Bubka makes winning return in Valencia
Phil Minshull for IAAF
2 February 2000 - Valencia - Sergey Bubka made a winning return to competition in Valencia on Wednesday night after a 17 month absence with achilles tendon and foot injuries.
The six-times pole vault world champion found that a first-time clearance at the relatively modest height of 5.60m sufficed for victory despiet the presence of a respectable field.
Bubka’s opposition included the 1999 World Championship bronze medallist Israel’s Aleksander Averbukh, who finished second on the night with Kazakhstan’s Gregoriy Yegorov.
Both men cleared the same height as the legendary Ukrainian but finished behind Bubka by virtue of having one failure each at 5.60.
The man who won every world championship gold medal on offer between 1983 and 1997 cut a solitary figure on the infield of the athletics-cum-cycling arena.
He sat apart, by himself, without conversing with anyone apart from passing the occasional word with Yegorov, an old friend and the 1989 European indoor champion from the days when both men competed together and against each other while wearing the same red vests of the Soviet Union.
Before the competition Bubka had expressed fears about the state of his damaged right foot but ironically it was his technique rather than his physical condition that gave him problems on the night.
He produced a soaring clearance at his winning height but rattled the bar on his way down and had a similar experience with his first time vault at 5.40, the only other height attempted.
At 5.80 Bubka had the unnerving experience of a pole breaking on his first attempt at the new height and, with his confidence clearly shaken, his two remaining attempts were poor efforts.
Nevertheless the man the Spanish media had christened ‘The Tzar of Pole Vaulting’ is without doubt a force to be reckoned with once more and rumours of his retirement have proved to be premature.
He plans to vault again in Lievin, France, on February 13 and then in his home town of Donetsk seven days later, a pole vault spectacular he is helping to organise and promote.
Unlike Bubka, Canada’s Donovan Bailey is finding it harder to return to the top of the medal podium.
The 1996 Olympic 100m champion, and former world record holder at the blue riband event, has missed most of the last two seasons with a variety of injuries.
He has yet to win this winter and had to settle for second in Valencia over 60m behind local sprinter Venancio Jose, who clocked 6.72 ahead of Bailey’s 6.75.
Jamaica’s Merlene Ottey, took the 60m in 7.14 seconds.
Mexico’s Lilliana Allen, formerly of Cuba and a bronze medallist over 60m at the world indoor championships as long ago as 1991, finished second in 7.25 after Ottey overhauled her at 30m following a less-than-lightening start by the winner.
Spanish athletes won five of the ten events with an international flavour in Valencia.
Niurka Montalvo, the women’s long jump gold medallist in Seville last summer, once again showed that she can produce her best when she has the backing of a cheering home crowd.
Her fourth round leap of 6.78 metres was a new Spanish indoor record and she can look forward optimistically to the European indoor championships later this month in Ghent.
Another Spanish medal prospect in Belgium is likely to be Roberto Parra.
The 1996 European indoor 800 champion has had torrid time during the last four years, injuries restricting his return to the same sort of form he showed prior to the Atlanta Olympics, but he produced an assured display over four laps of the Luis Puig velodrome to suggest he could once again be a medal contender.
He clocked 1:49.88 to help banish the bad memories of the 1998 European indoor championships at the same venue, when he limped out of his 800 heat mid-race with a calf injury.
Nigeria’s Glory Alozie was given almost as big a cheer as the Spaniard winners for her triumph in the women’s 60m hurdles.
The 1999 World Championship silver medallist over 100m hurdles has raced for the local Valencia club for the last three years.
Alozie made substantial repayment on the support she has received by clocking a brisk 7.99 seconds to leave Jamaica’s Michelle Freeman and Cuba’s Aliuska Lopez, the 1997 and 1995 world indoor 60m hurdles champions respectively, trailing in her wake.
Leading results
Men’s 60 metres
1. Venancio Jose (Spain) 6.72 seconds
2. Donovan Bailey (Canada) 6.75
3. Diego Santos (Spain) 6.77
Men’s 200 metres
1. Jordi Mayoral (Spain) 21.16 seconds
2. Ivan Garcia (Cuba) 21.32
3. Francisco Navarro (Spain) 21.32 same time
Men’s 800 metres
1. Roberto Parra (Spain) one minute 49.20 seconds
2. Jose Antonio Rodolat (Spain) 1:49.88
3. Israel Dominguez (Spain) 1:50.11
Men’s 60 metres hurdles
1. Anier Garcia (Cuba) 7.62 seconds
2. Shaun Bownes (South Africa) 7.72
3. Artur Kohutek (Poland) 7.74
Men’s pole vault
1. Sergey Bubka (Ukraine) 5.60 metres
2=. Gregoriy Yegorov (Kazakhstan) 5.60 same height
2=. Alexsandr Averbukh (Israel) 5.60 same height
Women’s 60 metres
1. Merlene Ottey (Jamaica) 7.14 seconds
2. Lilliana Allen (Mexico) 7.25
3. Rosa Aboaja (Nigeria) 7.42
Women’s 400 metres
1. Falilat Ogunkoya (Nigeria) 52.73 seconds
2. Kudi Ahigbe (Nigeria) 52.94
3. Elena Corcoles (Spain) 54.90
Women’s 1,500 metres
1. Nuria Fernandez (Spain) four minutes 24.31 seconds
2. Rocio Rodrigues (Spain) 4:24.36
3. Esther Salim (Spain) 4:25.53
Women’s 60 metres hurdles
1. Glory Alozie (Nigeria) 7.99 seconds
2. Michelle Freeman (Jamaica) 8.01
3. Aliuska Lopez (Cuba) 8.08
Women’s high jump
1. Solange Witteeven (Argentina) 1.92 metres
2. Antonella Bevilacqua (Italy) 1.89
3=. Marta Mendia (Spain) 1.86
3=. Viktoria Slivka (Russia) 1.86 same height
3=. Venelina Veneva (Bulgaria) 1.86 same height
Women’s long jump
1. Niurka Montalvo (Spain) 6.78 metres
2. Conchi Montaner (Spain) 6.50
3. Inessa Kravets (Ukraine) 6.26
