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| Russia's Aleksandr Menkov leapt out to a world leading 8.17m in Omsk on Saturday. |
Russia’s 2009 European Athletics Junior Championship long jump gold medallist Aleksandr Menkov showed excellent form at the Siberian regional championships in Omsk when he went out to a world-leading 8.17m on Saturday.
The jump, his fifth effort before he fouled his final attempt, was also a one centimetre improvement on his previous personal best, set outdoors two years ago.
The 20-year-old had a good series which also included three other jumps over eight metres.
If he can strike gold at the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris in six weeks time, with the long jump final on March 5, he will become the youngest ever winner of the event at the Championships, beating by 66 days the current record of Hungary’s László Szálma who was 20 years and 142 days old when he won in 1978.
In addition to having medal prospects in the French capital, Menkov also looks like he could be one of the favourites for his event at the 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic, from 14-17 July.
Also in Omsk, Olesya Syreva posted highly impressive double of 4:08.93 and 8:52.90 for the 1500m and 3000m respectively, the latter being an indoor personal best for the 27-year-old who won a silver medal over the shorter distance at the 2005 European Athletics U23 Championships.