Kaniskina leads Russian sweep of 20-km walk medals
Published: Jul 29, 2010 00:58 Updated: Jul 29, 2010 00:58
BARCELONA: Olympic and world champion Olga Kaniskina burst into tears after leading a Russian sweep of the medals in the women's 20-km walk at the European championships on Wednesday.
Kaniskina led compatriot Anisya Kirdyapkina by 10 seconds at the halfway mark and continued to pull away from the field to win in a time of one hour, 27 minutes and 44 seconds.
Kirdyapkina, fastest woman in the world this year, was a distant second, one minute and 11 seconds behind. Vera Sokolova was third.
"It feels fantastic to have won the race walk here in Barcelona. I'm also very happy for the girls," said Kaniskina, who broke down in tears after crossing the line.
"We trained together very hard and now all climbed the podium."
Ineta Radevica of Latvia beat Naide Gomes of Portugal in a tiebreaker to win the women's long jump on Wednesday.
Radevica and Gomes, the world indoor champion, both leaped 6.92 meters with a strong tail wind but the Latvian won her first major gold because of a longer second jump.
Olga Kucherenko jumped 6.84 to take bronze and Russia's leading sixth medal in Barcelona.
Former Olympic heptathlon champion Carolina Kluft finished 11th of 12 competitors with a best leap of 6.33.
Spanish hopeful Maria Vasco, Olympic bronze medallist in 2000, was fifth at 10 km but later pulled up limping and clutching her right leg.
Back in the Olympic stadium, there was also disappointment for top-ranked European sprinter Alena Neumiarzhytskaya, who went out of the women's 100 meters in the first round after only managing fifth place in her heat in 11.63.
Her Belarus team mate, 2004 Olympic champion, Yuliya Nesterenko soon followed her out of the competition finishing seventh in her heat in 11.58.
France's European record holder Christine Arron, now 36, took third in that race to go through to Thursday's semi-finals behind fastest qualifier Verena Sailer of Germany, who won in 11.27.
Norway's European junior silver medallist Folake Akinyemi's campaign ended early when the 20-year-old pulled up in her heat and fell to the blue track in distress. She was carried off on a stretcher.
Ukraine's Oleksiy Kasyanov got his decathlon title bid off to a flying start and led the competition by 66 points after three events.
Kasyanov, one of the favorites to succeed injured Czech world record holder Roman Sebrle as European champion, started with a season's best in the 100 meters of 10.60 for 952 points and the early lead.
He then produced the best long jump in the 16-man field of 7.88 meters but faltered slightly in the morning's last event, with a shot put of 14.27, almost 1.5 meters down on his personal best.
Lithuania's Darius Draudvila is second overall after three events on 2661 points and Estonia's European indoor heptathlon champion Mikk Pahapill third another 78 behind.
The two-day 10-event discipline continues on Wednesday with the high jump and 400 meters.
Spain's world steeplechase champion Marta Dominguez said she was feeling below-par after finishing fourth in her heat to qualify for the final.
Fervently cheered by children wearing coloured t-shirts, which gave the near-empty arena on the Montjuic hill some much-needed atmosphere, Dominguez pulled away off the last barrier to take the final qualifying spot after rival Sophie Duarte stumbled.
"I didn't have to force the pace because I was lucky that at the end the French girl stumbled but I hope to recuperate in time for Friday," said Dominguez, wearing pink running shoes to match her trademark headband.
Former world record holder Svetlana Feofanova needed one jump to qualify for Friday's women's pole vault final clearing 4.40.
The 30-year-old, European champion in 2002, is a favorite for the title in the absence of Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva, who is skipping the outdoor season, and world champion Anna Rogowska of Poland.
David Greene, the clear favorite for the men's 400 hurdles, was untroubled in his heat and had enough time to look behind him to see where second-placed Michael Bultheel of Germany was in the home straight before winning in 50.11.
Greene is the only European to go below 49 seconds this season.
But defending champion Periklis Iakovakis of Greece showed he could be coming into form with a season's best of 49.49 to finish second in his heat behind Briton Rhys Williams.
Bolt to face Gay and Powell in Stockholm
Meantime, triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt and top sprint rivals Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell will meet for the first time this year in a 100 meters showdown at the Stockholm Diamond League meeting next week.
The clash on Aug. 6 will be the first including Jamaican Bolt, American Gay and Bolt's compatriot Powell since they took gold, silver and bronze at the 2009 Berlin world championships, meeting director Rajne Soderberg told Reuters on Wednesday.
It will match the three fastest men of all-time with Bolt the world record holder at 9.58 seconds, followed by Gay (9.69) and Powell (9.72).
"The last time Usain ran here Asafa beat him just before the 2008 Beijing Olympics," Soderberg said by telephone. "I think it was the only (100 meters) race he has lost in his (professional) life so he probably wants to come back for revenge.
Bolt has beaten Gay in both of their 100 meters races. He holds an 8-1 edge over Powell, the loss coming in the 2008 Stockholm meeting.
Weeks later, Bolt set world records in the 100 and 200 and helped Jamaica eclipse the 4x100 record at Beijing. He went on to break both sprint records at last year's world championships.
