Sidorova’s world leadership, Lasitskene’s sixth victory and Makarenko’s achievement: results of the first day of the Czech Republic in athletics

Solo victory Lasicki

The organizers of the Russian Championship decided not to postpone the most interesting things, and already on the first day they put the two most powerful finals - in women's high jump and pole vault. In them, the current world champions Maria Lasitsken and Angelika Sidorova were going to compete for gold. Both of them did not get the opportunity to participate in international competitions after their triumphal victories, and for them the start in the Moscow arena CSKA became the main event of the winter.

From Lasickiene, the audience was waiting for the continuation of her impressive series of the current season. She won the “Battle of the Sexes” with a result of 2.04 meters and broke a personal record by adding a centimeter to the “Russian Winter” - in the world no one came close to such indicators. To drive the athlete to even greater heights was the well-known rival Anna Chicherova.

Quite early they were left in the sector alone - no one else could break the bar at an altitude of 1.88 m. Chicherova hardly moved behind the three-time world champion, spending three attempts at heights of 1.85 and 1.91. Lasickene conquered all the bars on the first try, starting at 1.70. One jump to 1.94 was enough for her to lead the competition, and Chicherova had to storm 1.96, otherwise she had no chance of gold. The 37-year-old athlete was close to the goal in the second attempt, but the bar did not obey her.

Lasickene took the duty height of 2 meters and won the championship of Russia in the premises for the sixth time. After that, she tried to add four centimeters, but could not conquer a new height.

Sidorova on top

Sidorova almost did not play this season, noting only a victory at the “Russian Winter” with a result of 4.86 meters. She did not feel much pressure from her rivals at the Russian Championship. With her first jump of 4.60 meters, she secured a medal, since only Angelina Zhuk-Krasnova and the daughter of world champion Anna Knoroz in the sprint relay race Polina reached this height.

The World Cup triumph allowed the rivals themselves to determine who would get the silver and bronze, and when Zhuk-Krasnova won this dispute, she easily took a height of 4.75 meters inaccessible to other girls. Winning the Russian Championship in two jumps is an extremely rare phenomenon that Elena Isinbayeva was capable of in her best years.

Of course, such a quick end to the competition could not satisfy the world champion. She asked to raise the bar immediately by 17 centimeters in order to try to seize American Sandy Morris leadership in the world season. By that time, all competitions had ended in the CSKA arena, and fans and athletes were waiting for Sidorova to take the treasured height. She kept the intrigue to the last and, on the third attempt, still subjugated 4.92 meters.

The incredible sprint Makarenko

On the first day, Kristina Makarenko became the queen of cross-country species, before her marriage she had performed and won the bronze medal of the European Championship under the name of Sivkov. Her victory in the 60-meter race was one of the most anticipated - at the "Russian Winter" she updated her personal record by running in 7.14 seconds. This result allowed her to be in the top six of the world’s winter season. Perhaps, from the time of Irina Privalova and Olga Bogoslovskaya, none of the Russians had such excellent prospects in the sprint.

In the final of the championship of Russia Makarenko was set for an even more impressive result. She was not embarrassed by the false start, and on the second attempt, the 22-year-old athlete ran in 7.09 seconds! Faster than the already three-time winner of the competition were only the American Mikaya Brisco and Javianna Oliver, who showed the result of 7.04 seconds this season. Makarenko could very well right now try to speak at the world level in sprint races.

Preliminary Achievements

Preliminary races and qualifications rarely give reason to rejoice at outstanding results, however, competitions at a distance of 400 meters among women managed to immediately attract attention. In this form, the antagonism of Antonina Krivoshapka, who won the “Russian Winter” with a very good result of 52.37 seconds, and Ksenia Renzhina, who also ran out of 53 seconds, was expected.

The leader of the country in this discipline, Polina Miller, did not quickly run after the World Cup in Doha, and she was in the shadow of more experienced rivals. But she managed to reaffirm herself. In the qualifying race, the 19-year-old athlete stopped the stopwatch at around 52.24 seconds. In the world list of the best results in the hall, this is the 14th indicator, which is more characteristic of the finals, rather than preliminary races.

Kryvoshapka answered even more impressively, although at first she gave reason to be nervous. The judges felt that she made a false start, but allowed to re-enter the pads while the athlete's protest was considered. The 32-year-old athlete did not seem to pay attention to the fact that she was on the verge of disqualification, ran in 52.19 seconds and entered the dozen of the best runners of the season in the world. In the full-time final confrontation, Miller and Krivoshapka should improve their performance.

Ekaterina Koneva, specializing in triple jump, also performed well in qualifications. Perhaps 14.20 meters in her performance and are not amazing, but in the current season this is a repeat of the seventh result in the world. Given the fact that Koneva from May last year came out only once to start, this is a good indicator that gives hope for a full return of the world champion in the room.