Sochi, the city is bidding for the Winter Olympics of 2014, is now also known for its excellent stadium well adapted for athletic competitions.
Earlier this week (12-14 September), the city hosted three nearly simultaneous junior and youth competitions, including the two day (12-13) Cup of the Caucasus. Young athletes born in 1989 and1990 took part in the tournament officially included in the international calendar of the European Athletics Association (EAA). Teams from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Russia participated in the first Cup. Athletes of the three Caucasian states do not have the chance to compete as often as required and desired, so the competitions in 26 events (13 for men and 13 for women) was a kind of a long desired holiday for all those who came to the sea resort on board of the Black Sea.
The Russian team won the Cup of the Caucasus with 60 points leaving behind the guests from Georgia (44 points), Azerbaijan (37) and Armenia (32).
Athletes who achieved double wins included 16-year-old Ramir Guliev from Azerbaidzhan (100m – 11.27 and 200m – 21.74), Georgiy Bedoshvili from Georgia who is also 16 (Shot Put – 18.52 and discus – 51.49), and Russian girls, the 17-year-old Tatyana Semenenko from Sochi (High Jump and Javelin – 36.50) and 16-year-old Irina Ryzhenko (Shot Put – 11.05 and discus – 38.96).
Also held was the Russian Team Championships multi-events in four age groups.
The youngest athletes, born in 1989 and1990, competed in 8 events. Evgeniy Teptin was the strongest with 5378 points. Aleksandr Grishin, 19, took the gold medal in the 1987 and 1988 age group with 7130 points. 22-year-old Aleksandr Kiselev won in two age categories: 1984 to1986 and in the absolute category with 7561 points.
Natalya Bartnovskaya, 17, won the Heptathlon in her age category gaining victories in five of the seven events with a 5354 point total. 18-year-old Alesya Rybakova won in the next age group with 5380 points. She is the sister of the well-known high jumper Yaroslav Rybakov and like her brother, is coached by their father Vladimir Rybakov. 18-year-old Olga Kurban competed with older opponents and won in the next age group. Her result was 5675 points. Svetlana Sokolova was the winner in the absolute category, tallying 5772 points.
Fans were also treated to the Russian Relay Championships which were held over non-traditional distances.
The fans at the stadium watched the unusual relays with vivid interest. The Russian Championships on traditional relay distances – 4x100m and 4x400m - was held in summer. But at the beginning of the Indian summer the runners competed in 10 absolutely not classical relays.
The team of the Krasnodar region won 100+200+300+400m relay in 1:55.29 while the100+200+400+800m was won by the relay team of Voronezh region who clocked 3:12.93. The runners from Braynskiy region won 4x800m relay (7:30.48) and the team from the Samara region won the 4x1500m (15:41.40). In the rarely contested 4x110m Hurdles relay, Tatarstan was the victor in 57.06.
The women's relays were even more spectacular. The 100+200+300+400m relay was won by the team of Novosibirsk region in 2:08.02. The runners from the same region also won 100+200+400+800m relay in 3:37.31. The Moscow region team won the 4x800m relay (8:37.20) as well as 4x1500m relay (17:37.36).
Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF
