World
leading performances at the Znamenskiy Memorial
Denis Fedulov for the IAAF
9 June 2002 – Tula,
Russia - Every expectation of an upbeat track meet was fulfilled this Sunday in
Tula, where warm temperatures and slightly overcast skies created perfect conditions to
produce five world-leading performances.
The tempo was set in the javelin sector, where an ongoing duel commenced between Aleksandr Ivanov and Russian record holder Sergei Makarov. Ivanov made the first move with a solid throw of 81.49, only to see Makarov go 88.17 in the very next attempt. That effort, which was, incidentally, better than Ivanov’s PR (87.62) put Makarov on top for good.
Vadim Khersontsev collected the most points toward his Grand Prix total in the men’s hammer. In a close competition, he outperformed Ivan Tikhon of Belarus by just over a metre (78.69 for Khersontsev vs 77.63 for Tikhon). Sergey Krimasov of Russia rounded off the three medalists on the strength of his 76.81 effort.
Moving into the second spot on the 2002 outdoor performance list, Natalya Sadova won the women’s discus in 67.73. An improvement of almost 4 metres on her previous best effort of the season helped Natalya win the second Grand Prix event of the day and fight off her challngers, Olena Antonova of Ukraine who finished second with a toss of 63.29 and Oksana Yesipchuk, whose throw of 61.57 helped her to a third-place finish.
The women’s high jump competition drew much interest from the crowd, as spectators flocked to the stands in front of the pit to see two ladies better Amy Acuff’s then-world-leading performance of 1.95. Marina Kuptsova continued her winning ways of the indoor season with an effort of 1.99, while Yelena Slesarenko threatened with a 1.97 clearance.
On hand to support the high jumpers was pole vaulter Yelena Isinibayeva, who had just set a PR of 4.50 in beating the thin field of women that showed up in Tula. The absence of Svetlana Feofanova, the trend-setter on the Russian and International pole vaulting scene, might have helped Yelena relax in the sector and perform as well as she did. All smiles, she still could not help letting out a slight sigh of dissatisfaction when speaking of her performance. “I came so close to clearing 4.60!” she said, adding philosophically, “of course, had I done that, I’d probably be upset about not making it at 4.65.”
Another outstanding performance came in women’s shot put, where Irina Korzhanenko produced a throw of 20.50. Performances by Svetlana Kriveleva, the runner-up with a 19.80 effort, and Olga Ryabinkina, the third-place finisher with a throw of 19.20, attested to Russia’s depth in the event this year.
The women’s triple jump trophy will make a trip to Ukraine with Olena Hovorova, who posted the second best effort in the world so far this year – 14.54.
While there was a host of outstanding performances in the field events, the crowd really got into the meet once track events were under way.
Ruslan Mashchenko was in command in the men’s 400 m hurdles, only needing a 49.68 to win the race. “This is my third race of the week,” he admitted after the award ceremony, indeed appearing a bit tired. ”I am really looking forward to the five days that I will have between now and my next race to get some rest and recollect myself.”
The only time during the meet when the stadium got quiet was right after the finish of the women’s 400 m hurdles, and not for the lack of a brilliant performance. Everyone was looking at the infield display, with mixed feelings of excitement and disbelief. The numbers on the display were 53.10. While Yulia Nosova-Pechyonkina, cleared each hurdle very smoothly and opened a huge gap between herself and the rest of the field by the time the runners got to the home stretch, still, for everyone present, including the athlete herself, a time this fast so early in the season was a pleasant surprise.
A few hours after the race, Yulia still had no explanation for what had happened. “I am nursing a minor injury, so I was trying to hold back and be really careful,” she said. “This is an incredible result for me, an improvement of 0.74 seconds on my old PR.”
In the men’s 400 m, Oleg Mishukov was able to fight off a late charge by Andrey Semyonov and won in 45.96. Natalya Antyukh was the fastest woman around the track in 51.24.
The women’s 100 m dash was won, to spectator’s delight, by the hometown favorite Yulia Tabakova. Tabakova’s time of 11.11 was enough to beat Natalya Ignatova (11.22) and Marina Kislova (11.38). Gennadiy Chernovol from Kazakhstan won the men’s sprint in 10.19.
The men’s 800 m excited the crowd as Sergey Kozhevnikov, some 10 metres behind the leader Ramil Aritkulov at the 600 m mark, was able to produce a better finish and edged Aritkulov right at the tape. Kozhevniov, the European Champions Cup winner, recorded a time of 1:47.38 while Aritkulov finished second in 1:47.44.
Somewhat surprisingly, Svetlana Cherkasova played the role of a pacemaker in the women’s two-lapper, helping Irina Mistyukevich, who was out there all by herself once Cherkasova dropped out at the 600 m mark, to a 1:58.90 showing. This marked another improvement on her season’s best for Mistyukevich, who is looking to emerge as one of the top contenders in the event at the European Championships in Munich.
A stellar group of women in the 1500 m race, which closed out the night, decided to let the rabbit go as they pushed and shoved fighting for position among themselves. Passing the first lap in a pedestrian 70 seconds, they slightly picked up the pace, but still failed to catch up with the pacemaker before the 1000 m mark. Things did not get merry until after the bell, when Olga Yegorova, Tatyana Tomashova and Yelena Zadorozhnaya broke away from the field in a manner reminiscent of their last year’s GL showings. It was Zadorozhnaya’s outstanding sprinting that sealed the race for her down the home stretch (4:08.61). Yegorova ended up in second place (4:09.68), while Tomashova had to settle for third (4:10.65).
