Sunday, February 28, 2016

Maslak prepares for Portland with 200m win at Czech Championships - indoor round up

28 FEB 2016 Report
Reigning IAAF world indoor 400m champion Pavel Maslak sharpened up for his title defence in Portland next month with victory over 200m at the Czech Indoor Championships in 20.78 on Sunday (28).
Maslak hasn’t hit top gear yet but the 25-year-old, who is also a two-time European indoor champion at the distance, heads to the IAAF World Indoor Championships Portland 2016 unbeaten this winter and with a 46.02 season’s best to his name at his specialist event.
Two-time world 400m hurdles champion Zuzana Hejnova was another of the big names on show in Ostrava this afternoon.
The 29-year-old, who was thinking about running the 800m this weekend, opted to contest the 400m which she won in a season’s best of 52.34.
Arguably the most impressive performance of the championship came courtesy of Tomas Stanek who won the shot put in a season’s best of 20.90m.
The jumps also produced some eye-catching results, namely Jan Kudlicka’s 5.77m clearance to win the pole vault while 18-year-old Michaela Hruba won the high jump with 1.93m before three attempts at a world-leading height of 1.98m.

Hassan wins Dutch 800m title en route

European 1500m champion Sifan Hassan stepped down from her specialist to win the 800m at the Dutch indoor championships in Apeldoorn in an indoor best of 2:02.62.
Hassan returned from a block of warm weather training to win the 1500m at the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix last weekend in 4:01.40 and heads to Portland as one of the medal favourites at that distance.
Also in Apeldoorn, IAAF World Indoor Tour winner Lisanne de Witte won the 400m in 52.61 ahead of her younger sister Laura in 53.65 while heptathlete Nadine Visser took the 60m hurdles title in 8.18.
At the Swiss Indoor Championships in St. Gallen, pole vaulter Nicole Buchler improved her outright national record by one centimetre to 4.72m while European junior champion Angelica Moser - some 14 years Buchler’s junior - cleared 4.45m to finish second.
On the track, Mujinga Kambundji claimed the 60m title in a season’s best of 7.21 while Lea Sprunger – another stalwart of the Swiss sprint relay team – won the 200m in a lifetime best of 23.28.

Crouser throws 21.73m (71-3 1/2) world-lead in Ames

Former IAAF world youth champion Ryan Crouser smashed his lifetime best in the shot put at the Big 12 Conference meet in Ames, Iowa on Saturday (27).
Crouser, 23, went out to a world-leading mark of 21.73m to equal the collegiate record which has stood to Ryan Whiting since 2008 and move to 16th on the world indoor all-time rankings.
Courtney Okolo won a fast 200m and 400m double in 22.79 and 51.06 on the oversized track while Akela Jones set Barbadian records of 8.00 and 1.93m to win the 60m hurdles and high jump respectively.
There was also the usual slew of fast sprint times at the SEC Conference Championships in Fayetteville on Saturday.
The outstanding performance was Felicia Brown’s world-leading mark of 22.45 in the 200m ahead of Kyra Jefferson in 22.72 while former European junior champion Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake won the men’s equivalent in 20.53 after the Briton clocked 20.51 in the heats.
Donavan Brazier approached his American indoor junior 800m record of 1:45.93 with victory in 1:46.08 ahead of Andres Arroyo, who set a Puerto Rican indoor record of 1:46.20.
Quanesha Burks won the long jump with 6.75m while American junior record-holder Keturah Orji won the triple jump with 14.08m.
Steven Mills for the IAAF

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