Lyudmila Kolchanova of Russia takes 2007 World long jump silver (© Getty Images)
Moscow’s Luzhniki Olympic Stadium hosted athletics for the first time since 2003 with the Moscow Challenge on Sunday (12).
The last time track and field athletes competed in Russia's largest sports stadium was on a cold autumn evening nearly eight years ago for the Russian Challenge meeting. And now, athletics is making a comeback.
Sunday’s Moscow Challenge was the first test event for the 2013 IAAF World Championships which will be held here from 10-18 August 2013. And accoring to the President of the All-Russian Athletic Federation and IAAF Council Member Valentin Balakhnichev, the big arena will be ready to host its guests. Athletes had a chance to compete in the recently upgraded facility, which will be fully renovated prior to the 2013 global championships.
The programme, which featured primarily Russian athletes eager to earn a sport for next weekend’s European Team Championships in Stockholm, included 14 events: the 100m, 110m Hurdles, 400m, 1500m, 3000m, Shot Put and Triple Jump for men; and the 100m, 400m, 400m Hurdles, 800m, Long Jump, High Jump, and Javelin throw for women.
The competition was held on a Russian national holiday, so naturally the 78,000 seats in the stadium were not filled, but several thousand spectators took advantage of a discounted admission offer - 100 rubles per ticket, or roughly 3 USD - to enjoy the competition and the atmosphere.
And right they were. Some of the events were breathtaking. Yekaterina Martynova was second to none in the women’s 800m breaking the two-minute barrier in 1:59.17, a career best. The battle behind her was a fierce one, with Yevgeniya Zinurova (2:00.39), Yelena Kofanova (2:00.56) and Anastasiya Vosmerikova (2:00.68) following her across the line.
Unexpectedly the men’s 400m was dominated by Denis Alekseyev who set a new season’s best for the Russian runners at the distance with 45.73. In the women’s 400m, Lyudmila Litvinova, who was absent at major competitions for 18 months, made a strong comeback 51.79. Yekaterina Voronenkova was at her best winning the women’s 100m in 11.43.
Maksim Sidorov showed his improved consistency in the Shot Put with several efforts beyond the 20-metre line. Of his four efforts, 20.45m and 20.33 were his best and both were excellent from a technical point of view. Aleksandr Lobynya was second at 20.03m.
Everybody expected Lyudmila Kolchanova to win the women’s Long Jump and she did landing at 6.75m.
“But I’m not that satisfied with the result,” Kolchanova said. “The headwind kept me from doing better."
The women’s High Jump turned out to be the duel between Tatyana Mnatsakanova and Svetlana Shkolina. Both cleared 1.95m but Shkolina won on countback.
Non-Russian winners included Indre Jakubaityte of Lithuania in the Javelin Throw (56.28m) and Teimraz Abbasov of Azerbaijan in the men’s Triple Jump, reaching 16.37m.
“If you had asked me about the competition yesterday I would have only told you that ‘I’m not so sure’,” Valentin Maslakov, the chief coach of the Russian national team, admitted. “But today I must tell you that I’m really very satisfied. It was the atmosphere of the big stadium that made the competitions quite a holiday. Athletes told me that they were proud to perform here.”
Maslakov said he’s got several key decisions to make prior to the European Team Championships, but one he’s already made was to not include Kolchanova, the 2007 World silver medallist.
“We couldn’t ignore the young Darya Klishina who won the European Indoor Championships in Paris,” Maslakov said. “So she’ll be on the team. But Kolchanova still has a lot of chances to be included on the national team for the World Championships in Daegu.”
Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF
