Yuriy Borzakovskiy makes it three victories in a row in Stockholm (© Hasse Sjogren)
The 15th edition of the “Russian Winter” indoor tournament takes place over the next two days, though the main international action is reserved for the second day (Wed 25). This meet is the start of the ten stop IAAF indoor permit meeting series in 2006, and marks the formal beginning of an international indoor season which will climax in the Russian capital at the 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships, 10-12 March 2006.
Despite its traditionally early place on the calendar, during the 14 previous editions of the “Russian Winter” more than ten World records or bests, to say nothing about the dozens of continental and national records, have been set at the meeting.
This year the organisers have added two words to the traditional title – “athletic spectacle”, meaning that they intend to turn the whole meeting into a brighter show with the help of light, sound and other effects. And despite terrible weather which is afflicting Moscow at the moment, with lows of minus 30 in the day or 37 at night, a full house of five thousand spectators is expected to provide a good atmosphere in the arena which is named after the double 1956 Olympic distance running champion Vladimir Kutz.
MEN – Borzakovskiy versus Mutua
The main attraction of the 2006 edition of the “Russian Winter” will be the men’s 800m with the participation of Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy. He will be opposed by African indoor record holder Joseph Mutua from Kenya, and long time friend Dmitriy Bogdanov who won the European Indoor
Championship title last winter.
But before that meeting climax, spectators will applaud the winners of eleven more international events. Men will compete in 60m flat and 60m Hurdles, 1500m, Pole Vault, and Triple Jump, while the Women go at 60m flat and 60m Hurdles, 400m, 1000m, High Jump and Long Jump.
There is tough rivalry expected in the Pole Vault. The top two performers of the 2005 indoor season, Igor Pavlov from Russia and Derek Mills of the USA, will be the centre of public attention. The bronze medal winner at the Helsinki outdoor World Championships Pavel Gerasimov (RUS) and the senior of the two Kuptzov brothers – Dmitriy will battle for the victory as well. Dmitiy Kuptzov has just set his personal best of 5.75m which is the world season's best at present.
In Triple Jump, the bronze medallist of 2004 Olympics Danila Burkenya is leading competitor. So far this season he has a 16.76m performance to his name but his training partner from the same sport club, Aleksandr Petrenko, is only 5cm behind.
WOMEN – Lebedeva to Long Jump but indoor season is focussed on the Triple
The women’s fields for the “Russian Winter” are of an even higher quality. For instance the Olympic sprint relay silver medal winners, Yuliya Tabakova (7.13 for 60m already this winter) and Larisa Kruglova (7.16 PB for 60m) are both in the 60m field.
The situation at 400m in Russia as always promises much. Olga Krasnomovets, one of the gold medal 4x400m relay squad from Helsinki, was 5th on last year’s indoor season lists with 51.26, and has already clocked 51.44 at the very first start of this new season. Her teammates Natalya Antyukh and Tatyana Levina started the year at the non-standard distance of 300m clocking 36.79 and 36.87 correspondingly. Another teammate Natalya Nazarova made it 1:07.79 at 500m – only 0.43 behind her own World best (7 Jan 2004). Ksenya Zadorina, who is still a junior clocked 1.08.94 in the same race, improving her junior World best from last year.
Tatyana Lebedeva, the Olympic winner in the Long Jump and Golden League Jackpot winner in the Triple Jump, has decided to concentrate her efforts on Triple Jump this winter. However, as there is no such event on the programme in the “Russian Winter”, the reigning World Indoor champion at both Triple and Long Jumps will take on her other specialty tomorrow. She’ll make her first Triple Jump of the season in Samara, Russia at “The Governor’s Cup” on the 4 February.
Up until now Levedeva’s best result this season has been a 6.52m Long Jump that gave her second place at “The Governor’s Cup” in Volgograd. There she lost to the relatively unknown 20-year-old Olga Kucherenko, whose personal best last year was only 6.30m but this season with two wins in a row has produced 6.56m and 6.61m performances.
European Indoor champion Anna Chicherova will be one of the names to follow in the women’s High Jump. The 23-year-old didn’t compete in last weekend’s “Jumps with Music” meet in Moscow, which saw the return from injury of Olympic champion Yelena Slesarenko who cleared 1.94. As well as her, Chicherova will face another Russian star returning from injury, Marina Kuptzova, the 2003 World outdoor silver medallist. They will also be joined by Tatyana Kivimiagi.
Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF
