European Athletics – (EA) News – A WEEK IN ATHLETICS SEPTEMBER 2013/4

No-one knows when retirement can come calling

The diverse and cruel nature of sport has presented itself in different ways this week.

In the Czech Republic, one former European champion has been forced to retire while in Russia, one current European champion is contemplating whether he should or not.

You would be unlikely to find Petr Svoboda and Yuriy Borzakovskiy racing against each other but is success all about seizing that moment, because you never know what is around in the corner?

In the first weekend of March in 2011, Paris hosted the European Athletics Indoor Championships.

The men’s 60m hurdles was its typical fiery event, a blast from the blocks and a frenetic seven seconds or so of brilliant sprinting.

The man who took the gold was Svoboda, winning in 7.49 from Garfield Darien, of France, in 7.56 and Belgium’s Adrien Deghelt, in 7.57.

A bronze medallist two years earlier in Turin, he looked on his way to even more gold after this blistering triumph.

But the year then turned sour with a heel injury, a problem that last week forced Svoboda to bow to the inevitable when, at the age of just 28, he was forced to announce his retirement.

His words said it all: "I don't want to quit but I have to. I can't see a miracle happening."

Since the spring of 2011, Svoboda has needed surgery on three occasions. He made the World championships in Daegu that summer where he was sixth in the 110m hurdles 13.38 and while he took the Czech national records to 13.27 outdoors and 7.44 indoors, the impact that he looked set to make on the sport in Paris was never allowed to happen.

But as Svoboda was left with no choice, Russian Borzakovskiy, the European 800m champion, now has to decide what to do.

The man who won the Olympic title in Athens in 2004 was back collecting gold in 2012 when he won the European crown in Helsinki.

But Moscow would not see his presence this summer as illness hindered his preparation and he missed out competing in front of his home crowd.

Now 32, talk is that he may not run again at a major event.

From Russia come reports by the ITAR-TASS agency that Borzakovskiy could be set to end his career to take a job at the country’s endurance centre.

“If (the) Russian athletics federation trusts me to be the head of endurance centre, I’ll finish my career for sure,” said Borzakovskiy. “I am continuing in my training but I still don’t know whether I will compete at official competitions or not. “My coach Vyacheslav Yevstratov is telling me to retire already for a long time. But what is the reason for retirement if I am still the fastest in the Russian team and feel the power to run quickly?”

Only time will tell. But either way, both Petr Svoboda and Yuriy Borzakovskiy have made their presence felt on the sport in Europe and their successes means their names will be among the history books for ever, even if they were worlds apart in knowing when the time was right to put the spikes away for good.

THE WEEK JUST GONE
A transition period from the track to the road and terrain but still time for success for the up-and-coming athletes at the European Champion Clubs' Cup for juniors. The Group A champions in the Czech Republic were Fenerbahce Spor Kulubu (men) and hosts AK Olymp Brno (women) while in Group B in Lieria, Italians Atletic Studentesca Reatina Cariri took the men’s event and AD Mass, of Slovenia, won the women’s event.

THE WEEK AHEAD
Europe takes centre stage for one of the biggest marathons of the autumn as Berlin holds its annual race and will the venue see another entry at the top of the history books? The last four occasions the men’s world record has been broken, it has been on this course with Patrick Makau, of Kenya, the last to achieve it two years ago when he ran 2:03.38.

EUROPEAN LEADERS – Full breakdown of who finished top of each event after the summer season

Men

100m – James Dasaolu (GBR), 9.91 Birmingham
200m – Adam Gemeli (GBR), 19.98 Moscow
400m – Jonathan Borlee (BEL), 44.54 Moscow
800m – Pierre-Ambroise (FRA), 1:43.76, Monaco
1500m – Mo Farah (GBR), 3:28.81, Monaco
3000m – Hayle Ibrahimov (AZE), 7:34.57 Doha
5,000m – Mo Farah (GBR), 13:05.88 Eugene
10,000m – Mo Farah (GBR), 27:21.71 Moscow
10km – Abdi Nageeye (NED), 28:08 Brunssum
Half-marathon – Mo Farah (GBR), 60:10 South Shields
Marathon – Abraham Kiprotich (FRA), 2:08:33 Daegu
3000ms/c – Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad (FRA), 8:00.09 Saint-Denis
110mh – Pascal Martinot Lagarde (FRA), 13.12
400mh  – Emir Bekric (SRB), 48.05 Moscow
High jump – Bohdan Bondarenko (UKR), 2.41m Lausanne
Pole vault – Renaud Lavillenie (FRA), 6.02m London
Long jump – Aleksandr Menkov (RUS), 8.56m Moscow
Triple jump – Teddy Tamgho (FRA), 18.04m Moscow
Shot put – David Storl (GER), 21.73m Moscow
Discus  – Piotr Malachowski (POL), 71.84m Hengelo
Hammer – Krisztian Pars (HUN), 82.40m Dubnica and Vahom
Javelin – Tero Pitkamaki (FIN), 89.03m Bad Kostritz
Decathlon – Michael Schrader (GER), 8670 Moscow
10km walk – Andriy Kovenko (UKR), 39:28 Katowice
20km walk – Pyotr Trofimov (RUS), 1:18:28 Sochi
50km walk – Robert Heffernan (IRL), 3:37:56 Moscow
4x100m relay – Germany, 38.04 Moscow
4x400m relay – Russia, 2:59.90 Moscow

Women
100m – Verena Sailer (GER), 11.02 Weinheim
200m – Anastasiya Kapachinskaya (RUS), 22.39 Moscow
400m – Christine Ohuruogu (GBR), 49.41 Moscow
800m – Mariya Savinova (RUS), 1:57.80 Moscow
1500m – Abeba Aregawi (SWE), 3:56.60 Doha
3000m  – Susan Kuijken (NED), 8:39.65 Rieti
5,000m – Susan Kuijken (NED), 15:04.35 Oslo
10,000m – Karolina Jarzynska (POL), 31:43.51 Ostrava
10km – Gemma Steel (GBR), 31:36 Cape Elizabeth
Half-marathon – Hilda Kibet (NED), 67:59 Ostia
Marathon – Tetyana Hamera-Shmyrko (UKR), 2:23:58 Osaka
2000ms/c – Oona Kettunen (FIN), 6:19.55 Kotka
3000ms/c – Yuliya Zaripova (RUS), 9:28:00 Kazan
100m hurdles  – Tiffany Porter (GBR), 12.55 Moscow
400m hurdles – Zuzana Hejnova (CZE), 52.83 Moscow
High jump – Svetlana Shkolina (RUS), 2.03m Moscow
Pole vault – Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS), 4.89m Moscow
Long jump – Sosthene Taroum Moguenara (GER), 7.04m Weinheim
Triple jump – Olha Saladuha (UKR), 14.85m Eugene
Shot put – Christina Schwanitz (GER), 20.41m Moscow
Discus – Sandra Perkovic (CRO), 68.96m Lausanne
Hammer – Tatyana Lysenko (RUS), 78.80m Moscow
Javelin – Mariya Abakumova (RUS), 70.53m Berlin
Heptathlon – Tatyana Chernova (RUS), 6623 Kazan
10,000m walk – Julia Takacs (ESP), 42:32.74 Alcobendas
10km walk – Federica Ferraro (ITA), 43:53 Katowice
20km walk – Yelena Lashmanova (RUS), 1:25.49 Sochi
4x100m relay – France, 42.25 Moscow
4x400m relay – Russia, 3:20.19 Moscow

COMING NEXT
Sept 29 – Berlin Marathon (Berlin)

IN BRIEF
–     The countdown is on for the European Athletics Cross Country Championships in Belgrade in December with Denmark pre-selecting 12 runners with Morten Munkholm, Jesper Faurchou and Michael Nielsen among those in the senior squad.
–     In Finland, Teemu Wirkkala showed he is still in shape with a javelin throw of 81.58m.
–     France’s Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad, the European 3000m steeplechase record-holder, won the Millau Viaduct road race in with 6:58.93.

 

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