Russian Indoor Championships - PREVIEW

The national indoor championships begin today and will be contested for the next three days in the Sport Arena named after the double 1956 Olympic distance running champion Vladimir Kuts. The tournament will be at the centre of public attention because it is the last athletics competition to be held in the Russian capital before the 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships, take place in Moscow from 10 – 12 March on the new track at the Sport Complex Olympiysky.

Only Isinbayeva and Kotova are excused duty

The Russian team selection for those World Indoor Championships will go according to the “1+1” principle, which means that the champion in each event (with a qualifying time) will be selected for the team, with the second entrant per each event being left to the discretion of the federation. Preference will be given to young athletes who coaches believe need experience in the build-up to the 2007 World Championships and 2008 Olympic Games.

Only two athletes have been permitted to miss the nationals. Both of them are the world season leaders in their respective events. Yelena Isinbayeva has of course just set the World Indoor record in the Pole Vault, while Tatyana Kotova, was World Indoor champion in 2003, and took silver in 2004, and was also silver medallist outdoors in Helsinki last year.

Tabakova injured

The men’s 60m sprint is hardly likely to get the fans excited. Well known Andrey Yepishin whose season’s best is 6.60 will face Mikhail Yegorychev who with 6.58 to his credit this winter is the fastest Russian in 2006.

In the women’s dash, Yuliya Tabakova who is the third quickest this winter (7.08) is  injured, having recently slipped over on icy ground near her house in Tula. So it is Marya Bolikova who clocked 7.04 at “The Governor’s Cup” in Samara who is the favourite, as she leads the world list along with Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell with that same time.

4x400m squad selection expected to be tough

The competition will be severe in both the men’s and women’s 400m. There are just six places available in the women’s 4x400m squad but the number of the realistic contenders consists of 12 runners. At the end of January, a Russian quartet of Yuliya Gushchina, Olga Kotlyarova, Olga Zaytseva and Olesya Krasnomovets broke the World Indoor record in Glasgow but such is the strength of women’s 400m running in Russia none of the four have yet been given a definite team berth at 4x400m for the World Indoor Championships.

Some of the pressure on selection might be lessened as Olga Kotlyarova may make room for her comrades by not taking part in the 400m heats. This winter season Kotlyarova has been doing very well both at 400 and 800m. But the programme of the Russian nationals and of the World Indoors is scheduled in such a way that it is impossible to run both distances. So Kotlyarova has to make a difficult choice between the two events.

Bogdanov to come out from Borzakovskiy’s shadow?

The men’s Olympic 800m champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy, who was World Indoor champion in 2001, though he is winning his races is not as yet speeding at top gear this winter. This means that his teammate Dmitriy Bogdanov has some chance to prove that he has learnt a lot from running in the same training group and under of the guidance of the same coach as Yuriy. Last year of course Bogdanov won the European Indoor Championships.

The recent European women’s record set by Yuliya Chizhenko for 1000m seems to prove that she may on her way to win the 1500m at the nationals, though there is a strong group of runners who are ready to challenge.

The leading contender in the men’s 60m Hurdles is Igor Peremota, who is currently the second quickest in the world this winter with a time of 7.56 for the event.

A tough battle for World Indoor spots in both High Jumps

Russia is also extremely strong in the jumping events. Yaroslav Rybakov, the European outdoor champion, and last summer’s World Championships bronze medallist, is of course the name to watch in the men’s High Jump with his 2.37m yearly best. However, there is nothing definite about his victory at these championships. This season a new wave of high jumpers headed by the 24-year-old Andrey Tereshin, Aleksey Dmitrik and Andrey Silnov (both are 22), and especially the 19-year-old Ivan Ukhov, have appeared on the horizon. Ukhov’s junior indoor best of 2.37m which ties the world season lead with Rybakov also points to the possible arrival of a new genius to this event. 

The list of potential medal contenders in the women’s High Jump could perhaps be even longer. Let’s mention for now just the Olympic gold medal winner Yelena Slesarenko, the European Indoor champion Anna Chicherova, Marina Kuptsova who seems to have recovered after a long illness, Ekaterina Savchenko (Aleksandrova), and the 20-year-old Svetlana Shkolina, but the list of possible hopes goes on and on….

Feofanova, the firm favourite in Isinbayeva’s absence

In the absence of Yelena Isinbayeva, it is Svetlana Feofanova who is the most likely winner in women’s Pole Vault. However, the rivalry in men’s Pole Vault is more tough. The World and European Indoor champion Igor Pavlov, the World Championship bronze medallist Pavel Gerasimov, as well as brothers Dmitriy and Artem Kuptzov, are all more than capable of reaching big heights.
 
Vitaliy Shkurlatov in men’s Long Jump will be opposed by young Dmitriy Sapinskiy to say nothing about Ruslan Gataullin – the junior brother of the famous pole vaulter Rodion Gataullin.

The situation in women’s long jump is intriguing. Tatyana Lebedeva, the World Indoor champion and Olympic gold medal winner has made up her mind to concentrate on the Triple Jump, and Irina Simagina, the Olympic silver medallist is missing the entire indoor season. Therefore Tatyana Kotova, the Athens bronze and Helsinki silver medallist has already been given a World Indoors team berth. But the question is, who’ll take the second national squad place for the World Indoors?  

Lebedeva’s fitness in question
 
Lebedeva is still recovering after the long and exhausting 2005 season in which she took the one million dollar prize in the Golden League Jackpot, however, she managed that while nursing an injury which forced her out of the World Championship final in Helsinki. So the question is, will she have the fitness to make an impact this winter? She has a 14.61m performance to her name so far this year.

Victor Guzshinskiy is the leading light in men’s Triple Jump with a seasion’s best of 17.33 to his credit.

Olga Ryabinkina is without doubt the best in women’s Shot Put. But Svetlana Krivelyova at 36 is still intriguing the crowd. The 1992 Olympic and 2003 World champion is hinting that it is all over and done with for her but others in her camp say that she is intending to go on.

Ivan Ushkov with his solid 20.27m is the best in the men’s Shot line-up but his rivals Anton Luboslavskiy, Pavel Chumachenko and Pavel Sofiyn are strong enough to offer a successful challenge.

Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF