Russia's Yuliya Zaripova (© Getty Images)
The final day of Russian Championships in Moscow saw an outstanding women’s 1500m won by London 2012 Olympic Games 3000m Steeplechase winner Yulia Zaripova, who won her first national title at the distance in an impressive 4:02.56 on Thursday (25).
"As I was already selected for the Steeplechase as the reigning World champion, running that event was not necessary, and therefore I decided to compete in the 1500m like year. Unlike last year (when she did not start the 1500m final) I decided to run in the final as well as it’s a championship of Russia.
“In the final I wanted to work on my speed, and try out some new tactics. I generally like to run at the front straight from the gun but at the beginning of the race I felt too heavy to do this. I only arrived yesterday (in Moscow) from my training camp in Kislovodsk," said Zarpova.
“I’m very happy with my time but I’m not looking for a place in the team at this distance. This winter, after the Olympics, I rested longer, and so my first Steeplechase was just weeks ago at the World University Games (which she won).
“The barriers require careful technical work, and that takes time. The performances of my rivals, of course, I also watch. I watch all these videos two-or-three times, scrolling through them slowly,” she added.
Behind Zaripova, Svetlana Podsyonova was second with 4:04.01, Yelena Korobkina third in 4:05.43 and, Anna Shchagina fourth with 4:05.91.
London 2012 Olympic Games High Jump winner Ivan Ukhov returned to form and take his specialist event as the only man to 2.30m on Thursday (25).
Ukhov has been struggling so far this summer, although he has always emphasised that his sights were on the IAAF World Championships in the Russian capital next month, and only finished eighth at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene, United States, last month and then fifth at the World University games on home soil in Kazan two weeks ago.
On Thursday, Ukhov was clear with his first attempts at every height from his opener at 2.15m up to and including 2.30m. With the competition won, he brought the bar down three times at 2.33m.
Aleksandr Shustov, the 2010 European champion, was second with 2.27m.
Abakumova gets easy win
The 2011 World champion Mariya Abakumova won the Javelin by over eight metres with her third round effort of 65.99m and had three other throws over 63 metres.
World junior record holder and 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships gold medallist Sergey Morgunov won the Long Jump with 8.06m in the absence of 2012 Diamond Race winner Aleksandr Menkov, who has a wild card and will be competition in the IAAF Diamond League meeting in London this weekend.
In the women’s Triple Jump, Irina Gumenyuk leapt to 14.41m in the fourth round and then improved to 14.50m one round later.
Anna Pyatykh, the 2005 and 2009 IAAF World Championships bronze medallist, had her best competition since 2010 and finished second with 14.40m. World Student Games champion Yekaterina Koneva has already been pre-selected so Viktoriya Valyukevich, who finished third with 14.36m, may miss out on the World Championships. Two-time World champion Tatyana Lebedeva was sixth with 13.97.
The ever-consistent Yuriy Borzakovskiy picked up his 11th national title and secured a trip to his sixth World Championships when he won the 800m in 1:46.98, with Stepan Poistogov second in 1:47.30.
Nikolay Sedyuk won the men’s Discus with 61.39m while 2012 Olympic Games silver medallist Yevgeniya Kolodko was victorious in the women’s Shot Put with a season’s best of 19.86m, finishing ahead of Irina Tarasova who was second with 18.52m.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF
