Ukrainian sprinter Olesya Povh started her competitive year in sparkling fashion when she clocked the fastest women’s 60m of the year, when she sped to a personal best of 7.14 in Sumy on Thursday.
Olesya Povh of Ukraine. (Picture Alliance)
The time, a big improvement on her former best of 7.23 set last year, will have act as a warning to the rest of Europe’s sprinters that Povh has designs on the gold medal at the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships in six weeks time.
The 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships will be held in the French capital Paris at the Palais Omnisport Paris-Bercy from 4-6 March.
The fastest time by a European last winter was 7.19 by France’s Myriam Soumaré, who went on to win the 200m gold medal at the European Athletics Championships last summer.
Povh, always a quick starter, also struck gold in Barcelona, running the lead-off leg for Ukraine’s victorious 4x100m team. She performed the same duties wearing a Team Europe vest when the same quartet represented the continent and finished second at the IAAF Continental Cup in September.
Her time in Sumy showed the benefits she has reaped after becoming full-time athlete this winter following her graduation last summer from the Dnipropetrovsk State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports.
In second place in the women’s 60m was Mariya Ryemyen, fifth in the 100m at the European Athletics Championships and another member of the Ukraine 4x100m squad, in a personal best of 7.23.
Another good result was posted by Dmytro Ostrovskiy, who won the men’s 400m in 47.22, the fastest time by a European runner so far this year.