A round-up of some of the latest news in athletics, including entries for Boston Half Marathon and Valencia Half Marathon
Hejnova to work with Balzer
Two-time world 400m hurdles champion Zuzana Hejnova has announced that her new coach will be German Falk Balzer, the former top 110m hurdler.
In the last four years her coach has been Dalibor Kupka.
“We want to work more on speed and the main aim is to try to defend the world title from Beijing,” said Hejnova. “We will mainly speak in English but I will start to learn German and he will try with Czech.”
She also plans some competitions for the indoor season and wants to try the 60m hurdles.
Balzer won silver at the European Championships in 1998 and competed at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, reaching the semi-finals. After ending his career he started to coach in 2003.
B.A.A. Half Marathon
Daniel Salel and Mary Wacera will defend their titles in the Boston Half Marathon on Sunday, informs organisers. Salel (60:41) faces sub-one-hour performers Silas Kipruto (59:39) and Daniel Chebii (59:49) in the men’s race, while Wacera (66:29) is the fastest on paper in the women’s race by nearly three minutes ahead of Burundi’s Diane Nukuri (69:12).
Groningen 4 Miles
Top fields have been assembled for the Groningen 4 Miles on Sunday. The men’s line-up is headed by Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist Tamirat Tola and fourth-placer Yigrem Demelash while Uganda’s Abdallah Mande arrives fresh from a win in a sprint finish over Tola over 10km in Trento last weekend.
The women’s race is headed by Kenyans Viola Kibiwott and former steeple world champion Milcah Chemos.
Valencia Half Marathon
World leader at 10km and half-marathon, Violah Jepchumba, will compete in the Valencia Half Marathon on October 23, informs organisers.
Jepchumba will go head-to-head with world half-marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir while Ethiopians Netsanet Gudeta and Worknesh Degefa will also challenge. Interestingly, Jepchumba is listed as a Bahraini citizen on the entry list.
The men’s entry list is headed by three runners with sub-59 minute lifetime bests: Solomon Kirwa (58:44), Abraham Cheroben (58:48) and Stephen Kibet (58:54).
European athletes of the month
European athletes of September are French pole vault world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie, after winning for the seventh time the IAAF Diamond League trophy, and Serbian long jumper Ivana Spanovic, who leaped to a 7.10m national record in her last meet of the season at home.
Beitia with two goals for 2017
Olympic high jump champion Ruth Beitia has already started her preparation for 2017. Her aims are the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade and World Championships in London.
Beitia, while visiting one of the schools, said she does not want to be coach in the future. The option could be sports psychology.
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