Yulia Pechonkina of Russia in action in the women's 400M heats (© Getty Images)
Without any doubt Fani Halkia is the biggest revelation of this year for Greek athletics, and she will compete at the Super Grand Prix “Tsiklitiria OPAP”, which takes place in the newly built stadium of Heraklion in Iraklio, Greece on Sunday 4 July. The Olympic football tournament will be held at this venue later this summer.
Halkia who is the Greek champion in the women’s 400m Hurdles, has beaten the national record three times this year. During the national championships she achieved a time of 56.03, improved it to 54.88 in the final, and then last Saturday afternoon (19 June) at the European Cup in Poland she won in 54.16. That performance made her the third best athlete in the world so far this year.
Halkia’s opponent in the Super Grand Prix race on 4 July will be Russia’s World record holder Yuliya Pechonkina (52.34, 2003), who was bronze medallist in the World Championships last August, and has a best of 53.78 in 2004.
Also competing in the women’s 400m Hurdles on 4 July will be Surita Febbraio from South Africa (54.05 altitude 2003), Tatyana Tereshchuk from Ukraine (53.40 - 1998), Debbie-Anne Parris from Jamaica (53.88 - 2001), Natalya Torshina from Kazakstan (54.50 - 2000) and the Russian Yekaterina Bakhvalova (54.65 – 1999).
Lebedeva to star
The women’s Triple Jump at the Super Grand Prix “Tsiklitiria OPAP” will resemble an Olympic final.
Russia’s Tatyana Lebedeva, double World outdoor champion and winner of the World Indoor title last March thanks to three stunning World indoor records (one equalled) will be the undoubted star of the show.
Hrissopigi Devetzi of Greece (14.65 – 5th in the world this summer) will be the local favourite but there is also another Russian Anna Pyatykh the European Cup winner, Olena Govorova of the Ukraine, and Sudan’s Yamile Aldama among the elite field.
Pyatykh with 14.85 has the world's best performance so far this year, while Govorova with 14.78 is holder of the second best jump, and Aldama was the furthest jumper of 2003 (15.29).
