Borzakovskiy in supreme form at European Athletics Premium Meeting in Zhukovskiy – European Athletics (EAA) – NEWS

European indoor champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy's registered his third win in less than a week winning the men's 800m in front of his home crowd at the 51st edition of the Znamenskiy Memorial in Zhukovskiy, a suburb of near the Russian capital Moscow.

The Znamenskiy Memorial is a part of the series of European Athletics Outdoor Premium Meetings, where points can be acquired by athletes to qualify for the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, to be held on 12-13 September in Thessaloniki, Greece.

The 2004 Olympic champion started off the week winning the top prize at the Moscow Open and followed it up with a stellar performance, setting a European leading mark at the ExxonMobil Bislett Games in Oslo.  

Borzakovskiy clocked 1:46.48 to beat a very strong field making a strong statement of intent ahead of the IAAF World Championships in Berlin.

European indoor champion in women's 800m Mariya Savinova clocked an excellent 1:59.72 to seal yet another win well ahead of compatriots Tatyana Andrianova (2:02.61) and Juliya Rusanova (2:02.63) who finished second and third respectively.

Russian Dmitriy Gavrilov won the showpiece 3000m prize in 8:02.79, holding off Artem Mastrov (8:03.73) and Andrei Safronov (8:04.27).

Antonina Krivoshapka, the European indoor 400m champion, won her event category with an impressive timing of 50.51s. Anastasiya Kapachinskaya finished runner-up clocking 51.49, with Ukraine's Natalya Pigida third in 51.97.

The men's 400m title went to Konstantin Svechkar who clocked a personal best 46.08, leaving behind compatriots Aleksandr Derevyagin (46.24) and Dmitriy Buryak (46.35).

2004 Olympic champion Natalya Sadova won the women's Discus Throw with a 62.89m toss, the best result of the Russian outdoor season. Olesya Korotkova (60.17m) was second and Vera Karmishina (54.89m) third.

Mariya Abakumova, the Javelin silver medallist from Beijing dominated the proceedings in her event, bagging the title with a 64.32m throw.

Shot Put silver medallist at European Athletics Championships 2006, Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus claimed the title with a 20.61m throw in the men's Shot Put. Russians Pavel Sofyin was second (19.87m) and Maksim Sidorov (19.87m) third.

Yuliya Pechonkina, the women's 400m hurdles world record holder, who was making a comeback after a year-long injury lay-off failed to finish after a good start. Ukrainian Hanna Titimets cantered home clocking 56.72s.

On the other hand it was a happy ending for another star making a comeback. Anna Chicherova, High Jump silver medallist in Beijing cleared 1.91m to take the win on the countback over Irina Gordeeva.

World indoor Long jump champion Naide Gomes from Portugal won with a 6.62m leap ahead of Russian Olga Balayeva who could only reach 6.34m.

 European Athletics (EAA) – NEWS