Moscow Open

an ahead and Pavel spent
the rest of the time trying to
catch them up. Unfortunately
he finished last and “Luch”
got only 1 point and allowed
the Portuguese to overtake the
Russians. In the 4x100 metres
relay, the Portuguese with
their powerful sprinter, Francis
Obikwelu left the Russians behind
in fourth and, by the end
of the first day the Portuguese
were only two points behind
“Luch”.
“Luch’s” women faired better.
On the first day, Natalya
Sadova won the discus by almost
5 metres from Liliana Cá
of “Sporting” who took second
place. Pole vaulter, Aleksandra
Kiryashova also won
despite taking three attempts
at her opening height and
making the team coaches very
nervous. In the 400 metres,
Natalya Nazarova managed to
beat the Nigerian runner from
the Spanish club into second.
But, despite not letting
the team down, after the race
she could not get up from the
grass for almost 20 minutes.
There was an interesting battle
in the 3,000 metres where
Russian Anna Alminova and
Elvan Abeylegesse, running
for the Turkish club “Enka”,
competed against each other.
The rivals led in turn and the
outcome was in doubt up until
the very end but Anna ran brilliantly
on the day and hit the
front 300 metres from the line
and came first in a new personal
best and championship
record 8:40.63. The victory of
Javelin thrower Mariya Abakumova
brought another 7 points
to Luch. Three second places
followed to the Russians, one
in the 400 metres hurdles to
Irina Obedina, a second in
the 3,000 metre steeplechase
where Natalya Medvedeva‘s
brave personal best run should
be noted. The 4 x 100 metres
relay also brought the Russians
a second place where
Olympic Champion Aleksandra
Fedoriva ran the last leg
having earlier taken another
Natalya Nazarova
event
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