News14 Feb 2009


Unheralded Krivoshapka cruises world leading 50.55 - Russian Indoor Champs Day 2

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Olga Kucherenko jumps at the 2009 Russian Winter meeting (© Jiro Mochizuki (Agence Shot))

Moscow, Russia11 gold medals were at stake at the second day of Russian Indoor championships and the battle for one of them produced a run away world leading performance.

In the beginning of the season Antonina Krivoshapka was known only to a handful of specialists. Now the 21-year-old from Volgograd clocked 50.55 in 400m improving by .01 seconds her result that had been set in the heats on Friday. Twice in two days she set the world's best time.

“My gratitude goes to the sport authorities of my city who helped me a lot,” said the happy winner who is not very accustomed to giving interviews. “I hope I'll have a chance to run under the national banner in the upcoming international events.”

Krivoshapka was followed by Darya Safonova (52.05) and Tatyana Veshkurova (52.27).

Smirnov and Geflikh unrivaled at 200m

Roman Smirnov is considered to be the best Russian 200m runner. On Saturday he didn't betray those expectations, clocking 21.14 for the victory. The runner-up finisher, however, 19-year-old Vyacheslav Kolesnikov (21.29) was a surprise for nearly everybody. 400m specialist Dmitriy Petrov was third (21.41).

Anna Geflikh won the women's 200m without evident resistance from her opponents in 23.24. Natalya Murinovitch, who had gained the laurels at 60m on Friday, was second (23.42). Nineteen-year-old Aleksandra Fedoriv, an Olympic 4x100m Relay champion, finished third in 23.48.

The men's 400m was dominated by the Olympic 4x400m Relay medallist Denis Alekeseev in 46.65. Officials had to award more silver medals then expected, with Maksim Aleksandrenko and Konstantin Svechkar both clocking 46.91 to share the runner-up spot. Eighteen-year-old Vladimir Krasnov, from the distant Siberian city Bratsk, was fourth in 46.93, a promising performance for his young age and fighting spirit.

And again silver was shared in the women's High Jump. The trio of Victoriya Klyugina, Svetlana Shkolina and Irina Gordeeva cleared the bar at 1.92. But Klyugina was the only one to conquer 1.94m. She decided to stop here and not to try her luck any further. As the results of Shkolina and Gordeeva wer absolutely equal, they both stepped on the same second step of the podium sharing silver.

In the absence of Yuriy Borzakovskiy the way to the 800m podium remained opened for the new prodigies. One of them was surely Mister X, that is Stepan Poistogov, who clocked 1:48.66 in one of the 800m heat. He was leading in the final and it was only his absolute lack of experience that prevented him from occupying the higher place on the podium then his third place showing in 1:49.38. It was the long time 800m runner Yuriy Koldin who finished first in 1:48.99 leaving behind Ivan Nesterov (1:49.27).

Irina Moracheva made a lot of people raise their eyebrows on the snowy Friday evening after her 1:59.36 world leader. On Saturday, however, she was not as happy. Maybe it was lack of experience? She let her opponents get too far away and her final dash brought Moracheva only a well-deserved bronze in 200.55. It was Mariya Saviniva who finished first with the second best result of the season, 1:59.45. Oksana Zbrozhek was the runner-up clocking 2:00.04.

Olga Kucherenko turned out to be the leader among Russian long jumpers. She twice leapt 6.72m - in a consistent series her worst leap was 6.60 – which gave a narrow victory over Tatyana Voikina (6.70) who was the surprise runner-up. Yelena Sokolova (6.69) was third.

Burkenya celebrates retirement as a spectator

2004 Olympic bronze medallist Danila Burkenya was one of the most attentive spectators during the Triple Jump event, as he decided to say farewell to sport. So thanks for everything you did!

His constant opponent, Igor Spasovkhodskiy, led the event from his first effort. Spasovkhodskiy said he was not at his best because of the minor injury, and tried to seal the victory with his very first leap. He succeeded with the same result as in Friday evening’s qualifying round, a 16.87m leap. Klim Vorobiev got his silver for the first time in his career with a 16.76m effort leaving behind the experienced 31-year-old Yevgeniy Plotnir (16.73).

The results in men's shot put were modest. It was Pavel Sofin who took top honours with a 19.79m effort. Anton Luboslavskiy (19.59m) was second with Maksim Sidorov (19.56) third.

In the women's Shot Put  Anna Avdeeva won with her 18.74m first effort, the second farthest throw in the world this season. Anna Omarova was second (18.24) and Irina Tarasova was third (17.61).

Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF

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