Daniela Rath (GER) (© Getty Images)
The French men and the Russian women left Leipzig with the team trophies today at the second European Indoor Cup competition, but their respective routes to victory were most dissimilar.
The French men approached the day’s final event, the “Swedish” relay, with a four-point lead over Italy and a six-point lead over Russia. Their fourth-place relay finish behind the Russians’ win resulted in a slim two-point margin of victory, 50 to 48.
Unlike the last-event decider in the men’s division, the team victory by the Russian women had already been sealed before the final contest, and their 18-point advantage (60 to 49) over the German team, compared with an 11-point win over the same country last year, points to their potential dynastical grasp on the title.
In this era of professional athletics, it is increasingly difficult for federations to convince their luminaries to forego a paid weekend during a short indoor season in order to fill a spot on a national team roster. Still, several athletes in the “star” category made the trip to Leipzig to support this event.
Olsson - a class act
Most visible was Sweden’s Christian Olsson, the world Indoor and Outdoor Triple Jump champion, who was honoured the night before the competition at a banquet for his selection as last season’s European Male Athlete of the Year. Despite a late competition in Stockholm on Thursday, and a strenuous Friday of early travel and fine dining, Olsson still showed himself as both a class act and the class of his event.
He took care of matters quickly with a 17.31 opener, and added a 17.08 on his next jump, perhaps to prove that he is capable of being mortal at times.
“I really feel that I’m in the best condition of my life right now,” he said later. “I think that a 17.31 jump now is at the low end of what I will usually jump in competitions this year.”
With the Swedish championships in his home club arena upcoming next weekend, Olsson wouldn’t deny that the world-record jump which he so obviously is seeking could come in front of his neighbours.
Gardener tunes up nicely for Karlsruhe
Another high-level athlete in national colours today was Britain’s Jason Gardener, who used a 6.51 performance today in the Men’s 60 Metres - a time only he has surpassed this season - as a warmup for his showdown in Karlsruhe tomorrow against the world’s second fastest man, Konstantin Rurak of Ukraine.
Despite a rather sluggish reaction time (0.409), Gardener could have fooled everyone into thinking the start was fabulous, based on his lead after twenty metres. Following him into the tape was another of this season’s top sprinters, Simone Collio of Italy (6.63), with Lukasz Chyla of Poland third (6.65).
Conventional wisdom would have predicted a strong race from Spain’s Mayte Martinez in the women’s 800 metres, based on her superb performance a week ago in Gent. But the European silver medallist looked sluggish today, failing to sustain a late surge and finishing only fourth (2:01.58) behind a PB 2:00.41
from Russia’s Olga Raspopova. Jo Fenn had seen a last-lap lead vanish with about 150 metres remaining, although the British runner held on to second with 2:00.54.
Zadorozhnaya takes close win over Chojecka
Another Russian converting a late lead into victory was Yelena Zadorozhnaya in the women’s 3000 metres, as her 8:53.45 provided a thin win over Poland’s Lidia Chojecka (8:53.62).
Add to that the 7.27 win by Larisa Kruglova on a late-race surge in the women’s 60 Metres and victory margins of 0.70 seconds by Olesya Krasnomovets (51.31) in the women’s 400 metres and 26 centimetres by Irina Simagina (6.72) in the women’s Long Jump, and you start to form an image of the Russian women’s juggernaut. In all, the squad won seven of the ten events, and placed second in two others.
Not all Russians came out on top in close duels, however, as Yuliya Kosenkova was unable to overtake Iryna Lishchynska in the women’s 1500 Metres, won by the Ukrainian, 4:09.82 to 4:10.24.
Rath clears 2 metres
Daniela Rath was also able to recover some points from the Russians for her German team with a splendid 2.00 win in the women’s High Jump, ahead of the second-place 1.96 of Yelena Slesarenko. Rath may well have been in position to move her PB to 2.02 before becoming unnerved during an attempt at that height by a near-collision with a Dutch sprinter warming up. Still, the win was her fourth straight in an as-yet unblemished season. Tomorrow, she puts that streak on the line in Karlsruhe.
With five competitors possessing bests of 5.72 or higher, the men’s Pole Vault was perhaps the deepest event of the day, and Björn Otto of the host country came away with a 5.70 victory ahead of the 5.65 of Russia’s Igor Pavlov, who sits atop the European list for this indoor season.
The European Indoor Cup competition takes a rest during 2005, being supplanted by the European Indoor Championships. Its return will be in 2006 at an as-yet undetermined venue.
Results click here
