The Russian Indoor U23 Championships were held in the indoor athletic arena in Saransk which is the capital of the Republic of Mordovia with several hundreds of athletes taking part.
The 19-year-old Ivan Tukhtachev made a surprise by taking the 800m victory clocking 1:53.76, while shot putter Aleksandr Bulanov won in Saransk as well with the results that seemed rather promising for this 19-year-old – 18.45m. Valeriy Kokoev was left 9 cm behind.
The struggle in the men's High Jump was severe. Vladislav Lomidze and Yevgeniy Shishakov cleared 2.21m with Lomidze winning on count-back.
Aleksandr Brednev clocked 6.81sec for 60m. Gleb Trachenko was the runner up losing by only 0.01.
In the Long Jump, Vasiliy Kupreev leapt 7.60m and narrowly beat Anton Filatenkov who was the second on the podium; the gap between the two was only 1 cm.
Other men winners were:
200m – Valentin Morozov – 20.62 (20.61 in a heat)
400m – Dmitriy Buryak – 46.80
60m Hurdles – Vladimir Zhukov – 7.86
Pole Vault – Yevgeniy Ageev – 5.40
Triple Jump – Lukmen Adams – 16.18
In women's competitions Kristina Khaleeva took a double triumph. Her result in the 1500m was 4:19.31 and at 3000m she sped to a 9:23.30 clocking.
Only a photo finish determined the winner at 800m. Aleksandra Uvarova and Yelena Kofanova both clocked 2:04.48. The electronic eye gave victory to Uvarova.
And again the help of a photo was required in the 60m dash for which Mariya Serkova clocked 7.45 sec(7.29 in a heat) and Yekaterina Tatarintzeva and Yekaterina Filatova also had the same time!
Other results are:
200m – Yekaterina Efimova – 23.35
400m – Anna Sedova – 52.25
60m Hurdles – Yekaterina Shtepa – 8.15
3000m Steeplechase - Ludmila Kuzmina – 10:00.11
High Jump – Aleksandra Shamsutdinova – 1.85
Pole Vault – Anastasiya Savchenko – 4.30
Shot Put – Anna Gavrilova – 16.03.
Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF
