December 2009
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European Athletics Indoor Championships - Men's Field Events Preview |
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04.03.2009 |
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Russian Ivan Ukhov has hit a purple patch this season and is the top contender to
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The 30th European Athletics Indoor Championships commence in Torino, Italy on Friday. Here follows a preview of the men's field events.
High Jump: Ivan Ukhov has put behind him his well-publicised problems of last season and the Russian has been this winter's revelation, becoming the first man in four years to clear the benchmark of 2.40m when he went over that height in Athens last week, before unsuccessfully attempting a world indoor record of 2.44m. "Gold will not be enough in Torino, I'm going there to improve on my Russian record and then, if successful, try again at the World record," said Ukhov.
However, Ukhov is not unbeatable despite winning seven of his nine outings this winter. Perhaps his strongest challenge will come from Sweden's Linus Thörnblad, who turns 24 on Friday. The 2007 European Indoor silver medallist has jumped 2.36m this winter. The two are the obvious contenders for the title but the bronze medal contest looks wide open. Ukraine's Viktor Shapoval cleared 2.33m on home soil in January but has no international pedigree while five other men have cleared 2.30m this winter and they will all be in Torino.
Pole Vault: In what is a wide open competition Danny Ecker bids to defend his title as he leads a powerful German challenge. Ecker, the son of 1972 Olympic long jump champion Heide Rosendahl, revealed his pedigree by winning the national championships with a season's best of 5.80m.
He faces strong opposition from within his own country, however, as 2007 World University Games champion Alexander Straub (5.80) will also be seeking precious metal and his German countrymen Tobias Scherbath (5.76) Malte Mohr (5.75) are also entered (although Germany can only field three athletes).
The three-man Russian team is spearheaded by 2005 World Championships bronze medallist Pavel Gerasimov (5.81) and he remains a dangerous contender. He is supported by 34-year-old veteran Viktor Chistyakov - a winner of a European Indoor silver medal some 13 years ago - and former European and World Junior champion Dmitri Starodubtsev.
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Defending champion Danny Ecker will face a stiff
challenge from his own countrymen in Torino.
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France's Renaud Lavillenie cannot be discounted having twice cleared 5.81 this winter and his countryman Romain Mesnil (5.72) the 2007 World Championships silver medallist is another with top-class pedigree.
Another threat is Alhanji Jeng, who set a Swedish national record of 5.81m in Stockholm.
Long Jump: The absence of Italy's defending champion, Andrew Howe, due to a last minute injury means there will be a new champion. Louis Tsatoumas has been competing sparingly this winter, but that has not stopped the European Indoor silver medallist from leaping to a Greek record at the end of January when he went out to 8.20. He backed that up with 8.13 for the Greek title then left it at that until Torino where he must stand a good chance of gold.
Sebastian Bayer is rounding into the form of his life at just the right time. After an 8.13 PB in the German championships, Bayer surpassed that at Chemnitz one week later with 8.17. The Bremen athlete has been struggling to overcome an adductor injury since January and Chemnitz was the first pain-free jump for some time. "Now I need to transfer my success here to the next level in Torino," said the German, eyeing a medal. Just as determined is European Indoor bronze Salim Sadiri (8.17) who restricted himself to one jump in the French championships in order to qualify for Torino. Others in the frame are Poland's Marcin Starczak, double European Cup silver, 8.07 for a national record in Valencia, French champion, Kafetien Gomis (8.07) and the Czech Republic's Roman Novotny (8.05), European Under-23 bronze.
Triple Jump: Teddy Tamgho, who is still only 19, has been in superb form in recent weeks and went out to a world-leading 17.58m in Paris on February 13. A week later, the 2008 World Junior champion followed up that feat with 17.44 to win the the French indoor title in Lievin.
However, Italy's evergreen Fabrizio Donato, who is13 years senior to Tamgho senior, ensured that there will be plenty of local attention being paid to the event when he added nine centimetres to his own national indoor record when he bounded out to 17.42 at the Italian Indoor Championships. The pair lead the rest of Europe's triple jumpers by a large margin with the only other man expected to be in Torino who has gone over 17 metres this year being Bulgaria's Momchil Karailiev, who has jumped 17.05m. However a last minute injury has raised question marks over Karailiev's participation in Torino. Although he will travel to the Italian city but will make a decision about participation in the event at a later stage. Britain's Phillips Idowu, the reigning European and World indoor champion, will not defend his title after pulling out of the British team last week due to a combination of a leg injury and illness.
Shot Put: Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski will start one of clearest favourites of the championship and many expect him to become the first Pole to take this title.
The mighty Majewski is 0.83 of his nearest rival this year and decided to reverse an earlier decision to skip the championships after posting an impressive new national record of 21.10m in Chemnitz last month.
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After setting a new national record last week,
Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski is primed for
the title at the European Athletics Indoor
Championships.
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Among his chief rivals will be Pavel Sofyin and the Russian's confidence will be boosted by a 20.27 effort in Lievin, which bodes well for Turin. Meanwhile, the European champion Ralf Bartels (20.14) of Germany is a consistent championship performer and must always be considered.
France's Yves Niare set a national record of 20.11 in Livein and could post a threat. Watch out also for former European Junior silver medallist Lajos Kurthy of Hungary, who has registered 19.96m this season, and Spanish champion Borja Vivas (20.01).
Heptathlon: Looking for his fourth title in a row, the Czech Republic's Roman Sebrle is the big name to beat while the multi-event nation, Estonia, will make a strong challenge with Mikk Pahapill, the 2005 European Combined Events champion and World Indoor championship sixth placer, Andres Raja. Germany's 2006 World Indoor champion, Andrei Niklaus, will be aiming for the podium again after putting behind him three no-jumps in Tallin recently.
The form-athlete is Dutchman Eelco Sintnicolaas who won in Tallin with a 6036 PB and heads the European rankings. French champion Franck Logel is second-best European at the moment with 5985, but the home nation is pinning its hopes on William Frullani who set an Italian record of 5950 in Ancona Feb 1. Russia's Aleksandr Kislov won his national championships in 5934, just one point shy of his PB from two years ago.
Click here for final entries
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