2007 in review: Women’s Middle Distance

The end of the year is traditionally a period to spend time with friends and family and reflect on the ups and downs of the year that has passed. So as we enter 2008, we invite you to reflect on what has been a successful year for our sport in Europe.

The next discipline in our '2007 in review' series, was an area for improvement for Europe's men, but the European ladies produced some encouraging Middle Distance results in 2007…

Women's Middle Distance events have had something of a revival in Europe recently. Although the World Championship 1,500m title slipped to Maryam Jamal (BRN), Europeans filled the next three placings (2-4), and had a total of eight out of 12 competitors in the final in Osaka. Russia's women are the real driving force in this event worldwide, with Yelena Soboleva setting the fastest time of the season and holding eight of the first 14 athletes on the IAAF World list. In the 800m 31-year-old Mayte Martinez (ESP) capped a fine career with her first World Outdoor Championship medal in Osaka and a personal best of 1:57.62.

800m

Mayre Martinez was in good form throughout the season in the 800m, with three second places in Golden League meetings, an additional second place finish at the World Athletics Final, and of course her Osaka bronze. Although the 800m specialist made a surprise choice for the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham; competing in the 1,500m, which saw her finish in fifth place.

There were a total of five Europeans in the World 800m final, where Martinez' bronze medal time of 1:57.62 made her the fastest European of the season, closely followed by the Ukraine's Yuliya Krevsun, who won the World University Games in a personal best time of 1:57.63.

Despite a disappointing Osaka performance that saw the 27-year-old Ukrainian eliminated in the heats, Krevsun's had an otherwise successful season, particularly her surprise success at the World University Games in Bangkok. Krevsun had been unable to break 2 minutes before this season, with a personal best of 2:00.49 from 2002, but her Ukrainian Championship win in July saw her shave 0.49 seconds from her time, before taking the mantle of World lead for a short time with her 1:57.63 best time from Bangkok.

1,500m

Russia was the undisputed champion of 1,500m during the 2007 season in Europe. They filled nine of the top places in the European top 11, and the best of them, Yelena Soboleva, performed well in Osaka as well. The World Indoor record holder (3:58.28 in 2006) only competed three times over 1,500m this season, but she won all three races, each with a time of under four minutes. However Russia's top woman narrowly lost out on a World gold, when she went head to head with Maryam Jamal for most of the last lap in Osaka with Jamal edging ahead to win and Iryna Lishchynska (UKR) finishing behind Soboleva took take bronze.

Bulgaria's Daniela Yordanova (BUL) caused a stir in this same race with her fourth place finish. Yordanova had only run 4:05.5 before Osaka and although she achieved the bronze medal in the 2006 European Championships with 3:59.37, the 4:00.82 finish time at the World Championships final was still unprecedented. The reigning World Champion from Helsinki 2005, Tatyana Tomashova (RUS), was unable to compete in Osaka because of an injury.

Notable Statistics

800m

2007 head to head stats between best Europeans

Competitor	Scores
Mayte Martinez ESP – Yuliya Krevsun UKR	2-1
Mayte Martinez ESP – Sviatlana Usovich BLR	4-2
Mayte Martinez ESP – Olga Kotlyarova RUS	3-0
Mayte Martinez ESP – Svetlana Cherkasova RUS	5-0
Mayte Martinez ESP – Brigita Langerholc SLO	5-0
Sviatlana Usovich BLR – Yuliya Krevsun UKR	3-0
Olga Kotlyarova RUS – Yuliya Krevsun UKR	3-0
Svetlana Cherkasova RUS – Yuliya Krevsun UKR	2-0
Brigita Langerholc SLO – Yuliya Krevsun UKR	3-0
Sviatlana Usovich BLR – Svetlana Cherkasova RUS	3-1

800m
Career head to head stats between best Europeans

Competitors	Scores
Mayte Martinez ESP – Yuliya Krevsun UKR	4-1
Mayte Martinez ESP – Sviatlana Usovich BLR	5-3
Mayte Martinez ESP – Olga Kotlyarova RUS	6-2
Mayte Martinez ESP – Svetlana Cherkasova RUS	19-4
Mayte Martinez ESP – Brigita Langerholc SLO	12-3
Sviatlana Usovich BLR – Yuliya Krevsun UKR	3-0
Olga Kotlyarova RUS – Yuliya Krevsun UKR	3-0
Svetlana Cherkasova RUS – Yuliya Krevsun UKR	2-1
Brigita Langerholc SLO – Yuliya Krevsun UKR	4-2
Svetlana Cherkasova RUS – Sviatlana Usovich BLR	4-3

1,500m

2007 head to head stats between best Europeans

 

 

Competitors	Scores
Yelena Soboleva RUS – Yuliya Fomenko RUS	5-0
Yelena Soboleva RUS – Daniela Yordanova BUL	3-0
Yelena Soboleva RUS – Olga Yegorova RUS	4-0
Yuliya Fomenko RUS – Iryna Lishchynska UKR	3-2
Iryna Lishchynska UKR – Olga Yegorova RUS	2-2
Yuliya Fomenko RUS – Daniela Yordanova BUL	2-1
Olga Yegorova RUS – Yuliya Fomenko RUS	4-2

1,500m

Career head to head stats between best Europeans

Competitors	Scores
Yelena Soboleva RUS – Iryna Lishchynska UKR	10-0
Yuliya Fomenko RUS – Yelena Soboleva RUS	11-9
Yelena Soboleva RUS – Daniela Yordanova BUL	4-1
Yelena Soboleva RUS – Olga Yegorova RUS	10-5
Yuliya Fomenko RUS – Iryna Lishchynska UKR	9-2
Iryna Lishchynska UKR – Olga Yegorova RUS	5-5
Yuliya Fomenko RUS – Daniela Yordanova BUL	3-1
Olga Yegorova RUS – Yuliya Fomenko RUS	9-8

Source/Courtesy
European Athletics (EAA)
https://www.european-athletics.org/
<a href="https://www.european-athletics.org">EAA</a>