Mexican long jumper Luis Rivera at the 2013 Mt SAC Relays (© Randy Miyazaki / trackandfieldphoto.com)
Mexican long jumper Luis Alberto Rivera flew out to a national and meeting record, and 2013 world-leading mark, with an impressive leap of 8.46m on the final day of the World University Games in Kazan on Friday (12).
Rivera produced his massive effort in the fourth round, aided by a 1.3 metres-per-second following wind, to add 16cm to his recent national record. It was the best jump in the world since July 2011.
In a thrilling finale, Russia’s Aleksandr Menkov produced a personal best of 8.42m in the fifth round to add three centimetres to his personal best, just four centimetres short of Leonid Voloshin’s long-standing national record of 8.46m which has stood since 1988. For good measure, Menkov also jumped 8.34m with his last attempt.
Azerbaijan’s Hayle Ibrahimov clocked a Games record of 13:35.89 to win the 5000m.
Ibrahimov led from the start and increased the pace further with to two laps to go to shake off his last remaining rivals. He entered the last lap with a 40-metre advantage over Kenya’s Paul Chelimo but eased off over the final few hundred metres and Chelimo closed to finish second in 13:37.09.
Poland's Kamila Stepaniuk, who set a national record of 1.99m recently, cleared 1.96m on her second attempt to win the High Jump on countback from Russia’s Mariya Kuchina, who went over the same height but on her third attempt for an outdoor personal best.
Botswana’s London 2012 Olympic Games 800m silver medallist Nijel Amos, who is still a junior, won over two laps of the track in 1:46.53.
Hosts Russia went one-two in the in women’s 1500m as Yekaterina Sharmina won in 4:05.49 after speeding away from the other contenders in the last 300m.
Her compatriot Yelena Korobkina followed her home in 4:08.13, while Albania’s Luiza Gega got a rare international medal for her country when she finished third in 4:08.71.
Brazil’s Ronald Juliao was the best in the Discus with 63.54m.
In the men’s Half-marathon, which was run along both sides of the nearby Kazanka river, Japanese and South African runners took the lead early in the race, headed by 2009 World University Games champion 10000m Gladwin Mzazi.
Mzazi led the field at 5km in 15:00, 10km in 30:04, 15km in 45:16 and 20km in 1:00:23. In the final kilometre, Mzazi only had his team-mate Stephen Mokoka, who had earlier won the 10,000m, for company and the pair had a duel for the gold which Mzazi won in 1:03:37.
Mokoka was given the same time but had to settle for the silver medal while third was Japan’s Shogo Nakamura in 1:04.21.
The women started 25 minutes after the men and Russia’s Lyudmila Lebedeva led the pack through 5km in 17:35 before Ukraine’s Olga Skrypak moved to the front and was was first at 10km in 35:09, the modest times due to the hot weather conditions.
Japan’s Mai Tsuda, the 10,000m bronze medallist in Kazan, moved to the fore in the second half of the race and won in 1:13:12, six seconds ahead of Russia’s Alina Prokoyeva while Japan’s Yukiko Okuno was third in 1:13:24.
Ukraine took both the 4x100m Relays in 38.56 and 42.77 while Russia triumphed in both the 4x400m Relays with 3:03.70 and 3:26.61.
Hans van Kuijen for the IAAF
