Borzakovskiy
eases through 400m qualification
rounds
at Russian
Championships.
Denis
Fedulov for the IAAF
13
July 2002 – Cheboksary, Russia - Donning light clothing, sunglasses and hats, a
surprisingly large number of athletics fans showed up Thursday for the
early-morning qualifying rounds of the Russian National Championships held at
the elegantly upgraded Olympic Stadium in Cheboksary.
The bright morning sun warmed up the women’s 400 m, with 10 athletes going under 52.80.
In the men’s 400m, Yuriy Borzakovskiy the world indoor 800m champion, whose appearance was eagerly anticipated by the spectators, ran sensibly in his heat. Seeing no pursuers near him with about 150m to go, he relaxed along the homestretch. Still, the tactic did not deter Yuriy from beating his nearest opponent by a cushy 15 metres.
The 400m hurdles started the evening programme. Favourites Ruslan Mashchenko (50.55) and Boris Gorban (50.95) advanced comfortably, while Aleksandr Derveyagin produced the best time of the first round – 50.07. In the absence of Yulia Nosova-Pechyonkina, fast times eluded the women but all the top athletes went through with 20-year old Oksana Yelyasova, clocking a modest 56.91.
In the men’s 100 m semifinals, favourites Sergey Bychkov (10.45), and Andrey Yepishin (10.44) advanced comfortably, chased by Dmitriy Vasiliev (10.44), and Sergey Blinov (10.49). On the women’s side, Marina Kislova and Yulia Tabakova won their respective semi-finals in the identical time of 11.27, setting up a head to head duel which was staged an hour and a half later.
The women’s 100 m dash final brought the first medals, and the first upset, of the Championships. Marina Kislova and Yulia Tabakova both had an impeccable start, but it was Kislova who managed her form better through the entire race and took the title in 11.23. Yulia Tabakova followed in 11.25, far ahead of the rest of the field. According to National team head coach Valeriy Kulichenko, both women have now secured their spots on the national 4x100 relay team, but will have to show they are in top shape at the beginning of August to be entered in the individual 100 m dash in Munich.
The men’s 100 m saw Sergey Bychkov (10.41) run an inspired race to decisively win over Aleksandr Smirnov (10.50) and Aleksandr Ryabov (10.51). 21-year old Andrey Yepishin, who was the fastest man in every round leading up to the final, finished a disappointing fourth in 10.52.
Yelena Isinbayeva rode an emotional high after soaring some 20 cm over the bar set at 4.50, a clearance that secured the women’s pole vault title for her. Elated by winning her first National Championships, Yelena’s mood was further uplifted by the loud cheers from the crowd that witnessed the precocious 20-year old receive an IAAF medal in recognition of her junior world record set last year.
Yelena Belyakova (4.45) finished in second place and will likely join Feofanova - who was exempt from competing Thursday night - and Isinbayeva on the trip to Munich.
The men’s Steeplechase title went to Roman Usov, but his poor performance of 8.33.37 denied him a ticket to the Europeans. The women’s 3000 m Steeplechase, a relatively new event was won by Natalya Cherepanova in 9.51.21.
The leaders of Russian middle distance running maintatined the status quo through the 1500 m heats. On the men’s side, Vyacheslav Shabunin easily advanced to the final by running the fastest preliminary time of 3.44.97, surely a walk for him. His main challenge Friday night is expected to come from Andrey Zadorozhniy, who won his heat in 3.47.00.
On the women’s side, Yekaterina Puzanova, Olga Kuznetsova, Yulia Kosenkova, Tatyana Tomashova, Yelena Zadorozhnaya and Olga Komyagina all went on to the final, with the latter posting the fastest qualifying time of 4.10.64.
The crowd was rewarded by two electrifying 10,000 m heats at the end of the programme. First, the women took stage and after a slow first half (5 K mark in 16.03) Lyudmila Biktasheva picked up the pace with style and power, flying through the second half in 15.20 on her way to a PR of 31.23.15 and a National crown. Galina Aleksandrova in second (32.13.20) and Yelena Burykina in third (32.14.87).
In Munic, Biktasheva and Aleksandrova will be joined by the fourth-place finisher 22-year old Yelena Samokhvalova (32.15.98), in compliance with the Russian team’s policy of giving preference to runners showing promising potential for the Athens Olympics.
Home fans received a reward of their own, as they watched local favorite Aleksandr Vasilyev throw down the gauntlet in the men’s 10,000 m and prevail over a solid field in a time of 28.54.56 -- too slow, unfortunately, to earn him a spot on the charter plane taking off for Munich at the beginning of August.
Second Day (Friday12 July) -
The morning programme was highlighted by qualifying competitions in the jumps. Muscovite Yelena Oleynikova was easily the star in the triple jump pit, advancing with a leap of 14.26. A host of high jumpers stopped at the qualifying height of 1.82, among them Olga Kaliturina, Victoria Seregina, Yelena Slesarenko and Marina Kuptsova.
In the men’s long jump competition, held when the sun was at its highest point, athletes’ main objective seemed to be hitting the qualifying standard mark as quickly as possible, so as to avoid the sizzling hot runway and the burning sand in the pit. Danil Burkenya was successful at just that, leaping 8.00 m. Ruslan Gataulin, who needed a few harsh remarks from his renowned brother Rodion to get it together on the runway, finally came through with a 7.80 jump, the second best effort of the afternoon. Kirill Sosunov, Vladimir Malyavin and Vitaliy Shkurlatov all qualified as well and will compete in the final on Saturday night.
The sprint hurdle races opened up the night programme and, unlike in the flat 100 m dash, there were no surprises. Andrey Kislykh from Kemerovo won the men’s 110 m in 13.71, a time that he will definitely have to improve on to be in contention at the European Championships. Svetlana Laukhova of St. Petersburg prevailed over the women’s field in 13.05 and may have a fair shot at making the final in Munich.
The two best women in the Shot Put this year kept to their respective positions, Svetlana Krivelyova, World leader and 1992 Olympic Champion, emerged victorious with the third-best performance of the season, 20.24, while Irina Korzhanenko, second to Krivelyova on the outdoor performance list, won the silver with a solid effort of 20.09.
Nikolay Tischenko, the 25-year old Decathlete from Krasnodar, won the national title by scoring 7839 pts in the absence of his more decorated opponents, Lev Lobodin and Aleksandr Pogorelov, both of whom were pre-selected by the Russian coaching council to represent Russia at the Europeans.
Mikhail Yeginov took out the men’s 1500 m, leading from the start until the final lap, with the experienced Vyacheslav Shabunin some 20 metres back. However, it was Andrey Zadorozhniy who mapped his race out perfectly outsprinting Shabunin over the homestretch, winning by 0.04 seconds in 3.40.75. It now looks as though both Zadorozhniy and Shabunin will make the National team roster, with a shot at making the final in Munich.
In the women’s 1500 m, Olga Komyagina took them through the first lap in 63 seconds, then slowed down as the leading pack hit the 800 m mark in 2.11.8. Tatyana Tomashova had the best of it, sitting patiently until one lap to go and bringing the field home in strong in 4.04.90, an impressive time for a relatively slow first half of the race. With Komyagina fading, Yelena Zadorozhnaya moved inito second place, clocking 4.05.73, while reigning European Indoor Champion Yekaterina Puzanova claimed the bronze in 4.06.87. Tomashova, who got an automatic Munich berth as the National Champion, will be joined by Zadorozhnaya - who has already been under the qualifying time of 4.05 twice this year already - and, most likely, by Puzanova.
Olga Chernyavkaya emerged as the winner of the Women’s Discus throw, stepping out of the shadow of world champion Natalya Sadova, who was exempted from competing. However, Chernyavskaya’s modest toss of 61.80, will most probably leave her watching the Europeans from her living room at home.
The fierce battle in the long jump pit failed to produce quality performances for the women. Irina Melnikova (6.68), barely edged Olga Rublyova (6.67) for the crown, while Tatyana Ter-Mesrobyan did not live up to her 7.06 effort earlier this season and finished third in 6.63. This outcome will undoubtedly give a headache to the coaches in charge of the selection process.
Ruslan Maschenko and Boris Gorban ran an impressive lap over the 400m hurdles. Maschenko, who was interviewed over the stadium’s PA system immediately following his victory in a time of 49.32, said that he was now fully recovered from his injury, but was still good ways away from his best shape. He also pledged to “try and achieve good form before Munich” and, when asked how tangible that was, politely elaborated with “let’s hope….” Boris Gorban finished in close second with a time of 49.39.
Yekaterina Bakhvalova of St. Petersburg won the women’s 400 m hurdles in a modest 55.82, which was still under the 56.00 qualifying standard - and will make the trip to Munich as every National Champion who made the standard got an automatic berth.
In addition to the athletes competing in the women’s triple jump and high jump and in the men’s long jump, the ones to watch tomorrow will be the quarter milers: Olesya Zykina, who blasted through her semifinal in 50.46, Andrey Semenov, men’s fastest qualifier in 46.39, and, of course, Yuriy Borzakovskiy, who yet again went all out for the first 250, only to look around again and jog home in 46.61 in his semifinal heat.
