GERMAN MEETINGS – World champions Storl and Saladuha among the stars in Düsseldorf | European Athletics – News

The 7th International PSD Bank Meeting in Düsseldorf on Friday, the fifth of seven European Athletics Indoor Permit Meetings this year, is a truly international affair but the man who might get the biggest cheers is German shot put world champion David Storl.

Storl will be performing in front of a capacity crowd of 2000 spectators in the German city's Arena Sportpark and will be hoping to improve on his European-leading mark of 21.24m set two weeks ago in Nordhausen.

However, he will face some familiar rivals including Poland's 2008 Olympic Games gold medallist Tomasz Majewski, fresh from going over 21 metres for the first time this season with his win in Bydgoszcz on Wednesday, and the United States' 2009 world champion Christian Cantwell.

Another reigning world champion in action will be Ukrainian triple jumper Olha Saladuha, who will make her 2012 debut.

Among her opponents will be her predecessor as world champion, Cuba's Yargelis Savigne, who has already won four times in her career in Düsseldorf; Italy's 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships gold medallist Simona La Mantia and Greece's 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships Paraskevi Papahristou.

There will be a strong Ukraine presence in the women's 60m as well with Olesya Povh and Mariya Ryemen on the start line, the number one and two in Europe this year and also the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships gold and silver medallists over the distance.

In the men's 60m, there will be a lot of interest in how Germany's Julian Reus performs after the 2007 European Athletics Junior Championships 100m gold medallist recently sped to a personal best of 6.59, the second fastest time by a European this year.

Poland's 800m runner Adam Kszczot won at both the European Athletics Indoor Championships and European Athletics U23 Championships last year and, fresh running the second fastest 600m ever of 1:15.26 in Moscow on Sunday, he has the target of being the first European under 1:47 this winter in his sights.

Perhaps the biggest challengers to Kszczot will be Czech Republic's Jakub Holusa, who has already run 1:47.48 this winter, and Spain's 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships 800m winner Kevin Lopez, who clocked a fast 1:47.82 on home soil in Antequera on Saturday.

The pair are third and fourth on this winter's European list over four laps of an indoor track. However, there will also be four very good Kenyan runners in the race.

The women's 60m hurdles looks set to be one of the highlights of the evening with top American exponents Danielle Carruthers, Lolo Jones and Yvette Lewis but European will be represented due to the presence of Russia's Tatyana Dektyareva, who won the 100m hurdles at the SPAR European Team Championships and was fifth at the World Championships, and Belarus' 2011 European Athletics U23 100m hurdles gold medallist Alina Talay.

Turkey's 2010 European Athletics Championships 100m gold medallist Nevin Yanit will also be in the race, hoping to prove that her disappointing injury-marred 2011 is now behind her.

Stars from further afield who will be Düsseldorf include Cuba's 100m hurdles world record holder Dayron Robles, Kenya's 800m Olympic Games champion Pamela Jelimo, who has a rare outing over 1500m, and her comaptriot Isiah Koech who broke the world junior indoor 5000m record when he won in Düsseldorf 12 months ago and who is returning to race over the same distance.

Last year's Düsseldorf meeting was the number one ranked European Athletics Indoor Permit Meeting in 2011 by every organisation, including the IAAF.

Details of the 7th International PSD Bank Meeting in Düsseldorf can be found at the event website (in German) here.

Further details of all the 2012 European Athletics Indoor Permit Meetings can be found here.

 

European Athletics – News