News19 Jul 2003


European U23 Championships - Day 1 and 2

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Jennifer Oeser of Germany throwing in the Euro U23 Heptathlon (© Mark Shearman)

Germany and Greece scored big on Friday at the European U23 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.  Germany won both of the multi-event titles, and Greece took the two racing decisions to cap the first two days of competition of the European Under 23 championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland (17-20 July 2003). 

For Jennifer Oeser, the unexpected Heptathlon title came on a nail-biting finish in the 800 metres, the last of the seven events. 

With a personal-best 5901 at the end, the German had no breathing room with a winning margin of only six points over Yvonne Wisse of the Netherlands (5895). Wisse’s 2:12.51 in the 800 was the fastest of all competitors, and with Oeser finishing fourth (2:16.39) behind her, there was a tense moment as the finish photo was read, the end result producing a tearful display of exhuberance from the winner. 

“I couldn’t believe what I read on the scoreboard at the end,” said Oeser. “I thought the bronze medal was possible, but not the gold.”

Vasilíki Deliníkola of Greece took the bronze medal with 5863, ahead of the PB 5842 of another German, Claudia Tonn. 

André Niklaus successfully defended the Decathlon title he won in Amsterdam two years ago with a 7983 total, as he took the gold ahead of two Baltic competitors, Indrek Turi of Estonia (7864) and Latvian Atis Vaisjuns (7681). 

Only in sixth place at the end of the first day, Niklaus started his attack on the top position with the 110 Hurdles and finally grabbed the lead for the remaining events as a result of his 5.00 performance in the Pole Vault. 

Ironically it was the Pole Vault which almost kept Niklaus from competing.  “Three weeks ago, I didn’t think I could start here because of a vaulting injury in May,” said the Berlin athlete.  “The first day was [for me] normal, but the second day was good” was his assessment of his performance. 

The next two, albeit medalless, places went to Germans Lars Albert (7627) and Christopher Hallman (7615), giving that country considerable potential on the European front in coming seasons.  

Aside from the multievent competitions, only two finals were scheduled for Friday. And if Germany could “double dip” in the gold medal department, why not also Greece? 

In the men’s 10000 metres, Ioánnis Kanelópoulos was locked in a duel with Ukrainian Vasil Matviychuk with four laps left. Coming off the final turn, the Greek opened up an extra metre or two of space, but the Ukrainian staged his own comeback, falling just short at the finish. 

Kanelópoulos’ winning time of 29:00.78 brought Greece gold, ahead of the silver medal produced by Matviychuk’s 29:01.29.  The spectators remaining in the stadium at the end of the evening’s programme lustily cheered Poland’s Paweł Ochal, as he sprinted to the bronze in a PB 29:17.41 ahead of another Ukranian, Igor Geletiy (29:18.92). 

This was a continuation of a small Greek “gold rush” which had started in the afternoon. 

With just over six kilometres remaining in the women’s 20k Walk, Athanasía Tsoumeléka - the bronze medallist from the 2001 European Junior championships - broke away from a group of five competitors and strode to victory in 1:33.55. Taking the other two medals were Vera Santos of Portugal (1:35.18) and Germany’s Sabine Zimmer (1:35.56). 

Prior to Tsoumeléka’s move, the race had been dominated by Lyudmila Yefimkina of Russia, who eventually finished fifth in 1:38.47. 

All of this capped a fine day for Greek coach Níkos Dimitriádis, who coaches both gold medallists. 

Most of the favourites passed through the qualifying rounds unscathed. 

New women’s pole vault World record holder Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia worked harder than she needed to for a spot in the final, jumping 4.20—as did Poland’s Anna Rogowska—while all others clearing 4.15 were assured of further action. 

The Men’s Pole Vault required at least a 5.25 for advancement, although various versions of passing strategies pushed the final height up to 5.35, which Germany’s Marvin Osei-Tutu was forced to clear in order to stay alive.   

The Sydney champion in the Women’s Hammer, Kamila Skolimowska of Poland, led the qualifiers with 66.02, but she was surprisingly challenged for the top spot by Oksana Menkova of Belarus (65.98).  The U23 list leader, Betty Heidler of Germany, had a slow start with two poor throws, but she averted elimination with 63.41 on her last qualification trial to advance to Saturday’s final. 

The Men’s 800 metres was led by German René Herms (1:47.64) who just outlegged Fernando Almeida of Portugal (1:47.77) in Thursday’s fastest heat. Those two, plus other heat winners Manuel Olmedo of Spain (1:48.57) and Florent Lacasse of France (1:48.67), set up one of the weekend’s potentially strongest final races on Saturday evening. 

Esther Desviat of Spain was the top performer in the Women’s 800 Metres with 2:02.77, while U23 season leader, Lucia Klocova of Slovakia, barely avoided an early exit by taking the final qualifying spot with 2:05.35. 

The men’s 400 metres appears headed for a thrilling showdown between the top exponents of that event, as Leslie Djhone of France set a Championships Record of 45.54 in posting the day’s fastest qualifying time. Tim Benjamin of Britain was also a heat winner in a PB 45.71, ahead of Poland’s Rafał Wieruszewski (45.90). The sections of the semi-final were contested at such an intense level that five of the eight finalists ran personal bests. 

France also produced the top time in the Women’s 400 metres, as Solène Desert’s 52.77 topped all runners. 

Marek Plawgo drew loud cheers from his Polish countryman as a season-best 49.80 easily passed him through to the 400 hurdles final. But the honour of the fastest qualifying time went to Germany’s Christian Duma with 49.73 immediately following Plawgo’s section.

Russians won two of the three women’s 400 Hurdles semifinals, with Oksana Gulumyan establishing a new U23 Championships record with a PB 55.98 in the final section. Latvia’s Irena Zauna (56.72)—the Amsterdam bronze medallist--and Alena Rücklová of the Czech Republic (57.13) followed with the next fastest times. 

Although each was contested within a 15-minute period, the swirling winds made the men’s and women’s 110/100m Hurdles heats anything but equal. 

Ironically, Britain’s Robert Newton caught the worst wind in the men’s heats (-0.4) but still managed a PB 13.55 to lead all contestants, as the trio of Ladji Doucouré of France, Holland’s Gregory Sedoc, and Sergey Chepiga of Russia all ran 13.59 in the opening heat, aided by a 2.9 wind. 

The standard in the women’s Hurdles was set by the defending champion, Jenny Kallur of Sweden, with 12.97 during a virtually windless (-0.1) moment. Mariya Koroteyeva of Russia fought a -1.7 wind for a season-best 13.14 as the number-two qualifier, with Kallur’s twin sister, Jenny—the silver medallist from 2001—also posting her best for 2003 with 13.29 while battling a -1.4 breeze.

The Kallurs were not the only twins successfully advancing in Friday’s competition.  With a PB 2.21 in the men’s High Jump, Vladimir Chubsa joined brother Andrey—the current European junior champion—in qualifying for Sunday’s final.  Also of note among other qualifiers at 2.21 is the current Polish champion, Aleksander Waleriańczyk, who leaped 2.32 in gaining the national crown two weeks ago. 

To no one’s great surprise, Aleksandr Ivanov of Russia, the current European Junior champion, led the men’s Javelin qualifiers with 78.99. 

While the 400 hurdlers were being given three rounds to sort things out, the 100 and 200 runners faced a draconian schedule which moves them directly from a semifinal to a final and then strangely gives them a day off to contemplate the medal race.  Fortunately, the winds were calm during Thursday’s semifinals, allowing for a fair assessment of the all-important time qualifiers. 

Geórgia Koklóni of Greece led the way in the Women’s 100 Metres with 11.45, and France’s Ronald Pognon posted the men’s best of 10.30.  The 2001 silver medallist in the men’s event, Fabrice Calligny of France, advanced by winning his heat in 10.40. 

Poland’s Marcin Jedrusiński is naturally expected by his home fans to successfully defend his U23 title in the men’s 200 Metres.  His relaxed 20.90 semi-final win - the slowest of the three sections - meant the lanky sprinter did not needlessly expend energy as he might have been tempted to do while dealing with the small radius of lane three. 

Sweden’s Johan Wissman had the fastest time with a season-best 20.72, while Chris Lambert of Britain won the remaining section in a wind-aided 20.75. 

Marina Maydanova of Ukraine came to Bydgoszcz as the prohibitive favourite in the women’s 200 metres, and her 23.16 semi-final time - a full half second ahead of the next fastest competitor - did nothing to alter that stature.

Dorota Dydo (23.66) of Poland and Italy’s Vincenza Cali (23.69) had the advantage of being in Maydanova’s section, as all four runners behind the powerful Ukrainian were pulled to fast times which advanced them to the final. 

A former European Junior discus champion, Rutger Smith of the Netherlands, set the pace with 58.98 in that event, followed by Kris Coene of neighbouring Belgium at 58.17. 

Shot putter Ivan Yushkov of Russia threw a PB 19.56 in the qualifying round to emerge as the surprise leader, while Yuriy Belov of Belarus - the silver medallist from Amsterdam and the U23 list leader with a 21.14 best this season - was only sixth at 18.68. Enter Smith for a second time, as the former World Junior shotput champion also advanced to the final in this event with a fourth-best 18.93. 

Women’s Long Jump U23 list leader, Irina Simagina of Russia, also finds herself atop the list of qualifiers in that event with 6.65, with Latvia’s Ineta Radevica (6.64) and European Heptathlon champion Carolina Klüft of Sweden (6.63) right behind. 

Only two weeks after her Heptathlon win in the European Cup Multievent Championships, Klüft is limiting her participation here to the Long Jump in her preparation for next month’s World Championships in Paris. 

The 2000 World and current European Junior champion in the men’s Triple Jump, Romania’s Marian Oprea, had the top performance in that event with 16.85. His chance for a third international gold medal in the event had been spoiled in the 2001 Amsterdam championships with the sudden emergence of Sweden’s Christian Olsson. But could another spoiler have emerged this year in Dmitriy Valyukevich of Belarus? The son of former Soviet triple jumper Gennadiy and long jumper Irina, Valyukevich leaped a PB 16.83 for the number-two spot going into Saturday’s final.   

The top three qualifiers in the Women’s Triple Jump entered the competition in close proximity on the year list, and their qualifying marks followed the same pattern. Simona La Mantia of Italy had the top qualifying mark with 14.06, followed by Russia’s Viktoriya Gurova (14.03) and Alina Dinu of Romania (14.00). 

After her 6.64 qualifying Long Jump earlier in the day, Latvian jumper Ineta Radevica still had the energy to come within two centimetres of her personal best with a superb 13.91 as the fourth-best triple jump qualifier.   

The 3000m Steeplechase times were headed by the 8:34.68 of Ivan Luchianov of Moldava (8:34.68), as favourites Radosław Popławski of Poland (8:36.07) and Austria’s Martin Pröll (8:37.53) advanced with the second and fifth-fastest times, respectively. 

Another potential contender, France’s Adil El Oualidi, dropped out during his semi-final section, a victim of the stifling 30-plus temperatures which descended on Bydgoszcz the first day. 

Russia’s Olesya Chumakova (4:13.79) had the top qualifying time in the women’s 1500 metres, while Lorenzo Perrone of Italy led the men’s list of finalists with 3:43.06.

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