50km walk world lead for Bakulin, European 400m lead for Borlée

Jonathan Borlee of Belgium clocked a European leading time of 45.04 for the 400m in Strasbourg on Sunday.

The 2010 European Athletics Championships 50km walk bronze winner Sergey Bakulin won the Russian title over the same distance in a personal best of 3:38:46, the best time in the world this year on the roads, in Saransk on Sunday.

With Denis Nizhegorodov and Igor Yerokhin having already been chosen for the World Championships later this summer following their one-two finish at the European Cup Race Walking in Portugal last month, Bakulin also bagged the last spot available to go to Daegu.

Missing out despite finishing second in Saransk was the experienced international Yuriy Andronov, who clocked 3:42:25.

In similar fashion, Tatyana Mineeva secured her place on the plane to South Korea when she won a closely-fought women’s 20km walk.

Like Bakulin, Mineeva hails from Mordovia and she finished in 1:28:09, in a competition that saw the first three home all inside 1:29. Nina Okhotnikov was second with 1:28:41 while Tatyana Shemyakina was third in 1:28:55.

Belgium’s Jonathan Borlée, last year’s fastest European over 400m, went to the top of this year’s lists over one lap of the track after running 45.04 in Strasbourg on Sunday.

Ukraine’s 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships 60m silver medallist Marya Ryemyen notched up an impressive double in the French city when she won the 100m and 200m in 11.21 and a meeting record of 22.68.

In both races her friend and training partner Olesya Povh, who finished ahead of her in the Paris 60m final, finished second in 11.24.and 22.80 respectively.

Great Britain’s Lee McConnell clocked a good time of 51.56 to win the 400m just edging out France’s 2002 European Athletics Championships 200m gold medallist Muriel Hurtis, who was second with 51.62.

The men’s triple jump had an unusual tie for first when Cuba’s Alexis Copello and France’s 2006 world junior champion Benjamin Compaore both achieved 17.29m, the latter adding eight centimetres to his personal best.

Russia’s Dmitriy Tarabin won the javelin with 82.86m, ahead of the Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch who had a best of 80.76m.

At a special hammer meeting in the German town of Frankisch-Crumbach, world record holder Betty Heidler achieved the second best mark of her career when she threw an outstanding 77.53m on Sunday. The men’s winner was Sergey Litvinov with 77.71m.

At the Samsung Athletic Cup in the Polish city of Krakow, local sprinter Dariusz Kuc improving his 100m best to 10.15 and also took an impressive scalp of Portugal’s European 100m record holder Francis Obikwelu, the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships 60m gold medallist having to settle for second on this occasion with 10.18.

Another European indoor champion, Poland’s Adam Kszczot, ran a solid 1:45.41 for a win over 800m, the distance at which he won a gold medal in Paris.

Poland’s 2008 Olympic Games shot put champion Tomasz Majewski reached 21.00m in his specialist event whilst his regular room mate on international trips, 2010 European Athletics Championships discus gold medallist Piotr Malachowski launched his implement out to season’s best of 67.97m, the second best performance in the world this year.

The Moscow Challenge on Sunday was a test event in the Luzhiniki Stadium ahead of the 2013 World Championships and it was the women’s jumps and middle-distance races that caught the eye.

Svetlana Shkolina beat Tatyana Mnatsakanova in the high jump with both women clearing 1.95m while the 2006 European Athletics Championships long jump gold medallist Lyudmila Kolchanova went out to a season’s best of 6.75m

Yekaterina Martynova was the fastest in the 800m with 1:59.17, coming home in front of the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships 800m gold medallist Yevgeniya Zinurova, who finished second in her first outdoor race of the summer in 2:00.39.

Yelena Churakova won the 400m hurdles in 56.25 while Maksim Sidorov was the best in shot put with 20.45m.

Denis Alekseyev and Lyudmila Litvinova won the men’s and women’s 400m in 45.73 and 51.79 respectively.

One Russian athlete not competing in Moscow was 2011 high jump world leader Aleksey Dmitrik, who cleared 2.26m at a special high jump meeting in Opole, Poland, on Sunday. Poland’s Karolina Blazej won the women’s contest with personal best of 1.91m.

Elsewhere in Poland at the weekend, Teresa Dobija won the long jump at a meeting in Bialogard on Saturday with 6.72m.