European Athletics Indoor Cup: Men’s Preview

There is only one day left until the 4th European Athletics Indoor Cup in Moscow, where last year's men's team Champions France will face tough competition to hold on to their cup!

With a fascinating mixture of experienced Championship performers and fresh raw talent the only thing truly predictable about the men's events are their unpredictability, well all except for the Relay, where Russia are pulling out the big guns for the sake of national pride…

Men's 60m
Only 0.07 seconds separate the fastest six men in the field this season in what looks a wide open contest. The quickest man in the race this year is Pole Lukasz Chyla, who has ran 6.60 and finished third in this race behind British 60m Sprint great Jason Gardener in 2004. Italy's Fabio Cerutti matched his lifetime best of 6.62 to win in Ancona earlier this month and he too will be another threat.

Russian hopes lie with Andrey Yepishin, the 2006 World Indoor 60m silver medallist. At his very best Yepishin is a 6.52 athlete but although he started the season slowly he is gradually improving and in his last outing ran 6.64 to land the Russian title.

Men's 400m
World No.2 Maksim Dyldin meets World.No.3 Johan Wissman of Sweden in what could prove one of the most attractive match ups of the competition.

20-year-old Dyldin (RUS) has been one of the finds of the winter season, improving his lifetime best by 0.92 and clocking 46.32 in the semi-finals of the Russian Championships before winning the final in 46.36.

Wissman, however, will provide powerful opposition. He triumphed in Valencia in 46.37 earlier this month and the versatile sprinter who won a European 200m silver medal in 2006 and reached the 400m final at last summer's World Championships has the greater experience. Germany's Falco Lausecker (46.90) is the best of the rest.

Men's 800m
Russia will also be confident that Yuriy Koldin can deliver maximum points. The 24-year-old has progressed by almost two seconds this winter and his 1:46.36 clocking at the Russian Championships marks him out as a serious contender. Experienced German Rene Herms, who won this race at the inaugural European Indoor Cup in 2003, will be another threat while the 2002 European Indoor 800m Champion Pawel Czapiewski of Poland is set to make his first indoor appearance of the winter. Former European Junior 800m Champion Mattias Claesson of Sweden is also entered.

Men's 1,500m
Spain has won two of the three previous editions of this race and Diego Ruiz will be hoping to make it three out of four. The 26-year-old is the quickest in the field this year, recording a lifetime best of 3:39.48 to finish sixth in Valencia earlier this month. Stefan Eberhardt, who was fifth in Karlsruhe in 3:40.47, leads the German challenge while 2007 World Championship semi-finalist Christian Obrist of Italy with 3:41.58 this year is expected to be a heavy points scorer.

Men's 3,000m
Italy's European Indoor 3,000m Champion Cosimo Caliandro will be the man to beat over 15 laps. Caliandro caused a huge surprise by taking the European title in Birmingham last March and has backed up that form by recording a season's best of 7:51.63, the fastest in the field this year.

Leading the challengers will be France's reigning European U23 5,000m Champion Noureddine Smail (7:55.95) and Sweden's experienced Henrik Skoog (7:54.20) who finished sixth in the 2006 European Championship 5,000m final. Russia's Sergey Ivanov is also a threat at his best. He recorded a time of 7:48.18 in 2006 but his fastest mark so far this winter is 8:00.44.

Men's 60m Hurdles
European 110m Hurdles silver medallist Thomas Blaschek will be the man to beat in the 60m Hurdles. The German has already twice blitzed times of 7.54 this season – in Stuttgart and Karlsruhe – and is the fastest in the field by 0.05. Among his leading rivals will be Yevgeniy Borisov who ran 7.59 to win the Russian Championships and Spain's Jackson Quinonez, the 2007 European Indoor bronze medallist, who boasts a season's best of 7.61. Also entered is the vastly experienced Swede Robert Kronberg.

Men's Pole Vault
A young and largely inexperienced field is head by Russia's Sergey Kucheryanu. The 22-year-old cleared 5.75m at the winter meeting in Moscow last month and starts favourite on the back of this accomplishment. France's 21-year-old Renaud Lavillenie successfully negotiated 5.65m in Limoges and will also be fancied. Watch out too for German Tobias Scherbarth, who cleared a lifetime best of 5.61m to take third in Dusseldorf. Adam Kolasa of Poland is another danger if he can repeat his best form of 5.70m from six years ago.

Men's Triple Jump
It is difficult to oppose Yevgeniy Plotnir. The 30-year-old Russian has the number one mark in the field this season after recording 17.02m at the Christmas Cup in Moscow earlier this month. Italy's Fabrizio Schembri advanced his personal best by 0.40 to jump 16.92m in Saronno on February 1 and on that kind of form he will also be among the favourites. Viktor Yastrebov of the Ukraine, who boasts a lifetime best of 16.97m dating from 2005, is also entered.

Men's 2000m relay (800x600x400x200).
Russia will start firm favourites to land a hat-trick of victories in the medley relay with star attraction Yuriy Borzakovskiy in their ranks. The Olympic 800m Champion has opted to run a 600m leg in Moscow and he goes into the event in majestic form. He heads the World 800m lists with 1:45.58 and is also unbeaten in seven indoor races in distances ranging from 400m to 1000m.

Dmitriy Bogdanov, the world No.2 behind Borzakovskiy, runs the 800m leg and they are ably supported by Vladislav Frolov (400m) and Roman Smirnov (200m). Russia's main opposition is likely to come from France, Germany and Poland.

The European Athletics Indoor Cup, Moscow will be televised in a number of the competing countries as well as LIVE on Eurosport, commencing at 15.45 CET (14.45 GMT).

Source:

European Athletics