Nikolay Ivanov in Moscow
Russian athletes were trying very hard at the national indoor championships in Moscow (18-19 Feb) to be selected in the team for the World Indoor Championships. Their main rivals were the high qualification barriers established by IAAF and the Russian Federation.
Irina Korzhanenko from the southern Russian city of Rostov showed what she is capable of in the shot put with a mark of 21,15m this is a best result of the season in the world and her personal best.
She said: “I think, it will be enough to show 21 meters at the world indoors to get one of the medals. I am ready to participate in Maebashi at the champion’s level”.
Women’s pole vault began with a shocking situation, when the winner of the last summer Goodwill games in New-York Yelena Belyakova from Moscow found out that all three her new US made poles were broken. “I opened at the stadium the pack with my poles, which has just arrived from British Airways with a mysterious two days delay from Birmingham and saw that the poles were crashed. We had only about half an hour to find in Moscow any other pole for my jumps.”
Belyakova nonetheless managed to clear 4,30 and won the competition. She said that she could jump 4,45 on her special pole.
Pyotr Brayko from Sankt Petersburg cleared 2,30 in men’s high jump. This winter he has already jumped 2,30 once before and four times 2,28. Braiko said that he has nocompeting against his better known rivals and can reach 2,32-2.33 at the world indoors.
The best results of the world season were shown by long jumper Tatyana Kotova – 6,83m and by Olga Yegorova in the 3000m, where she clocked 8.52,21. Among other remarkable performances, the 22,92 in the 200 m by Svetlana Goncharenko, 4.07,00 in the 1500 m by Svetlana Kanatova, 8.16m in the long jump by Andrey Bragin and new Russian junior indoor record 1.47,84 in the 800m by Yuriy Borzakovskiy.
26 athletes were selected at the national team’s council in accordance with the strict rules for the world indoors – men: Mashchenko (400 m), Brayko, Voronin (high jump), Lobodin (heptathlon), women: Goncharenko, Ekk (200 m), Nazarova, Kotlyarova, Chebykina, Sharova, Kulikova (400, 4x400 m), Tsyganova, Gorelova (800 m), Kanatova, Komyagina(1500 m), Yegorova (3000 m), Seryogina, Lyahova (hgh jump), Belyakova (pole vault), Kotova (long jump), Lebedenko, Donkina (long jump), Korzhanenko, Kriveleva (shot put), Belova, Roshchupkina (pentathlon). Two more athletes will be selected after the coming competitions.
Chief coach of russian team Valeriy Kulichenko says that all athletes selected for the world championships must be able to participate in the finals.
