World leads for Russian jumpers Silnov and Menkov in Moscow | 05.02.2012
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| Russia's Andrey Silnov cleared a world-leading height of 2.36m at the Russian Winter indoor meeting in Moscow on Sunday. |
Silnov cleared 2.32m with his first attempt, 2.34m with his second and then went over 2.36m – just one centimetre short of his indoor best from four years ago – with his first attempt, before failing at what would have been a new Russian record height of 2.41m.
“Having good opponents here motivated me. Victory and a decent height gives me the confidence that is necessary to jump even higher. Today, I got a very positive boost,” said the delighted Silnov.
Second place went to his compatriot Aleksandr Shustov, the man who succeeded Silnov as European champions two years ago in Barcelona, with cleared 2.30m.
Shustov had one unsuccessful effort at 2.32m but after having seen Silnov go clear, he waited until the bar went higher before having two more failures at 2.34m.
It was generally a good day for Russian jumpers as 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships long jump gold medallist Aleksandr Menkov went out to an indoor personal best of 8.24m, which was also the best in the world this year.
"I can't believe everything came together today. Every winter I seem to have problems and this year is no different. At the moment I have a cold. Two days ago, I could hardly get out of bed. I still have a headache, high temperature, so now I'm feeling drained,” said Menkov, who pulled his great leap out in the fourth and final round.
Another Russian 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships long jump gold medallist, Darya Klishina, also impressed when she moved up to second in the 2012 world indoor rankings with an effort of 6.86m.
“This seems to have become a tradition. This is the third year I have won at this meeting. What was good today was that my series was very consistent – 6.86m, 6.74m, 6.77m, 6.85m. Consistency is one indication of quality,” said Klishina, who also won at the European Athletics Indoor Championships last year.
Today, I did what my coach wanted me to, and got a big jump in with my first attempt; that obviously makes life easier. The only problem was that after 6.86m, I had to really work hard to motivate myself as I knew there wasn't any strong opponents,” she added.
There was a pair of Russian victories in the shot put competitions as well with Ivan Yushkov and 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships long jump gold medallist, Yevgeniya Kolodko, winning with 20.49m and 19.04m respectively.
Hurdler Konstantin Shabanov continued his run of good form this winter with a 60m hurldes win in 7.57, a time only he has beaten among European hurdlers this winter.
Another Russian win went to Aleksandra Fedoriva , with the 23-year-old 2010 European Athletics Championships 200m bronze medallist showed that her move up in distance is bearing fruit when she won over 400m in 51.46, the second fastest time by a European over the distance and third fastest in the world this year.
One of the few overseas victories in Moscow went to Ukrainian sprinter Olesya Povh, the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships 60m winner, who clocked a European-leading time of 7.14 for the indoor event and just holding off her friend and training partner Mariya Ryemyen, who was second in 7.18.
Germany's Bjorn Otto took the pole vault with a clearance at 5.77m, his best performance for nearly five years, before failing at 5.83m.
Otto moves up to second on this winter's European rankings behind Russia's Dmitriy Starodubtsev who, despite getting the cheers of the crowd, had to settle for second this time with 5.65m.
Russia's Valeriy Borchin, the world and Olympic 20km walking champion had a rare indoor excusrion and won over 5,000 meters with a time of 18:16.54, barely nine seconds slower the world record of his compatriot Mikhail Shchennikov, which dates from 1995.
