Gelete Burka (r) kicking away from Maryam Jamal in the Lausanne 1500m (© Olivier Allenspach)
It's almost two months now since European indoor champion Ariane Friedrich was announced as the headline attraction of the 26th edition of the BW-Bank Meeting in Karlsruhe, Germany, and now we have news of one of her chief opponents.
The BW-Bank Meeting which takes place on 31 January, is the second of 10 IAAF Indoor Permit meetings in 2010 which lead into the 13th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, 12-14 March.
23-year-old Russian Irina Gordeeva who, with a 2.01m leap last winter in Cottbus and then a sensational 2.02m victory at the High Jump classic in Eberstadt, rose into the top echelons of international women’s high jumping, is the newly announced opponent for home favourite Friedrich, the 2009 World bronze medallist.
Last year Friedrich stole a 2.05m victory on countback from world champion Blanka Vlasic to win in Karlsruhe, and she’ll need all that height and the same composure to beat Gordeeva, whose career is also on the rise. The Russian was unlucky to miss out on the Berlin World Championships, having finished fourth in the powerfully strong national championships last summer.
Ethiopia’s world indoor 1500m champion Gelete Burka will run her championship-winning distance in Karlsruhe’s Europahalle. It will be the first appearance at this meeting by the 23-year-old African record-holder whose 3:59.75 indoor best was set when winning her world title in Valencia. Burka was originally due to attack the mile record in Karlsruhe last year before being pulled out of the meeting so she could concentrate instead on the 2009 World Cross Country Championships in Amman.
Organisers for the IAAF
