Bungei takes on Heshko over 800m at “Athina 2006” - PREVIEW
Friday 24 February 2006
Athens, Greece - The “Athina 2006” IAAF permit meeting is held in Piraeus on Saturday (25) with the participation of athletes from around 50 countries, and yesterday the Greek Federation unveiled the start list which features World Championship and Olympic Games medallists. The featured race should be in the middle distances as Wilfred Bungei takes on Ivan Heshko over 800m.
Mayola - world season’s fastest
Jamaica’s Dwight Thomas, who currently stands third in the IAAF World Rankings for the straight sprint, is one the stars of the 60m race. Thomas will face strong competition by Cuba’s Freddy Mayola who set a season’s best of 6.55 last weekend in Birmingham, but also from the South African champion Morne Nagel who ran 6.61 at the end of January in Moscow.
The Greek champion Georgios Theodoridis, the bronze medalist in the 2004 World Indoor Championships, returning from injury has set the qualification standard for Moscow in the Balkan Games and now is searching for a better mark, ahead of the World Indoors next month in the Russian capital.
The women’s 60m race includes Ukraine’s Zhana Block, the former World 100m and 60m champion, who competes with Russia’s Marina Kislova, who has the best season’s mark among the entrants (7.14).
Wignall versus Olijars
Jamaica’s Maurice Wignall has run the 60m Hurdles in 7.54 this year, the second fastest mark in the world this winter. In Athens he has to compete with former European Indoor champion Stanislavs Olijars of Latvia, Ukraine’s Serhiy Demydyuk and Haiti’s Dudley Dorival.
The women’s 60m Hurdles hosts Poland’s Aurelia Trywianska, Jamaica’s Michelle Freeman and Haiti’s Nadine Faustin. The Greek champion Alexandra Komnou should also be watched. Komnou has three times improved her personal best this year, to the 8.09 she showed this week at the Balkan Championships.
Helsinki fourth placers battle it out
Kenya’s Wilfred Bungei, second in the current season’s world indoor list thanks to his win in Stuttgart (1:45.60), participates in the 800m. The Kenyan who has taken medals indoors and out at the World Championships during his career was only the fourth place finisher at the World Championships in Helsinki last summer. He will take on Ukraine’s European Indoor 1500m champion Ivan Heshko, who was fourth at the 1500m in Helsinki.
The women’s 1500m race presents European Indoor champion Elena Iager of Romania, and the silver medallist from those same championships Corina Dumbravean, who is also Romanian. They will face the Russians Natalya Gorelova, the bronze medallist at the 2001 World Indoor Championships, and Olga Komyagina.
Francique tests form ahead of title defence
The reigning World Indoor 400m champion of 400m, Grenada’s Alleyne Francique has come to Athens to check his shape some days before the defence of his World Championship title in Moscow.
2000 Olympic women’s Triple Jump champion Tereza Marinova of Bulgaria has remained in Athens after her mid-week win in the Balkan Championships. She will take on Italy’s Simona La Mantia (14.24m this year), as well as Russia’s Yelena Oleynikova who has a season’s best of 14.10m so far.
Another winner from Wednesday’s Balkan Championships, Venelina Veneva is going to participate in the meeting, facing Sydney Olympic bronze medallist, Oana Pantelimon from Romania, the Russians Marina Kuptsova, the 2002 European Indoor champion, and Ekaterina Alexandrova, and Ukraine’s Iryna Mykhalchenko.
A reigning World and European Indoor champion, Igor Pavlov is among the entrants for the men’s Pole Vault, where the start list also includes Russia’s Pavel Gerasimov and Bulgaria’s Ilia Efremov.
In the Long Jump, Greece’s Luis Tsatoumas, who leapt 8.15m at last weekend’s national championships, competing with Ukraine’s European outdoor champion Aleksey Lukashevych who has a season’s best of 8.06m, and Jamaica’s James Beckford, the 2004 World Indoor championships silver medallist, Cuba’s Luis Felippe Meliz and another, Greek Stergios Nousiso who is trying to make the world championships standard.
Finally, Natalya Antyukh, fourth in the world list this year and Bulgaria’s Vania Stabolova face Romania’s Ionela Manolace in the women’s 400m, while Romania’s Gheorghe Guset will be searching for a put longer than the 21.04m shot he released last weekend for third position on the season’s world list.
Michalis Nikitaridis for the IAAF