Russian athletes open season in Tula

Russian athletes open season in Tula
Nikolay Ivanov

4 June 2000 - Russia’s athletes opened the summer season at the Russia Cup competition in Tula over the weekend (June 2-4). The winning team from amongst the 60 regional teams competing was from Sankt-Petersburg. However Russian athletic experts were more particularly on the look out for the results of the country’s elite.

On Sunday Olga Kuzenkova threw the hammer for two outstanding results: 75.16 and 75.68, the latter a Russian record and the second best mark all-time. Kuzenkova will be pitched against her arch rival the Romanian world record holder Michaela Melinte at the Znamensky Memorial in St-Petersburg on June 18.

The Russian has put on some weight and is stronger than ever. "Olga can add one metre to her present result, it is only the beginning of the season, and she is also much more confident this year", says her coach Aleksandr Selezniev the former hammer thrower. "I am sure now that women’s hammer throw is very different from men’s."

Other outstanding results were achieved in the heptathlon. Yelena Prohorova (1978) from Kemerovo scored 6520 (13,84 ; 1,77 ; 14.09; 23,83; 6,54; 42.91; 2.05,10), adding 384 points to her personal record and achieved personal bests in 6 events. Yelena Cherniavskaya (1978) came second with 6384, adding 400 points to her record and was sure she could have done better if not for the cold and rainy weather on the first day of competition.

Their coaches explained the improvement as due to mountain training at 1200m altitude in Kislovodsk.

Svetlana Krivileva shot put 20.70, a seasonal best, followed by Larisa Peleshenko with 20.29.

Olga Rubleva, who wants to concentrate her efforts on the triple jump, performed a 6.89 long jump here in Tula.

Many leading athletes missed the Russian Cup, as they prepare to compete at the Znamensky Memorial, including European Indoor 800m Champion Yury Borzakovskiy, who will be competing over 400 metres.