Russian athletes opened the new summer season at the Southern Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic stadium in Moscow on Thursday (18).
Naturally it was impossible to expect excellent results for it was the first start for the majority of the participants but still some achievements were really remarkable.
Men’s Shot Put is not considered to be the event where Russians are dominating. But this time 4 athletes exceeded the mark of 19m. Ivan Ushkov did the impossible exceeding even the sacred 20m – 20.41. Anton Luboslavskiy was 2nd – 19.79. Grigoriy Panfilov was 3rd – 19.59.
Svetlana Kluka easily won the 800m with one of the best results of the outdoor season so far – 2.00.18. Evgeniya Zolotova was 2nd – 2.04.25.
Two male long jumpers Kirill Sosunov and Vladimir Malyavin did it better then 8m – 8.14 and 8.08 correspondingly. The triple jumper Igor Spasovkhodskiy remained 3rd – 7.63m. The women’s long jump was won by Zhanna Chernaya with the disappointing 6.19m.
The women’s High Jump was dominated by Olga Kaligurina with an encouraging 1.92, while 19-year-old Svetlana Shkolina cleared 1.90. The 19 year old Eduard Malchenko won the men’s High Jump – 2.15m.
Yelena Konevtseva was a surprise in the women’s Hammer Throw exceeding the 70m mark on three occasions. Her best attempt was at 71.74! Two other throws were – 71.17 and 70.08. Yelena Kiseleva remained 2nd – 63.47. The experienced Ilya Konovalov was first in the men’s hammer throwing – 75.84m. But the family was praised one more time when his 18-year-old nephew won the competitions in his age group – 67.19 (6 kg hammer).
The remarkable Olga Burova, now married with the name of Olga Chernyavskaya, is 42-years-old and was World Discus Throw champion in 1993, and won here with 60.86m.Natalya Ampleeva was in second with 59.81. Stanislav Alekseev won the men’s Discus – 62.62.
The 17-year-old Aleksandra Fedoriv whose family is known for its excellent achievements in sprinting was the runner-up at 100m – 11.98 seconds. The race was won by Elizaveta Yashina – 11.97. Fedoriv was also second at 200m – 24.30, World 4x400m relay champion Tatyana Levina – 23.61.
2000m steeple was included in the programme. Ildar Minshin won the men’s race (5:39.04) and Lubov Ivanova the women’s – 6.34.61.
The women’s 400m is usually at the centre of public attention in Russia. But this time the best runners were not among the participants. Kseniya Zadorina won the women’s one lap in 53.24. Ivan Kozhukhar was the fastest among the men – 47.57.
Irina Vasilieva won women’s Triple Jump – 14.15m.
5km women’s walk was easily won by the 18-year-old Oksana Chubenko – 21:31.04, and the men’s 10km – by Konstantin Maksimov – 40:49.30.
Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov are reporting for the IAAF
