third place – 4:11.69.

The 15 times national champion Vyacheslav Shabunin won the  men’s 1500m. As always the beginning of his race was not that fast, and at 1100m three opponents were ahead of him. But his heroic trade-mark acceleration brought him a cherished victory.

Unfortunately, all the international leaders were absent in women’s Pole Vault, and without them Yuliya Golubchikova won equalling her personal best – 4.30m. But the standard for the European Indoor Championships in Madrid set by the All Russian Athletic Federation is 4.40m, so Golubchikova has to wait for the results in Donetsk (last night) where her premier national opponents were competing.

The well known triple jumper Igor Spasovkhodskiy won the men’s event with 17.09m which is the second best result in the world this current indoor season. Two disciples of Evgeniy Ter-Ovanesov took other medals. Aleksandr Petrenko was the second – 16.93 – and Aleksandr Sergeev, third – 16.92.

In the women’s Long Jump the competitive duel between Anastasiya Ilyina and Irina Melnikova was to be anticipated and for the third time in this indoor season Ilyina set her personal best - 6.63. But she still lost by one centimetre to Melnikova, 6.64.

Pavel Fomenko took the title in men’s High Jump on count-back at 2.31m from Andrei Tereshin.
 
Rostislav Orlov and Nickolai Dolgopolov for the IAAF
 
Men

200m
1.     Sergey Bychkov – 21.53
2.     Dmitriy Tertz – 21.56
3.     Oleg Sergeev – 21.75
 
1500m
1.     Vyacheslav Shabunin – 3.43.36
2.     Stanislav Khukharkin – 3.44.03
3.     Dmitriy Onufrienko – 3.44.51
 
4x200m Relay
1.     Tumen – 1.28.77
2.     Krasnodarskiy region – 1.29.01
3.     Moscow – 1.29.41

High Jump
1.     Pavel Fomenko – 2.31
2.     Andrei Tereshin – 2.31
3.     Vyacheslav Voronin - 228

Triple jump
1.     Igor Spasovkhodskiy – 17.09
2.     Aleksandr Petrenko – 16.93
3.     Aleksandr Sergeev – 16.92

Women

200m
1.     Natalya Ivanova - 23.29
2.     Yuliya Gushchina – 23.46
3.     Ekaterina Kondratyeva – 23.50
 
1500m
1.     Oksana Zbrozhek – 4.11.09
2.     Lylya Shobukhova – 4.11.26
3.     Luliya Chizhenko – 4.11.69
 
4x200m relay
1.     Sverdlovskiy region – 1.36.82
2.     Nizhegorodskiy region – 1.38.21
3.     Cheliabinsk – 1.38.91
 
Long Jump
1.     Irina Melnikova –664
2.     Anastasya Ilyina – 663
3.     Ludmila Kolchanova - 660
 
Pole Vault
1.     Yuliya Golubchikova – 430
2.     Anastasya Kirianova – 410
3.     Yuliya Lukinskaya - 380