Olga Kucherenko leaping to silver in Daegu (© Getty Images)
Many Russian stars participated in the traditional Governor’s Cup in Krasnodar on Sunday (30), where two world-leading performances emerged.
Athletes competed in seven events, including the sprints, hurdles and jumps.
The women’s Triple Jump turned out to be the most interesting, with five jumpers surpassing the 14-metre mark. Yekaterina Koneva, the 2011 World Student Games champion, won with a 14.60m leap, the farthest in the world this season. Anna Krylova (Kuropatkina) was second at 14.39m and Anastasiya Potapova, better known as Taranova, was third at 14.23m.
Olga Kucherenko, the silver medallist in the Long Jump at last year’s World Championships in Daegu, reached 6.91m to win her specialty and improve on her own 2012 world lead by four centimetres. She was followed by the World Heptathlon champion Tatyana Chernova who leaped a solid 6.54m. Potapova finished third as well at 6.38.
Chernova said she is sharpening up for this summer’s Olympic Games in London and is trying to test herself in different disciplines included in the Heptathlon. So in Krasnodar she also finished third in the 60m Hurdles with 8.26. Yekaterina Galitzkaya won the event in 8.12, 0.02 ahead of Svetlana Topilina.
Anna Yegorova was the fastest in the 60m cloking 7.35. The leader of the Russian season, Julya Katzura, was the runner-up at 7.37. Yevgeniy Ustavschikov won Men’s 60m sprint clocking 6.76. Yevgeniy Kotlarov was just 0.03 behind in 6.79.
Sergey Kucheryanu has been extremely active this winter. The Governor’s Cup in Krasnodar was his fifth competition of the indoor season. He cleared 5.50m which was enough for the victory. Aleksandr Gripich and Artem Burya cleared 5.40m.
Victor Sirotkin was the first in the men’s Long Jump with a 7.76m leap.
Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF
