European Athletics (EAA) – News – Good marks for Bayer, Ennis and Silnov

Bayer, who won at the 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships long jump gold medal with a stunning European indoor record of 8.71m, had his first indoor competition since that memorable afternoon in Torino at a regional event in Hamburg and won with 7.91m to suggest that almost 18 months of injury problems might now be behind him.

Elsewhere in Germany, sprinter Martin Keller clocked ran 60m in 6.70 in Chemnitz, middle-distance man Sebastian Keiner clocked 1:48.67 for 800m in Erfurt and 2010 European Athletics Championships 1500m silver medallist Carsten Schlangen moved up distance in Berlin and ran 3000m in 7:58.02.

World and European heptathlon champion Ennis tested her form in three events at an open meeting in Loughborough, in preparation for her pentathlon competition the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris from 4-6 March.

She started with an 8.03 run at the 60m hurdles, followed that with a below-par long jump of 6.16m (and three fouls) but then bounced back a big personal best in the shot put of 14.61m.

Ennis, who was second behind Blanka Vlašić in the voting for the 2010 Female European Athlete of the Year, had a former best of 14.25m, which was set last year at the famous Götzis multi-events meeting in Austria.

At Gubernator Cup meeting in Volgograd, Russia, the 2008 Olympic Games high jump champion Andrey Silnov returned to competition after injuries brought a premature end to his 2010 season and cleared 2.30m.

Antonina Krivoshapka, the 2009 European Athletics Championships 400m gold medallist who was also a bronze medallist over the same distance last summer at the European Athletics Championships, won over her favourite distance in 52.84 while Svetlana Nabokina took the plaudits in the women’s 60m with a swift 7.29.

Olga Balayeva equalled her indoor best in the long jump with 6.57m, Natalya Kutyakova bounded out to 14.04m in the women’s triple jump and shot putter Anna Omarova produced an effort of 18.09m.

In the women’s high jump, 2010 Youth Olympic Games gold medallist winner Mariya Kuchina showed good form when she cleared an indoor best of 1.90m, which contrasts with her outdoor best of 1.91m.

The teenager, who only turned 18 on January 14, also claimed the significant scalp of 2004 Olympic champion Yelena Slesarenko, who could only clear 1.88m in her first competition in almost 11 months after injuries caused her to miss last summer’s competitions.

Maksim Sidorov was again over 20 metres in the shot put with 20.12m while, in the sprints, Roman Smirnov ran 200m in 21.16 and Aleksandr Shpaer improved over 60m to a new best of 6.69.

On the second day of the Mogilyov Championships in Belarus, Anna Tashpulatova won over 400m in 52.95 to leave the well-known Svetlana Usovich trailing in her wake and having to settle for second place with 53.07.

In 60m finals, Maksim Lynsha and Yulia Balykina clocked 6.71 and 7.30 respectively while long jumper Anastasiya Mironchik-Ivanova acheived 6.54m.

On Friday, on the first day of the Mogilyov Championships, there was a new Belarus indoor best in the men’s 2000m by Siarhei Platonau,

The 20-year-old runner, who was sixth in the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships under 23 race last month, clocked 5:08.12 to take more than three seconds off Sergey Cheberyak’s mark of 5:11.69 set a week ago in Brest.

 European Athletics (EAA) – News –