Athens, Greece - “Athina 2009”, the last IAAF indoor permit meeting of the 2009 season takes place on Wednesday 25 February has attracted five current world season leading performers to take part in the Hall of Peace and Friendship in Pireaus, in the Greek capital.

Ukhov to bounce back from Birmingham defeat?

Russia’s Ivan Ukhov had a string of six wins halted in Birmingham last Saturday (21) and will be keen to return to winning ways. Ukhov is currently the best high jumper in the world thanks to the 2.37m he set when winning the Russian champs in Moscow in mid February.

In Athens Ukhov will be joined by three compatriots with season’s bests over 2.30m, the silver medallist of the World Indoor Championships of 2006 Andrey Tereshin has a best of 2.31 this winter, while Aleksey Dmitrik and Aleksandr Shustov have jumped 2.30 in 2009.

Cyprus’ Kyriakos Ioannou the 2007 World outdoor and 2008 World indoor  bronze medallist has the chance to improve his season’s best currently standing at 2.25m. Britain’s Martyn Bernard (2.27m this year) bronze medallist in the European Indoor Championships two years ago and a finalist at the Beijing’s Olympics, Italy’s Filippo Campioli who leapt 2.27m at last weekend’s national champs are two more top entrants.

Greece’s Konstantinos Baniotis met the standard for the European Indoor Championships when jumping in the Balkan games held in Pireaus on Saturday (21) leaping 2.25m and now has a chance to further  improve. 

Tsatoumas out of the Long Jump

Greece’s Loúis Tsátoumas with 8.20m so far leads the world of long jumping indoors this year was to be one of the stars of the meeting but a virus means he will now miss the event and so will next be seen in the European indoor Championships.

Germany’s Nils Winter is now the best of the remaining cast having jumped 8.02m this year, while Spain’s Jose Felipe Meliz, who was 7th last year in Beijing and has a career indoor best of 8.21m opens the season in this meeting. Two Ukrainians, the bronze medallist of the European Indoor Championships of 2005 Volodymyr Zyuskov and Andriy Makarchev are also among the entrants, while Bulgaria’s experienced jumper Nikolay Atanasov has already reached the 8.00m this season and will be among the contenders for the win in Athens.

Haron Keitany vs Bilal Mansoor Ali in the 1500m

Kenyan Haron Keitany is the fastest 1500m runner of the season having run the distance in 3:33.96 in Gent (8 February). In Athens the 2008 African champion has to face Bahraini Belal Mansoor Ali, who has a season’s best of 3.38.06. He was 8th at the 2008 Olympic Games.

This duo will face pressure from another Kenyan Shedrack Korir. The 31-year-runner hasn’t run a 1500m race this season, but with 7:35.98 is the sixth fastest in the world at 3000m this season.

Classy women’s Triple Jump

The 2004 World Juniors champion of 2004, Russia’s Anastasiya Taranova – Potapova leads the world this winter with a jump at 14.67m in Volgograd on J 24 January.

In Athens the Russian will have strong competition by some other athletes who have demonstrated significant career achievements in the last years. Slovenia’s Marija Sestak, World Indoor Championships bronze medallist and 6th in the Olympics last year has already jumped 14.52m, making her the fourth best athlete of 2009 so far. Russia’s Anna Pyatykh  has the chance to improve the 14.12 she has set this year, where a veteran of the event, Sudan’s Yamile Aldama (14.17m this season) will also be in the fight.

The best Greek athlete of the last years, Chrysopigi Devetzi won’t compete in the meeting as she decided to skip the indoor season and start her preparations for the outdoor World Championships in Berlin. But Greece’s 20-year-old Paraskevi Papahristou, 2008 World Junior bronze medallist who has improved her personal best to 14.16m two weeks ago to win the national championships will keep the home crowd motivated.

Europeans dominate the Pole Vault entries

The men’s pole vault is expected to be a rather close competition, between France’s Romain Mesnil and a number of German and Ukrainian vaulters. World silver medallist Mesnil has cleared 5.72m but Germany’s Danny Ecker the reigning European Indoor champion vaulted 5.80m last weekend. His compatriot Bjorn Otto, 2006 European Championship bronze medallist has a season’s best of 5.60m, as does a third German, the 32-year-old Lars Bogerling.

Two Ukrainians, the Olympic bronze medallist Denys Yurchenko with 5.52m this year, and Maksym Mazuryk with 5.56m this year are also contenders.

Finally, American Jacob Pauli who no heighted at the Millrose Games in New York will try to record a mark, last season he set a PB of 5.80m.

Williams in the 60m

The reigning World indoor champion American Angela Williams is the top name of the 60m dash events of the meeting. Williams has run a 7.22 this season, while her main opponent will be Tahesia Harrigan of British Virgin Islands, whose best race of the season was clocked last weekend (7.18)

Greece’s Georgia Kokloni and Maria Karastamati have their last opportunity to set the standards of the European Indoor Championships. Kokloni is the 2005 European indoor silver medallist and Karastamati, the bronze medallist and the European Under 23 champion of the same year.

Fast hurdles races are expected

Russia’s Yevgeniy Borisov, who shares the top spot of the season’s list with two more hurdlers, is the fifth world leader who has entered “Athina 2009”. Borisov has a season’s best of 7.45 sec and he won an equal share of bronze medal at the World Indoor championships last year. His main opponents in the meeting will be the man who he jointly took that medal with, reigning European 110m hurdles champion Latvia’s Stanislav Olijar, and America’s Dexter Faulk who improved this year his career best to 7.50.

Russia’s Igor Peremota (7.78 this year) and Ukraine’s Serhiy Demychyuk (7.85) are also going to run, while Greece’s Konstantinos Douvalidis has already met the standard for the European Championships when he won the national championships with a personal best of 7.74 and will attempt a performance under 7.70 to break the national record.

In the women’s 60m Hurdles Cuba’s Anay Tejeda, the World Indoor bronze medal winner in 2008 and Russia’s Aleksandra Antonova, 5th in that World Champs final are the main entries. This year they have performances at 7.96 and 8.06 respectively.

Russians star in the women’s 400m

Five Russians have entered the women’s 400m race. Tatyana Veshkurova is the fastest among them, as she ran the distance in 52.27sec in the Russian Championships. But the presence of the Olympics 2004 bronze medallist Natalya Antyukh, Yuliya Gushchina who has a personal best of 51.26 but hasn’t competed yet this year, Anastasiya Kapachinskaya who ran the distance in 52.10 last year and Olesya Forsheva who has a personal best of 50.04 since 2006 should ensure a swift contest.

Michalis Nikitaridis for the IAAF