Ukrainian Mykyta Nesterenko throws World Youth Best in Yalta (© loc)
During Youth age group match between Ukraine, Russia, Belarussia and Latvia (19-20 May 2007), 16-year-old Ukrainian Mykyta Nesterenko threw a World best performance in the Boy’s Discus Throw of 71.95m.
There is a long tradition of youth matches between these four countries but unlike previous years these competitions were not conducted in Kiev, but in the resort city of Yalta.
The match was for athletes born in 1990, 1991 and 1992.
Mykyta Nesterenko’s 71.95m release was more than two metres better than the previous World Youth Best which was held by Estonian Margus Hunt (69.50m, 2004). Belorussian Artem Polozko was a distant second in Yalta (57.78m).
Nesterenko, who is coached by Victor Oleynyk, also went on to take the Shot Put with a similar dominant display setting a national best of 21.35m. Dmytro Savytskyy also from the Ukraine had a best of 20.27 to take runners-up spot.
In the other throws, Latvian Edgars Rutins took the Javelin with 70.98m, while Andriy Martynyuk won the men’s Hammer (74.70m), while the women’s Shot Put went to Alyona Hrishko from Belarussia (15.74m).
The Pole Vaults brought success for Russia, the boys’ was won by Dmitriy Zhelyabin (5.00) and the girls’ by Lyudmila Yeryemina (4.00). On the last attempt Maksim Botsman from Russia showed the best result in men’s Long Jump – 7.45m.
On the track, Russian Elza Vildanova was the best at the women’s 200m (23:91), with Olha Zemlyak (UKR) the quickest at 400m (54:05). Ukrainian women took a 1 – 2 finish in the 800m, with Olha Bibik (2:07.37) beating Svitlana Shmidt (2:08.28),
Overall the match was decided as follows: 1) Russia (482); 2) Ukraine (383); 3) Belorussia (359); 4) Latvia (175).
A grant from the European Athletics Support Programme helped to organize master-classes for the benefit of the youth athletes. On 18 May the classes were led by the 1972 Olympic sprint champion Valeriy Borzov, who is now President of Ukrainian Athletic Federation, and 2002 European Long Jump champion Oleksiy Lukashevich. The instruction was followed by an autograph session which was so popular that it lasted over 20 minutes!
Lena Slobodyanuk for the IAAF
