Russian long jumper Olga Kucherenko in Gothenburg (© Hasse Sjögren)
Gothenburg, SwedenThe opening of the Swedish Folksam Grand Prix season on Tuesday night (9) at the venerable Slottsskogsvallen-arena – home of the first sub-14:00 at 5000m and of the first sub-3:50 at the Mile – had attracted most of the current crop of Swedish world class athletes: Carolina Klüft, Linus Thörnblad, Johan Wissman, Mustafa Mohamed and Emma Green.
But it was not one of those home stars that provided the top performance of an evening which unfortunately grew increasingly cold and damp. That billing instead firmly belonged to Russian long jumper Olga Kucherenko who provided a very impressive set of consistent world class jumping at the very end of the meeting.
Approaching 7m
Despite the non-conducive weather the 23-year-old Kucherenko followed her 6.57m opener with a string of 6.75+ jumps. Her three longest legal jumps measured 6.85, 6.83 and 6.78. The 6.85 actually constituted a new PB but the way she was jumping it will not stand as such for long. Kucherenko's first 7-metres could happen the very next time she steps on the runway and she very much looked like a challenger for the podium in Berlin in August!
Carolina Klüft finished a distant second now with 6.53 but was still quite happy as she took her full run-up for the first time since last summer. The timing was still not there but an improvement by 19 cm compared to her opening meet in New York one and a half week ago was positive. Just like the fact that she had no problem whatsoever with the stress fracture in her leg that forced her to cancel the indoor season.
Green back
Also on a smiling comeback trail after injury – she had an ankle operation late last autumn – was High Jumper Emma Green. In her first meet since September, the 2005 World Championships medallist looked a little hesitant at the early heights but she managed to raise her game with the bar to get a clean sheet up to and including 1.91m – plus a very close miss in her first attempt at 1.93.
This turned out enough to win as Kazachstan's Marina Aitova after being the most impressive early on had to use all her three attempts at 1.91 and then was not being really close at all at 1.93.
Wissman prevails… just
The event topping the running bill was the European Indoor champion Johan Wissman's outdoor debut at his main event 400m. Wissman did win but only just: Belgian Cedric Van Branteghem in the lane on the outside, after being caught by Wissman at 200m, came back strongly in the finishing straight. Wissman prevailed by just three hundredths: 46.24 vs 46.27.
Close and exciting finishes actually turned out quite common this evening as South Africa's Samson Ngoepe just nipped European Indoor bronze medallist Mattias Claesson in the 800m (1:46.47 vs 1:46.60), as Finland's Niclas Sandells rushed by Ireland's David Campbell in the 1500m (3:40.30 vs 3:40.35) and as Great Britain's Rhys Williams managed to catch Finland's Jussi Heikkilä in the 400m Hurdles (50.17 vs 50.23).
Most impressive on the track this evening was US "journeyman" hurdler Fred Townsend who has just begun his third summer on the European "2nd tier circuit". In 2007 he ran 17 meets from May to August, last year 20 meets and now in his already 6th European meet of 2009 he on a cool and damp evening recorded 13.62 with no help from the wind (+0.3), with no real competition (won by three metres) and despite hitting a couple of hurdles quite hard. So don't be surprised if Townsend gets into the low 13.40's soon – and then gets his deserved chance also in the top meets.
The men's 5000m was planned to give Swedish 8:05 steeplechaser Mustafa Mohamed a good opportunity to significantly lower his 13:32 PB. A contingent of Kenyan runners did provide a consistant and sufficient pace (first three kilometers in 2:42-2:43) but when Jonas Cheruiyot (12:59 PB) stepped up the pace in the fourth kilometer to 2:38 Mohamed could not follow any longer. So the race turned out all-Kenyan in the top-5 with Cheruiyot winning in 13:21.77.
The women's 1500m on the other hand suffered from very erratic early pacing (64.9 – 2:19.5). Briton Katrina Wootton stayed away from the early sprinting which probably provided her with the decisive finishing strength to prevail over Australian Kaila McKnight in 4:16.69 vs 4:17.11.
The throwing events provided solid but not extraordinary winning distances: Esthonia's Raigo Tompuu 19.59m in the Shot Put, Latvia's Eriks Rags 78.00 in the Javelin Throw and Poland's Zaneta Glanc 60.76 in the Discus Throw. In the absence of Anna Söderberg (shoulder injury) Sweden got a new No 2 on the national all-time list in 20-year-old Sofia Larsson who with her 58.65 also surpassed the B-standard for the World Championships.
Both Russia's Aleksandr Shustov and Sweden's Linus Thörnblad had recently opened their outdoor season by clearing 2.31m. But this evening Shustov was by far the best jumper. While Thörnblad after clearing 2.24 in his 2nd attempt failed once at 2.26 and twice at 2.28 without being close to clearing the Russian made both those heights on first attempts.
Italy's Alessandro Talotti passed at 2.26 and 2.28 and rejoined the competition at 2.30 but had no chance there, while Shustov almost made it on his third attempt. Obviously the Russian is continuing to build upon his breakthrough indoor season when he for the first time competed extensively on the international circuit and proved a consistent 2.30-man.
The second leg of the 4-meet Folksam Grand Prix circuit in Sweden is scheduled for 25 June in the Stockholm suburb of Sollentuna.
Lennart Julin for the IAAF
