Susanna Kallur (SWE) (© Getty Images)
A brief morning session comprising the Heptathlon 60m Hurdles and Pole Vault, and in the individual events the semi-final stage of the men’s and women’s 60m Hurdles was the substance of the final morning of the 28th European Indoor Championships.
Women’s 60m Hurdles
Adding to their momentum from yesterday’s opening round, Sweden’s Kallur twins were the class of the field in the semi-finals of the 60 metre Hurdles, coming one step closer to claiming their nation’s first-ever medal - or perhaps even medals? - in this event.
After building a slight lead through the fourth hurdle, Jenny Kallur relaxed over the fifth and eased through the line in 7.94 to take the first semi-final, well ahead of German Nadine Hentschke’s 8.00 PB. The 23-year-old Hentschke was seventh in these championships three years ago. Running on the outside, Spain’s Glory Alozie, also credited with an 8.00, was third, with Patricia Girard of France edging British national record holder Sarah Claxton by the narrowest of margins - 8.05 to 8.06 - to claim the fourth spot for the final.
Susanna Kallur was the slower of the two in yesterday’s opening round; with a powerful 7.90 in heat two to equal her own world leading performance, she took the momentary upper hand in the family rivalry. Behind her, Kirsten Bolm, the defending silver medallist, challenged the Swede to the finish to easily claim the runner-up position in 7.92, a season’s best for the 29-year-old German champion. Diane Allahgreen of Great Britain, the bronze medallist in 1998, will return to the finals for the fourth consecutive time after her 8.07 third place finish. Russian Irina Shevchenko, the co-world leader coming into the championships, edged Nicole Ramalalanirina by 1/100 of a second in 8.11 to move on as well.
Men’s 60m Hurdles
Sweden will also have two representatives in the men’s sprint Hurdles final this evening, as Philip Nossmy (7.66 – 3rd Ht1) and his more famous compatriot the former World and Olympic finalist Robert Kronberg (7.66 – 3rd Ht2) qualified well.
The hosts via Felipe Vivancos (7.68 – 4th Ht1) and France via Sebastian Denis (7.69 – 4th Ht2) will also have some interest in the final.
However, it is the principal three stars – Stanislav Olijar (Latvia), Ladji Doucouré (France), and Austria’s Elmar Lichtenegger – who are most likely to contest the medals.
But don’t dare tell that to Germany’s Thomas Blaschek, who ended up winning heat one of the semi-final stage in 7.63. But looking beyond just the results sheet it was quite clear that Olijar, the 2000 champion and bronze medallist in 2002, was easing up after the last hurdle and so the Latvian’s second place (7.64) should not be misread as anything serious.
Doucouré by contrast was leaving nothing to interpretation this morning, powering to a brisk 7.49 win - his second fastest ever - in the second heat, slowing up like his Latvian opponent, which of course emphasises the superb quality of this performance. Lichtenegger who took the silver in 2002 behind Colin Jackson, finished second in 7.65.
Heptathlon – 5 metres for Sebrle and Pogorelov
In the opening event of the second day, overnight leader Aleksandr Pogorelov of Russia’s 8.08 (4500pts overall) in the 60m Hurdles increased his lead over Olympic Decathlon champion Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic who clocked a personally below-par 8.17 (4445)
Chiel Warners of The Netherlands moved into third (4334) thanks to a 7.94 run, overtaking Russia’s Aleksey Drozdov in the overall standings (4281), who had a slow 8.48 run.
The Pole Vault saw a 5.20m clearance from Austria’s Roland Schwarzl to push him into bronze position (5221). Another fine effort was also made by 2000 Olympic champion Erki Nool with success at 5.10 (8th - 5010). Previous third placer Warners had a 4.90 effort - fourth overall (5214).
At the top of the table Pogorelov and Sebrle had matching efforts at 5.00m (910pts each), and so with one event (1000m) remaining the gold and silver positions are held at 5410 (Pogorelov) and 5355 (Sebrle). The defending champion needs to beat his Russian rival by 4 seconds in the 1000m to retain his crown.
Chris Turner and Bob Ramsak for the IAAF in Madrid
NOTE
Women’s Long Jump
After a series of protests were filed immediately after last night’s women’s Long Jump final, an EAA Jury of Appeals announced today that Germany’s Bianca Kappler and Adina Anton of Romania would each be awarded with a bronze medal in the event.
Based upon a thorough video review of Kappler’s final jump, initially measured at 6.96, the Jury of Appeals concluded that “there is no doubt in our mind that the performance recorded on the scoreboard is not correct and therefore the decision of the referee to nullify it was justified and consequently upheld.”
With no means to accurately measure the jump, the Jury concluded that “Kappler would probably be a medal winner if her sixth jump was properly measured.” They decided against penalizing Anton, whose last round effort of 6.59 moved her into the bronze medal position, choosing instead to announce co-bronze medallists.
In an extremely close competition, only seven centimetres separated spots three and eight.
Official Results:
1. Naide Gomes, POR, 6.70 NR
2. Stiliani Pilatou, GRE, 6.64 SB
3. Adina Anton, ROM, 6.59
3. Bianca Kappler, GER
5. Ineta Radevica, LAT, 6.58
6. Lyudmila Kolchanova, RUS, 6.56
7. Alina Militaru, ROM, 6.53
8. Anastasiya Ilyina, RUS, 5.52
