European Athletics – News – Savinova hopes to be the sunshine girl again

At the IAAF World Championships last year in Moscow, Mariya Savinova was one of Russia’s big hopes for a gold medal. She was the Olympic 800m champion and defending champion, a woman with a record of unblemished success.                      

But it was not to be.

In a brilliant final on the last afternoon of competition, Savinova was beaten by the narrowest of margins by Kenya’s Eunice Sum, 1:57.38 to 1:57.80.

As the days tick away to both the World Indoor Championships in Sopot in March and the European Athletics Championships in Zurich, Savinova is eyeing up glory again.

She summed up her thoughts perfectly by revealing: “I want to return to the joyful feelings which I had during the Olympic year.”

Not winning in Moscow has left her with fresh enthusiasm, enhanced by three months of warm-weather training in Portugal.

“It was difficult to come back home where the temperature was 20 degrees below zero,” said Savinova, speaking to rusathletics.com. “In Portugal there was constant sun, ocean, oranges. I did not even want to leave.

“For the first time in my career, three months of hard training has gone very quickly.”

With it has come the thought of training with her African rivals.

It has worked for many others, including Great Britain’s double Olympic and World champion Mo Farah, who bases himself in Iten in Kenya.

Savinova said: “Perhaps we should try Kenyan and Ethiopian training camps for preparation. But I think that in any case the result (of their successes) is an indicator of a framework which you lay down for years.”

She does not look back on Moscow with regret, seeing silver as a “personal feat” but knowing that she did not get it right in the final.

“I was a little relaxed at the start,” said Savinona. “(There was) the underestimation of the opponent.”

With revenge on her mind it might not be long before the sport sees Mariya Savinova at the top of the podium again.

European Athletics – News