Among the plethora of good performances on the first day of the Russian indoor championships on Wednesday, Olesya Syreva's world-leading 3000m run of 8:41.35 was undoubtedly the highlight.
She triumphed in the Vladimir Kuts Hall, and was possibly inspired in a venue named after the legendary Russian distance runner, after a tough duel with Yelena Zadorozhnaya, who had to settle for the second with 8:41.64.
Two other runners also went under nine minutes: Yelena Korobkina was third in a Russian under 23 record of 8:52.12 while Natalya Popkova was fourth with 8:58.50.
There was also some solid performances in the men’s 3000m as well, with Sergey Ivanov winning in 7:51.30 and coming home just ahead of Valentin Smirnov, who was second in 7:51.88.
The judges couldn’t split Russian record holder and 2008 World Indoor Championships bronze medallist Yevgeniy Borisov and Konstantin Shabanov in the men’s 60m hurdles and both men were awarded first place after clocking 7.63. For Shabanov it was a personal best and he also clocked 7.63 in heats.
Aleksandr Shpayer upset the odds when he won the men’s 60m in 6.63 to win the 60m, after also setting a personal best of 6.66 in his semi-final.
The 21-year-old then caused a second surprise when he announced that he will move up to 400m this summer, with the aim of getting among the medals at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic, this summer.
By contrast, the women’s 60m final was relatively low-key. Natalya Murinovich found that 7.30 was enough to get her the title ahead of Yulia Katsura, who clocked 7.33 for second place.
In the absence of top two names in Russian women’s pole vaulting - Yelena Isinbayeva and Svetlana Feofanova – the 2011 title went to Aleksandra Kiryashova, who beat the reigning European indoor champion Yulia Golubchikova on count-back with both women having cleared 4.50m.
In the preliminary rounds, there were some fast times in both the men’s and women’s 400m and 800m.
The 2006 World Indoor Championships 400m gold medallist Olesya Forsheva ran the third fastest time of the year when she sped around two laps of the track in 51.51. Kseniya Zadorina also went under 52 seconds when she ran an indoor personal best of best of 51.88.
Yulia Rusanova, the fastest woman over 800m this year, went under two minutes for the second time this winter when she ran 1:59.88.
Dmitriy Buryak was the fastest man from no less than 11 men’s 400m heats, clocking 46.89, while the 2009 European Athletics U23 Championships 1500m gold medallist Ivan Tukhtachev took the plaudits in the 800m first round with an indoor best of 1:48.35.
In the field events, the 2009 European Athletics U23 Championships gold medallist Valeriy Kokoyev improved in shot put qualification round to a personal best, indoors or outdoors, of 20.42m. He added 22cm to his previous best set when winning in Kaunas two years ago.
Yuliya Pidluzhnaya led the women’s long jump qualifiers with a leap of 6.65m.
Russia won 10 gold medals out of the 26 on offer at the last European Athletics Indoor Championships in Torino, Italy, two years ago.
It was the best result by any member federation of European Athletics since the break-up of the Soviet Union, with Russia having competed independently at the Championships since the 1994, and there is optimism in Moscow that a similar feat can be achieved in Paris next month.
The 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships will be held in the French capital at the Palais Omnisport Paris-Bercy from 4-6 March
Pole vault star Yelena Isinbayeva and high jump world leader Ivan Ukhov have been given dispensation to miss the national indoor championships, which finish on Friday.
Russia’s head coach Valentin Maslakov has said that the top three finishers in Moscow will automatically qualify for Paris as long as they are in the top eight of 2011 European rankings, apart from in the men’s high jump and women’s pole vault.