European Athletics presents the fifth in a series of previews leading up to the Paris 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships to be held from 4-6 March.
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| Russian high jumper Ivan Ukhov will be confident of retaining his indoor title following a string of impressive performances this season. |
High Jump
Ivan Ukhov has taken up where he left off last winter winning six events in a row, clearing 2.38m on two occasions and having the occasional close attempt at a world record 2.44m.
Unconventional the Russian may be in many respects, but no one can gainsay his results and the reigning European and world indoor champion is the outright favourite to retain his title.
So far this winter, Ukhov’s lowest height stands at 2.30m In Moscow and he has twice cleared 2.38 in Hustopeče and Banská Bystrica, 2.36 in Bydgoszcz, and 2.34 twice in Moscow and Arnstadt.
At 31, Osku Torro of Finland is enjoying the form of his career. Many viewed his 2.32 last year in Wuppertal as an accidental one-off, but in the triangular match between Sweden, Finland and Norway in Tampere at the beginning of February he sailed over 2.33 at the first time of asking to set the second Finnish record of his career.
Until last year, the man from Jyví¤skulí¤ found 2.27 to be his limit but 2010 seemed to be a watershed and now he occupies second place in the continental rankings.
Russia is sending a strong second-string, in the reigning European champion from Barcelona, Aleksandr Shustov, who has five 2.30+ jumps to his credit this winter as opposed to Torro’s two.
Shustov could manage no better than 2.27, however, in the Russian championships, beaten by Sergey Mudrov who was the only man to go clear at 2.30. Mudrov, the 2009 European Athletics Championship junior champion, is coached by the 2000 Olympic champion, Sergey Klyugin. Ukhov was given a bye from those championships by the Russian Athletics Federation.
Dmytro Demyanyuk of the Ukraine set an indoor best of 2.32 in Banska Bystrica, finishing third behind Ukhov’s 2.38. Demyanyuk’s jump equalled his lifetime best from four years ago, but he could finish no higher than fifth in his national championships with a lowly 2.15.
Germany’s Raul Spank came away from the Arnstadt High Jump with Music meeting with an indoor personal best 2.31 while Britain’s Tom Parsons took his national championships with the same height. Either man is capable of rising to the occasion and taking a medal on the day.
Pole Vault
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| European pole vault champion Renaud Lavillenie will be among the hot favourites for gold in Paris. |
European champion indoors and out, Renaud Lavillenie of France, has won seven out of his eight contested competitions this winter and set a lifetime best indoors of 5.93 and must be considered hot favourite to retain his title.
Intriguingly, on the sole occasion he was beaten, he had to give best to one of his main rivals for gold, Germany’s Malte Mohr, at the Sparkassen meeting. Mohr has enjoyed a fine indoor season, winning six out of eight outings and setting a personal best of 5.86 in Potsdam. The surprise world indoor silver medallist from last year has gone over 5.80 five times this winter and is showing nerveless consistency.
Romain Mesnil may exploit home soil to his advantage. Runner-up in his national championships to Lavillenie, the European 2006 silver medallist improved his season’s best by 10cm in Aubiere to claim his place on the team at 33 years of age.
Second on the continental rankings is Ukraine’s Maksim Mazuryk who has gone seven centimetres higher than ever before indoors this winter with his 5.88 in Donetsk. The European outdoor silver medallist then showed it was no fluke by backing it up with a 5.86 a week later in Potsdam.
That was the height achieved by Poland’s Pawe…‚ Wojciechowski when he improved his lifetime best by an extraordinary 26cm in Gent in February for a Polish record. The 21 year old followed that up with a 5.70 in Spala so he has clearly moved on to a new plateau.
Also in the frame is Kostadinos Filippidis of Greece who has set two national indoor records this winter of 5.71 and 5.72, both set in Athens and a full 10cm better than his previous best this winter.
Long Jump
There has been a spate of 8m-plus jumps at recent national championships as athletes move into their best form prior to Paris. Event leader is Louis Tsatoumas of Greece who leapt 8.21 at his national championships in Athens, his fifth Greek indoor record. He has gone over 8m in three out of four competitions this winter.
Though reigning European junior champion Aleksandr Menkov of Russia lies second on the rankings with an 8.17PB in Omsk, he was beaten at the Russian championships by Sergey Polyanskiy (7.92) who has been selected.
Up until now Sweden’s Michel Tornéus has had a winning season with four out of four victories and a fine personal best of 8.13 in the Globe Arena to set himself up nicely with a winning mentality for Paris. Mattias Sunneborn’s Swedish indoor record stands at 8.20 and he for one feels that it is only a matter of time before Tornéus goes beyond that mark. Maybe in Paris?
Spain’s Eusébio Cáceres made a name for himself in Barcelona when he flew out to an Area Junior Record of 8.27 during qualifying at the European Athletics Championships. In Valencia he lifted his national indoor title with 8.08, one of five PBs this hugely talented youngster has set so far this winter across five different events.
2007 European Indoor Athletics Championships bronze medallist from France, Salim Sdiri, picked himself up from a ninth place in Stuttgart on February 5th to clinch the French title with a sparkling 8.06. It was four years ago that Sdiri was involved in an horrific accident in Rome when he was hit by Tero Pitkamaki’s javelin. But, tough as they come, he has since fought his way back to an 8.42 French record outdoors in 2009 and last winter came within three centimetres of his indoor French record of 8.27.
Others who have gone over 8m this indoor season are Povilas Mykolaitis of Lithuania (8.03), reigning triple jump champion Fabrizio Donato of Italy, also 8.03, Roman Novotny of the Czech Republic (8.01) and Kafétien Gomis of France with 8.00. Fellow Frenchman and Triple Jump phenomenon, Teddy Tamgho, also goes in this event with a best of 8.01 this year.
Perhaps one man who should not be forgotten is Germany’s Sebastian Beyer. It was two years ago in Torino when he shocked the world with his phenomenal 8.71. He has not shown that kind of form since, but he can hardly be discounted. A season’s best of 8.02 to win the German title is an indication that Beyer might well be springing into life at just the right moment.
Triple Jump
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| Triple jump sensation Teddy Tamgho. |
If there is one event that arouses intense expectation it is the triple jump because this time round it has all the elements of high drama even before a blow is struck.
France’s Teddy Tamgho has taken the initiative by improving his world record to 17.91 and is as ever intent on breaking through the 18m barrier. Given the extraordinary shape he is in anything seems possible. Then there is Christian Olsson of Sweden, so long injured but seemingly back in the frame for a medal though only with a modest 17.20 for a lowly sixth in Birmingham. Given his extraordinary career, he can hardly be completely discounted.
Nor can the irrepressible Marian Oprea – silver medallist as a 19 year old nine years ago - after enjoying his best winter for four years. In Stockholm Olsson was left in the shadows as the Romanian and Britain’s European outdoor champion Phillips Idowu (absent here) battled for supremacy with the Englishman triumphant. Oprea went out to 17.37 before a huge foul in the final round that suggests there is more to come.
Fabrizio Schembri took the Italian title with 17.00 in the absence of the reigning European champion, Fabrizio Donato, who felt a twinge when winning the long jump (8.03) and decided to withdraw from the triple jump as a precaution. Donato, does, however, have a 17.03 win under his belt in 2011.
Another 17m-plus jumper of note is Greece’s Dmítrios Tsiámis who won his trials with 17.06, his best for five years and closing in on his national record of 17.12.
Lyukman Adams of Russia has a 17.32 to his credit from the Moscow championships, but failed to secure an automatic spot on the team when he was beaten by Igor Spassovkhodskiy (16.85SB) at the trials who has been picked.
Shot
He is half a metre down on his bronze medal winning world indoor put of 21.44 from last year, but Germany’s Ralf Bartels (20.91SB) has still thrown 20cm further than his closest competitor on paper, Russia’s Maksim Sidorov, who lifted his national title with 20.70.
Sidorov receives solid backing from Ivan Yushkov (20.46SB), second to Sidorov in the trials, and European Athletics Under-23 champion, Valeriy Kokoyev, who threw a lifetime best of 20.42 in the preliminaries and earns the trip.
Andriy Semenov of the Ukraine has been enjoying the form of his life, his 20.61 in Sumy a lifetime best by 11cm. Gaetan Bucki of France had not been over 20m since 2007 but in Liévin he improved his lifetime best by the considerable margin of 34cm, going out to 20.35.
Croatia’s Ned…¾ad Mulabegović went out to 20.04, new national figures, while others who have gone over 20m this year are Borja Vivas of Spain who won his national title with a lifetime best 20.18, Asmir Kolašinac of Serbia (20.12) and Latvia’s M„ris Urt„ns 20.09.