<a href="#FR">Fran&ccedil;ais</a>Situated directly in the front of the entrance to ExpoCentre in the Sochi Winter Olympic Park, a high profile demonstration of IAAF / Nestl&eacute; Kids&rsquo; Athletics, which is one of the biggest grassroots development programmes in the world of sports, took place this afternoon (21).The event was hosted by IAAF President Lamine Diack and two 800m running greats, Denmark&rsquo;s three-time world champion Wilson Kipketer and Russia&rsquo;s 2004 Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy, acting in the role of IAAF Ambassadors.The IAAF / Nestl&eacute; Kids&rsquo; Athletics event was the &lsquo;must be there&rsquo; event of the day in Sochi, attracting as it did the presence of three other distinguished global champions: Gabriela Szabo, Tatyana Lebedeva and Koji Murofushi. Also giving his support to the two-hour demonstration was Svein-Arne Hansen, the newly elected President of European Athletics.Yet the focus was of course on the main participants, the children. Six teams of kids aged 12 years old drawn from Sochi schools took part in a series of seven fun activities which covered the core skills of athletics: running, jumping and throwing. 12 athletics coaches were on hand to direct the kids through the programme of IAAF / Nestl&eacute; Kids&rsquo; Athletics, which was organised with the marvellous assistance of IAAF Regional Development Centre, Moscow and its Director Vadim Zelichenok and Gϋnter Lange from the IAAF Development Department.President Diack, Kipketer and Borzakovskiy begun the afternoon talking to the children about their own experiences as athletes and what had motivated them to take up athletics and continue to pursue a healthy life style long after retirement from competition. They signed autographs and helped to distribute T-Shirts, certificates and colourful IAAF Kids Athletics and IAAF Athletics for a Better World wristbands.While their fellow champions looked on amused, the competitive natures of the two 800m runners, who incidentally remain the two fastest ever humans over the distance when run indoors, eventually could not be subdued. Unable to resist showing off their abilities in some of the seven events, the afternoon came to a climax with a light-hearted hurdles race. It was a near dead heat with Kipketer, who only arrived in Sochi late last night, the narrow victor.Created in 2005, and since 2012 partnered by &ldquo;Nestl&eacute; Healthy Kids&rdquo;, Kids&rsquo; Athletics is a worldwide sports development programme with the mission to make athletics the No.1 physical activity in schools.Nestl&eacute;, which is the world&rsquo;s leading nutrition, health and wellness company with 339,000 employees worldwide, became the main sponsor of Kids&rsquo; Athletics in January 2012 agreeing a five-year sponsorship with the IAAF.The IAAF&rsquo;s objectives for Kids&rsquo; Athletics, which has so far been activated in more than 120 of the IAAF&rsquo;s 214 national member federations worldwide, are to make athletics the No.1 participation sport in schools, promoting a balanced and healthy lifestyle, and attracting the potential sports stars of tomorrow.<a href="http://www.iaaf.org/download/download?filename=6a171355-d372-4e2b-a6e1-13dfd430cce2.pdf&amp;urlSlug=iaaf-kids-athletics-fact-sheet" target="_blank">Further information about IAAF / Nestl&eacute; Kids Athletics</a><hr /><a name="FR"></a><h3>Cinq grands champions pr&eacute;sents &agrave; Sotchi pour soutenir le Programme Kids' Athletics de l'IAAF / Nestl&eacute;&nbsp;</h3> Une
 d&eacute;monstration de Kids' Athletics de l'IAAF / Nestl&eacute;, un des programmes 
de d&eacute;veloppement de la base des plus importants du monde sportif, s'est 
d&eacute;roul&eacute; cet apr&egrave;s-midi (21),
 directement en face de l'entr&eacute;e de l'ExpoCentre du Parc olympique des 
Jeux d'hiver de Sotchi.
Cette
 manifestation, qui a connu un succ&egrave;s retentissant, &eacute;tait organis&eacute;e sous
 l'&eacute;gide, et en pr&eacute;sence, du pr&eacute;sident de l'IAAF, Lamine Diack, mais 
aussi de deux v&eacute;ritables l&eacute;gendes
 du 800m, le triple champion du monde danois Wilson Kipketer, et le 
champion olympique russe de 2004, Yuriy Borzakovskiy, tous deux 
Ambassadeurs de l'IAAF.
Cette
 &eacute;preuve Kids&rsquo; Athletics de l'IAAF / Nestl&eacute; a v&eacute;ritablement constitu&eacute; la
 manifestation incontournable de la journ&eacute;e &agrave; Sotchi, avec, outre les 
dignitaires mentionn&eacute;s ci-dessus,
 la pr&eacute;sence de trois autres superstars de l'athl&eacute;tisme, &agrave; savoir 
Gabriela Szabo, Tatyana Lebedeva et Koji Murofushi. La d&eacute;monstration, 
qui durait deux heures, a &eacute;galement &eacute;t&eacute; honor&eacute;e par le soutien apport&eacute; 
par Svein-Arne Hansen, nouvellement &eacute;lu &agrave; la pr&eacute;sidence
 de l'EA, l'Association europ&eacute;enne d'athl&eacute;tisme. Pour
 autant, ce sont bien entendu les participants eux-m&ecirc;mes &ndash; les enfants &ndash;
 qui ont tenu la vedette. Six &eacute;quipes de jeunes &acirc;g&eacute;s de 12 ans, tous 
&eacute;l&egrave;ves d'&eacute;coles de Sotchi, ont
 pris part &agrave; une s&eacute;rie de sept activit&eacute;s ludiques recouvrant les 
techniques de base de l'athl&eacute;tisme: la course, les lancers et les sauts.
 Douze entra&icirc;neurs d'athl&eacute;tisme &eacute;taient &agrave; disposition pour guider les 
enfants au travers du programme, organis&eacute; conjointement
 par l'excellent Centre de d&eacute;veloppement r&eacute;gional de l'IAAF de Moscou, 
et en particulier par son directeur Vadim Zelichenok, et Gϋnter Lange, 
du d&eacute;partement D&eacute;veloppement de l'IAAF.
Le
 Pr&eacute;sident Diack, Kipketer et Borzakovskiy ont d&eacute;marr&eacute; l'apr&egrave;s-midi en 
s'adressant aux jeunes participants pour leur parler de leurs propres 
exp&eacute;riences d'athl&egrave;tes, expliquant
 notamment ce qui les avait motiv&eacute; &agrave; adopter cette discipline, et la 
mani&egrave;re dont elle a contribu&eacute; &agrave; leur faire conserver un mode de vie 
sain, bien apr&egrave;s qu'ils aient pris leurs retraites sportives. Ils ont 
ensuite sign&eacute; des autographes et aid&eacute; dans la distribution
 de tee-shirts, certificats et autres bracelets estampill&eacute;s aux couleurs
 de Kids' Athletics et de l'Athl&eacute;tisme pour un monde meilleur.
Plus
 tard, sous les regards amus&eacute;s des autres champions dans l'assistance, 
les deux stars, Kipketer et Borzakovskiy, qui, on peut le souligner, 
restent d&eacute;tenteurs des meilleurs
 temps sur 800m jamais enregistr&eacute;s en salle, ne purent s'emp&ecirc;cher de 
donner libre cours &agrave; leurs natures comp&eacute;titives, participant eux-m&ecirc;mes &agrave;
 quelques-unes des sept activit&eacute;s. Finalement, en guise d'apog&eacute;e &agrave; 
l'&eacute;v&eacute;nement, ils se sont m&ecirc;me mesur&eacute;s directement
 l'un &agrave; l'autre le temps d'une course de haies ludique, course remport&eacute;e
 au final, avec quelques fractions de seconde d'avance, par Kipketer, 
qui n'&eacute;tait arriv&eacute; sur place que la veille au soir.
Cr&eacute;&eacute;
 en 2005, et men&eacute;, depuis 2012, en partenariat avec &ldquo;Nestl&eacute; Healthy 
Kids&rdquo;, Kids&rsquo; Athletics est un programme de d&eacute;veloppement sportif 
mondial, qui s'est donn&eacute; pour mission de
 faire de l'athl&eacute;tisme la premi&egrave;re activit&eacute; physique dans les &eacute;coles. Nestl&eacute;
 qui est le premier groupe alimentaire mondial sp&eacute;cialis&eacute; dans la 
nutrition, la sant&eacute; et le bien-&ecirc;tre, emploie plus de 339 000 personnes &agrave;
 travers le
 monde. Il est devenu le sponsor principal du programme Kids' Athletics 
en janvier 2012, nouant un accord de parrainage de cinq ans avec l'IAAF.Les
 objectifs de l'IAAF pour Kids' Athletics, projet d&eacute;j&agrave; initi&eacute; dans plus 
de 120 des 214 F&eacute;d&eacute;rations membres de l'IAAF, sont de faire de 
l&rsquo;athl&eacute;tisme le sport participatif num&eacute;ro
 un &agrave; l&rsquo;&eacute;cole et de promouvoir un mode de vie sain et &eacute;quilibr&eacute;, mais 
aussi de s&eacute;duire ceux qui pourraient devenir les champions de demain.<a href="http://www.iaaf.org/download/download?filename=6a171355-d372-4e2b-a6e1-13dfd430cce2.pdf&amp;urlSlug=iaaf-kids-athletics-fact-sheet" target="_blank">Plus
 d'informations concernant Kids' Athletics de l'IAAF / Nestl&eacute;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</a>

Situated directly in the front of the entrance to ExpoCentre in the Sochi Winter Olympic Park, a high profile demonstration of IAAF / Nestlé Kids’ Athletics, which is one of the biggest grassroots development programmes in the world of sports, took place this afternoon (21).

Five global champions support IAAF / Nestlé Kids Athletics in Sochi

The final day of Russian Championships in Moscow saw an outstanding women’s 1500m won by London 2012 Olympic Games 3000m Steeplechase winner Yulia Zaripova, who won her first national title at the distance in an impressive 4:02.56 on Thursday (25). "As I was already selected for the Steeplechase as the reigning World champion, running that event was not necessary, and therefore I decided to compete in the 1500m like year. Unlike last year (when she did not start the 1500m final) I decided to run in the final as well as it’s a championship of Russia.“In the final I wanted to work on my speed, and try out some new tactics. I generally like to run at the front straight from the gun but at the beginning of the race I felt too heavy to do this. I only arrived yesterday (in Moscow) from my training camp in Kislovodsk," said Zarpova.“I’m very happy with my time but I’m not looking for a place in the team at this distance. This winter, after the Olympics, I rested longer, and so my first Steeplechase was just weeks ago at the World University Games (which she won).“The barriers require careful technical work, and that takes time. The performances of my rivals, of course, I also watch. I watch all these videos two-or-three times, scrolling through them slowly,” she added.Behind Zaripova, Svetlana Podsyonova was second with 4:04.01, Yelena Korobkina third in 4:05.43 and, Anna Shchagina fourth with 4:05.91.London 2012 Olympic Games High Jump winner Ivan Ukhov returned to form and take his specialist event as the only man to 2.30m on Thursday (25).Ukhov has been struggling so far this summer, although he has always emphasised that his sights were on the IAAF World Championships in the Russian capital next month, and only finished eighth at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene, United States, last month and then fifth at the World University games on home soil in Kazan two weeks ago.On Thursday, Ukhov was clear with his first attempts at every height from his opener at 2.15m up to and including 2.30m. With the competition won, he brought the bar down three times at 2.33m.Aleksandr Shustov, the 2010 European champion, was second with 2.27m. Abakumova gets easy winThe 2011 World champion Mariya Abakumova won the Javelin by over eight metres with her third round effort of 65.99m and had three other throws over 63 metres. World junior record holder and 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships gold medallist Sergey Morgunov won the Long Jump with 8.06m in the absence of 2012 Diamond Race winner Aleksandr Menkov, who has a wild card and will be competition in the IAAF Diamond League meeting in London this weekend.In the women’s Triple Jump, Irina Gumenyuk leapt to 14.41m in the fourth round and then improved to 14.50m one round later. Anna Pyatykh, the 2005 and 2009 IAAF World Championships bronze medallist, had her best competition since 2010 and finished second with 14.40m. World Student Games champion Yekaterina Koneva has already been pre-selected so Viktoriya Valyukevich, who finished third with 14.36m, may miss out on the World Championships. Two-time World champion Tatyana Lebedeva was sixth with 13.97. The ever-consistent Yuriy Borzakovskiy picked up his 11th national title and secured a trip to his sixth World Championships when he won the 800m in 1:46.98, with Stepan Poistogov second in 1:47.30. Nikolay Sedyuk won the men’s Discus with 61.39m while 2012 Olympic Games silver medallist Yevgeniya Kolodko was victorious in the women’s Shot Put with a season’s best of 19.86m, finishing ahead of Irina Tarasova who was second with 18.52m.Phil Minshull for the IAAF

Zaripova shows off her speed with 1500m win at Russian Championships

The 2013 Moscow Championships were held at the South sports complex of Luzhniki stadium on Wednesday and Thursday (3-4) and were one of the final test events before the IAAF World Championships are held in the Russian capital next month. Reigning Olympic and World champion Mariya Savinova was on the paper the main star of the Championships, although formally she does not represent Moscow. In her third 800m run of the season, Savinova had an easy win in 2:00.20&nbsp;“It was hard for me to run almost alone, as there was no screen and I could not control my pace”, said Savinova. “At 400m, I did not hear the prompt from my husband and relaxed a little bit more than I should have. The result is probably not so impressive, but I am still satisfied because I did not do any special preparation for this race, and I really feel good for this stage of my trainings.”Two-time Olympic Games 4x400m Relay silver medallist Anastasiya Kapachinskaya had an excellent outing over 200m and clocked a European-leading 22.39, only 0.01 shy of her lifetime best set a decade ago at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, where she won the gold medal.Since then Kapachinskaya never ran 200m faster than 22.47, and has also never won another medal at this distance at any major outdoor competition. &nbsp;The 2004 Olympic Games 800m champion Yury Borzakovskiy won over two laps of the track in 1:46.99. In the women’s Triple Jump, 31-year-old Viktoriya Valyukevich leapt to 14.09m. The7.99m Long Jump by Alexandr Petrov was the highlight of the first day. The 26-year-old jumper who trains in the same group with 2011 and 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships gold medallist Darya Klishina, regained his Moscow title.It was when winning at this meeting two years ago that he set his best of 8.20m. The 2013 runner up was Evgeniy Antonov, the bronze medalist at the 2011 European Junior Championships missed all of last summer though injury but improved his best to 7.90m. Multiple major championship medallist Nataliya Nazarova had an easy win over 400m in 51.92 on Wednesday. The 400m hurdles specialist Anastasiya Ott ran 53.40 without the barriers and then 55.49 in her main event on Thursday. The traditionally strong women’s 1500m distance saw victory go to Yuliya Vasilyeva in a personal best of 4:11.47. Vasilyeva did not get a medal as she is not the Moscow resident, so the formal champion is Anna Balakshina in 4:12.41. Natalia Maryanchik for IAAF

Savinova and Kapachinskaya provide the highlights at the Moscow Championships 

There is little more than six weeks to go before the start of the IAAF World Championships, Moscow, Russia, which take place from Saturday 10 to Sunday 18 August, and the current generation of Russian athletics heroes is sure to enthral the crowds in the Luzhniki stadium.However, Russian athletes already have a proud place in the history of our sport, stretching back well over a century.The first Russian athletics meeting that resembled an event we might recognise in the modern era took place in St Petersburg in 1867, just a few years after the sport started to draw crowds in parts of Western Europe and North AmericaTwenty years later, Louis Junker became the first Russian to gain international recognition, setting world bests in London over 150 yards in 1877 and 120 yards the following year, before returning to his native Moscow.Russia was represented at the 1908 and 1912 Olympics but without success however, after World War II, they re-entered the international arena as part of the Soviet Union and the medals, records and accolades soon started to pile up. Nina Romashkova, better known under her married name of Ponomaryova, won Russia’s first athletics gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1952, a title she was to regain eight years later.In the 1950s, names like the distance runner Vladimir Kuts, walker Leonid Spirin and the multi-talented Aleksandra Chudina, who won medals in three different field events at the 1952 Olympic Games made headlines around the world.The following decade it was the turn of high jumper Valery Brumel and the Press sisters, Irina and Tamara, to make their mark internationally.The 1970s saw middle-distance runner Lyudmila Bragina and discus thrower Faina Melnik rise to the fore, both women setting multiple world records and winning Olympic gold medals at the 1972 Olympic Games.&nbsp; In the wake of Moscow staging the 1980 Olympic Games, the first IAAF World Championships were held three years later and part of the Soviet team were Russians of renown like hammer thrower Sergey Litvinov and high jumper Tamara Bykova, who both set world records in their events and were to triumph in Helsinki.A new era, a new flagA decade later at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, Russian athletes competed for the first time under their own flag. Among the stars on that occasion was the sprinter and hurdler Irina Privalova and triple jumper Anna Biryukova, the latter becoming the first woman to go over 15 metres when she won with a World record of 15.09m in the first appearance of the event in the Championships.At the 1996 Olympic Games, Svetlana Masterkova took a memorable 800m and 1500m double.As athletics entered a new millennium, new stars emerged. Few can deny that Yelena Isinbayeva has left her indelible stamp on the Pole Vault while Yuriy Borzakovskiy showed that 800m titles can be won by European runners. Both athletes are expected to still be part of the Russian team at this summer’s World Championships.Other recent Russian names that need little introduction or elaboration to athletics fans include the likes of Andrey Silnov, Tatyana Lebedeva and London 2012 Olympic Games champions Mariya Savinova and Anna Chicherova.No less than 135 years elapsed between Junker speeding to a time of 15.0 for 150 yards at London’s Stamford Bridge to the latest Russian able to proclaim themselves the best in the world at their chosen event, with Yelena Lashmanova winning the 20km Race Walk title in London last summer in a World record of 1:25.02.The 2013 World Championships’ host Russia has its athletics heroes, both old and new, as the countdown continues to the start of the greatest sporting event of 2013.IAAF

Russia’s past and present heroes - Moscow 2013

Russia’s past and present heroes – Moscow 2013

The Moscow Challenge on 10-11 June will be one of the final test events before the IAAF World Championships. After making its debut last year as an IAAF World Challenge meeting, this year’s edition will be hosted in the Luzhniki Stadium, which will host the World Championships in August.The historical 80,000 capacity arena, built in 1956, now boasts a blue track with the same kind of Mondo surface that was used at the 2012 Olympics in London. Both the track and the natural infield grass have been put in place for the World Championships.“Based on the results of the Moscow Challenge we will see how fast actually the track is,” said Mikhail Butov, general secretary of the All-Russia Athletics Federation. “And of course those athletes who compete in Moscow will gain the unique chance to be the first to test the stadium.”Cubans Ortega and Reve eager to regain their world leadsRising Cuban stars from Orlando Ortega and Ernesto Reve, both 21, are among the more notable athletes set to compete in Moscow. Ortega currently holds the second-best 110m Hurdles performance in the world this year with his 13.08 PB, having briefly led the season lists in May with a 13.17 clocking.Coming fresh from the Eugene IAAF Diamond League where he finished second, Ortega will face a strong field that includes 2007 World youth champion Shane Brathwaite and top Hungarians Balasz Baji and Daniel Kiss. European champion Russian Sergey Shubenkov will miss the event, opting instead to focus on the Diamond League.Reve’s 17.46m Triple Jump PB from earlier this year recently lost its world-leading status after his countryman Pedro Pichardo improved to 17.69m. In Moscow Reve will face Haiti’s Olympic finalist Samyr Laine, who is currently third on the 2013 world list with 17.36m. Danger may come also from the Russian duo Ruslan Samitov and Alexey Fedorov, the silver and bronze medallists respectively at the 2013 European Indoor Championships.Elsewhere in the jumping events, World Pole Vault silver medallist Lazaro Borges of Cuba will take on Spain’s Olympic finalist Igor Bychkov and Russia’s Olympic Games fourth-place finisher Dmitriy Starodubtsev.Strong field in women’s HammerThe women’s Hammer has probably the strongest field of any event in Moscow with all the top names there, including World record-holder and current world leader Betty Heidler of Germany, 2008 Olympic champion Aksana Miankova of Belarus, former World record-holder and 2009 World champion Anyta Wlodarczyk from Poland, and of course the home star, World and Olympic champion Tatyana Lysenko.Because of the Rugby World Cup Sevens being held at the same arena later this month, the throwers will not compete on the infield of the Luzhniki Stadium and will instead throw at the reserve stadium on 10 June, the eve of the main competition.“The field is going to be very strong, so I’m treating the Moscow Challenge as one of the main tests of my preparation towards the World Championships,” said Lysenko. “Fortunately I don’t have to qualify as I’m the reigning champion, so I have a chance to compete now free of pressure.”Borzakovskiy puts new training plan to the testYuriy Borzakovskiy, the 2004 Olympic 800m champion, is one of the top draws in the men’s track events in Moscow. Following his recent performance in Velenje where he won in 1:45.72 – his fastest 800m season opener since 2010 – Borzakovskiy will face a strong field headed by Britain’s in-form 2010 European silver medallist Michael Rimmer and 2010 World indoor silver medallist Boaz Lalang of Kenya.For 32-year-old Borzakovskiy, the Luzhniki Stadium holds fond memories. Back in 1998 at this venue he won his first international title at the World Youth Games, the forerunner of the Youth Olympic Games. The Russian, who is still in search of the optimum training plan, intends on competing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio in what would be his fourth Games!“This year I had an unusually long altitude training camp,” said Borzakovskiy. “I spent three months training at altitude all together – first in Kirgiziya and then in Kislovodsk. Actually, based on my first two meetings – the Russian Team Championships in Sochi where I ran 1500m in 3:42.27 and Velenje – my new preparation scheme fits me well.“At the Moscow Challenge I will try to win, as the field is quite strong and it’s my home soil,” added the European champion. “The time here is not so important, although I hope our race will be quite fast.”World champion Mariya Abakumova is another top Russian name to compete in Moscow. For Abakumova, who set an early-season world lead of 69.34m in March, this is her first season under her new coach, Estonia’s 1982 European silver medallist Heino Puuste.Now training in the same group as her husband Dmitry Tarabin, this summer Abakumova has not yet managed to beat her main opponent, Christina Obergfoll of Germany. Obergfoll will not be at the Moscow Challenge, giving Abakumova a good chance for the home win over Germany’s World and Olympic finalist Kathrina Molitor.Natalia Maryanchik for IAAF

Cubans ready to highlight Moscow – IAAF World Challenge

The ‘PSD Bank Meeting’ returns to Düsseldorf on February 8 for the eighth edition of the meeting and one of the expected highlights will be the men’s 800m.The line-up reads like a major championship final – Kenya’s Timothy Kitum who took Olympic bronze last year at age 17, 2010 World indoor silver medallist and Commonwealth champion Boaz Lalang, European indoor champion Adam Kszczot of Poland, 2004 Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy, and Spanish record-holder Kevin Lopez.The field includes the last three winners of the PSD Bank Meeting in Düsseldorf. Kszczot, the fastest man in the world during last year’s indoor season, set a meeting record of 1:45.44 in 2012. Second on that occasion, Lalang won in Düsseldorf one year prior, while Borzakovskiy was the victor in 2010 and 2008.Three of the men in the field – Borzakovskiy, Lalang and Kitum – boast sub-1:43 PBs outdoors. Since winning the ‘B’ race in Düsseldorf last year, Lopez went on to win European indoor bronze before clocking a lifetime best of 1:43.74 outdoors.“With Kszczot, Lalang, Kitum and Borzakovskiy competing in Düsseldorf, there are no fewer than four of the world’s fastest six athletes from the 2012 indoor season,” said meeting director Marc Osenberg. “This field really is world class and will be another highlight of the PSD Bank Meeting.”Jon Mulkeen and organisers for the IAAF

Top 800m field assembled for Düsseldorf

Olympic bronze medallist Yekaterina Poistogova and Yuriy Borzakovskiy were the standout performers at the ‘Cup of the Head of the Republic of Chuvashiya’, a new athletics tournament that was launched this weekend in the town of Novocheboksarsk.Naturally, 2004 Olympic champion Borzakovskiy was again the main attraction of the meeting. A week after winning the 1000m in Yekaterinburg, he once again coasted to victory, this time over his specialist distance of 800m. With his trademark finishing speed, he stopped the clock in 1:50.03 to finish ahead of Stepan Poistogov (1:50.83).Poistogov’s wife fared even better in the women’s equivalent. Poistogova’s time of 2:01.43 is the fastest time in the world so far in what is admittedly a very early stage of the indoor season.Just as dominant was Yelena Korobkina in the 3000m. The former European junior champion improved her indoor PB to 8:51.87 – also an early-season world leading performance. The men’s 3000m was won by Rinas Akhmadeyev in 8:02.89.Elizaveta Savlinis, a Russian team member at the 2011 World Championships and 2012 Olympics, won the 200m in 23.55 ahead of European 400m silver medallist Kseniya Zadorina (23.86).In the absence of world record-holder Yelena Isinbayeva, who is skipping the indoor season, Anzhelika Sidorova won the Pole Vault and added 10cm to her indoor PB with a 4.50m clearance.The women's 2000m Steeplechase is rarely held indoors, but here Albina Chinchikeyeva was the winner in 6:21.88.Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF

Easy victories for Poistogova and Borzakovskiy in Novocheboksarsk

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 JumpAt 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

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

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

The organisers of the traditional Russian Winter indoor meeting on February 3, the third in the 2013 IAAF Indoor Permit series, have brought together London 2012 Olympic Games 800m medallists Nijel Amos and Timothy Kitum for a duel over 600m.Botswana’s Amos and Kenya’s Kitum, the silver and bronze medallists respectively over two laps of the track in London who also finished first and second at the 2012 World Junior Championships, are both still teenagers and have in their sights not only the world best of 1:15.12 for the non-championship distance, which has been held by Germany’s Nico Motchebon since 1999, but also the top junior mark of 1:16.92, set by USA's Casimir Loxsom in 2010. The meeting record is 1:15.26, set last year by Poland’s Adam Kszczot, when local star Yuriy Borzakovskiy finished second in a Russian record of 1:16.08 and the 2004 Olympic 800m champion will again be involved in the race over three laps of Moscow’s CSKA Arena. An excellent women’s Pole Vault field has also been put together and will feature the last two outdoor IAAF World Championships gold medallists, Poland’s Anna Rogowska and Brazil’s Fabiana Murer.This experienced pair will be up against two of the emerging talents in the event: Great Britain’s Holly Bleasdale and Ukraine’s Ganna Shelekh.Now 21, in January this year Bleasdale jumped 4.87m indoors in France, a height only three other women have ever bettered indoors or outdoors. Still only 19, Shelekh cleared 4.60m indoors last winter.A lot of attention will also be on Russia’s 2012 European 110m Hurdles gold medallist Sergey Shubenkov, who ran a national record of 13.09 no less than three times during the summer and was the fastest European outdoors in 2012.Shubenkov will be competing in the 60m Hurdles and is aiming to reduce his personal best of 7.56, which was set last winter.Phil Minshull and organisers for the IAAF

Amos and Kitum set for 600m record tilt in Moscow

Setting up one of the most eagerly anticipated races of the championships, Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy easily advanced to tomorrow&rsquo; final in the men&rsquo;s 800m.Patiently working his way from the back of the pack on the first lap, the 24-year-old tucked in behind defending champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi where he remained the rest of the race. Borzakovskiy, finishing fast, eased up in the final ten metres, allowing the South African to keep his semi-final win. Mulaudzi&rsquo;s 1:46.82, ahead of Borza&rsquo;s 1:47.09, was a season&rsquo;s best. Finishing third and also moving on was Spaniard Juan de Dios Jurado, who passed Moroccan Amine Laalou in the final 40 metres en route to a personal best 1:47.38.The second semi was a bit more cautious. Choosing to steer clear of trouble, Wilfred Bungei created a sizable lead just beyond the 400m point, passing Briton James Watkins before coasting to a 1:46.90 victory in the second semi. The Kenyan, the bronze medallist in 2003, is still searching for his first major international win.&ldquo;I gave maybe less than 80 percent,&rdquo; Bungei said.Dmitrijs Milkevics of Latvia, who left the University of Nebraska last month in order to compete here, moved on easily as well after finishing just a notch ahead of Watkins. Each was credited with a 1:47.23 performance, the second personal best in as many days for the 23-year-old South African-born Briton. Russian Ramil Aritkulov faded badly down the homestretch, and did not advance.BR

Setting up one of the most eagerly anticipated races of the championships, Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy easily advanced to tomorrow’ final in the men’s 800m.

Men's 800m semi-finals: IAAF World Championships, Moscow 2006 

Around 160 Russian and foreign athletes from 15 countries are going to open the winter season at the traditional "Russian Winter" meeting, which will take place in Moscow on Saturday, January 27. The competition will be financed mainly by Russian sports ministry and some appearance money will be paid only to the foreign athletes. The Russian participants have another motivation. They need to show qualification marks to get a chance to enter the national team for the World Indoor Championships. Among them are new talented young athletes, the winners of last year&rsquo;s World Junior Championships, and everyone must participate at the Russian indoor championships (February 15-18) to gain selection for the trip in Lisbon. For the first time no one will get a place in the team due to the former achievements without selection. The leaders of the Russian athletic federation acknowledged that they have not enough money to make the "Russian Winter" a more desirable competition than the "IHM Meeting" in Karlsruhe on February 28, which is why some of the best Russian athletes prefer to make money in Germany. One of them Yuriy Borzakovskiy will run his first race in Karlsruhe. His next start will be at the Sparkassen Cup in Stuttgart and then he will return in Moscow for the national championships. The chief coach of the team Valeriy Kulichenko said that Borzakovsky has already reached quite a good form. After the world championships in Portugal 30 Russian athletes shall go to Glasgow for the match meeting with the US and British teams. The 50-strong national team for the World Indoor Championships will be short of three Olympic champions: 400m hurdles winner Irina Privalova is aiming to be on her top form for the summer and has no interest in attempting another indoor champion title. Her main aim is to be the first in Edmonton. Two Olympic champions in the high jump, Yelena Yelesina and Sergey Kliugin will also be absent from Lisbon. Nikolay Ivanov in Moscow for IAAF

160 Russian and foreign athletes from 15 countries are going to open the winter season at the traditional "Russian Winter" meeting, which will take place in Moscow on Saturday, January 27. 