Report07 Jan 2013


Wins for Borzakovskiy, Poistogova, Ustalova and Smirnov as Russian indoor season kicks off

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Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia (© Getty Images)

The Yalamov Memorial is the first of the 2013 “Christmas Starts” series, and today (7) the 22nd edition of the meeting was held in Yekaterinburg.

Yuriy Borzakovskiy still remains one of the icons of Russian athletics, so the men’s 1000m was the main attraction of the meeting and he didn’t disappoint his many fans. The 2004 Olympic 800m champion used his usual tactics by running in the middle of the pack before unleashing his trademark acceleration over the last 200m lap, which he covered in 25 seconds.

The result – a comfortable 2:24.27 – was a solid season opener and he finished 0.14 ahead of national 800m champion Ivan Nesterov. Two other runners dipped under 2:25 – Anis Ananenka of Belarus (2:24.83) and Sergei Usoltzev (2:24.96).

Olympic 800m bronze medallist Yekaterina Poistogova dominated the women’s 1000m, winning in 2:39.61 – her fastest ever season opener in the event and just marginally slower than her PB. She easily defeated Marina Pospelova (2:41.00) and Alena Glazkova (2:41.97).

Russian 1500m champion Valentin Smirnov impressed in the men’s 3000m. His result, 7:48.94, moves him up to third on the Russian all-time list and is an outright PB, quicker than his outdoor best. Russia’s 1500m Olympian Yegor Nikolaev also improved his PB in second place with 7:51.42, beating Kenya’s Salomon Barngetuny (7:55.04). Two more Russians broke eight minutes – Nikolai Chavkin (7:57.04) and Konstantin Vasiliev (7:59.35).

For the second year in a row at this meeting, Kseniya Ustalova posted the fastest time in the 300m. The 2010 European 400m silver medallist went even quicker than last year, running a PB of 36.76 – good enough for 16th on the world indoor all-time list. Fellow sub-50 400m runner and former European silver medallist Tatyana Veshkurova posted the second-fastest time of the day with her 37.69.

Svetlana Kireyeva was a class apart in the 2000m, clocking the fastest time in the world for two years to win in 5:44.08. She beat Yelena Soboleva by more than two seconds (5:46.36), with Anna Shchagina finishing third in 5:48.32.

Elsewhere, Nigeria’s Patrick Chinedu clocked 6.75 to win the men’s 60m. He was followed by two Russians – Yevgeniy Ustavschikov and Pavel Karavaev – who were both timed at 6.79. Nadezhda Paleyeva was a clear winner of the women’s 60m in 7.38.

Aleksei Kenig was a fraction outside his PB to win the men’s 300m in 33.69, while Pavel Trenikhin took the 500m in 1:02.34. Natalya Danilova was the fastest among women with her 1:10.91.

A week before his 32nd birthday, Igor Peremota clocked 7.88 in the men’s 60m Hurdles. Last year’s World Indoors representative Svetlana Topilina won the women’s equivalent in 8.17.

The men’s High Jump was the only non-running event at the meeting. Kazakhstan’s Sergei Zasimovich cleared 2.24m to win ahead of three Russian jumpers who cleared 2.20m; Eduard Malchenko was the best of those on count-back.

St Petersburg record in women’s Triple Jump

At the “Cup of St-Petersburg” a city record was set by Irina Gumenuk who triple jumped 14.48m. At the same meeting, Aleksandra Butvina smashed her PB in the Pentathlon with a score of 4615.

Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF

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