Indoor roundup: impressive jumping in Belarus, Norway, Russia and Spain | 12.02.2012

Andreas Rapatz was in great form at the ASVO Vienna Indoor Gala on Saturday with an Austrian indoor 800m record of 1:46.65, the second fastest time in the world this year on a conventional indoor track, but otherwise it was jumpers who generally made the headlines across the continent on Saturday.

During the first day of the Moscow City Championships, high jumper Svetlana Shkolina impressed by going over 1.95m while Kristina Khaleyeva won an exciting women's 1500m in 4:09.46 to finish just ahead of 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships gold medallist Yelena Arzhakova, who was second in  4:09.72.

There was also a plethora of good performances in the women's 40 m races with the fastest time of the day being the 52.26 clocked by 2010 European Athletics Championships silver medallist Kseniya Ustalova.

She turned the tables on Tatyana Firova, the woman who finished in front of her in Barcelona with the latter finishing second in 52.28. Irina Davydova clocked 52.48 and Marina Karnoushchenko ran 52.46 to win two other races over two laps of the track in the Russian capital.

Natalya Murinovich won the 60m in 7.31 while Irina Tarasova was the best in the shot put with 18.42m

Veronika Shutkova won the Belarus indoor long jump title with 6.66m in Mogolyov on Saturday, with Olga Sudareva second with 6.56m. In a high quality women's 800m, Natalya Koreyvo clocked 2:02.67 to judge edge out Mariya Arzamasova, who was timed at 2:02.69.

Spain also saw some good jumping with long jumper Eusebio Caceres leaping out to 8.01m at the Spanish U23 championships in Antequera and national record holder Ruth Beitia clearing a season's best of 193m in her home city of Santander on Saturday.

Norway's Cathrine Larsasen cleared national pole vault record of 4.41m in the Nordic indoor match in Steinkjer, Norway, on Saturday but it was not enough to clinch victory as neighbours Sweden won with 226 points, followed by Finland with 173 points and the hosts third with 149 points.

The women's high jump also saw a Norwegian win as Tonje Angelsen equalled her personal best to win with 1.93m, beating the better known Swedish jumpers Ebba Jungmark and Emma Tregaro Green, who were second and third with both women clearing 1.91m In the 60m races, there were also home wins for Ezinne Okparaebo in 7.27 and Jaisuma Saidy Ndure in 6.69 while Finland's Jonathan Astrand won the men's 200m in 21.24.

Andreas Rapatz was in great form at the ASVO Vienna Indoor Gala on Saturday with an Austrian indoor 800m record  of 1:46.65, the second fastest time in the world this year on a conventional indoor track.

There was also some high quality walking in the Austrian capital by Slovakia's Matej Toth, who won the 5000m walk in a personal best of 18:34.56, the fourth fastest time in the world this year.

The walks also provided the highlight of the first day of the Portuguese club championships in Pombal with Vera Santos winning the women's 3000m in 12:47.38 and Joao Vieira taking the men's 5000m tile in 19:15.94. 

Triple jumper Andriana Banova improved to 14.00 at the Bulgarian indoor championships in Dobrich on Saturday.