Posted: March 3, 2005

Athletics: Heshko, Ceplak, Cragg, Pavey Top The Fields At European Indoor Championships

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Bob Ramsak

MADRID - With European athletes providing the bulk of the highlights from this post-Olympic indoor season, this weekend's 28th edition of the European Indoor Championships will provide a fitting end to the international season, and perhaps a brief glimpse of what to expect as the focus turns to next August's World outdoor championships in Helsinki.

MEN'S PREVIEW

Olympic 800 meter champion and world leader Yuriy Borzakovskiy tops a short list of notable weekend absentees, but the race to succeed Pawel Czapiewski is expected to be a fierce one. Dutchman Arnoud Okken is the fastest among entrants (1:46.27), but Borzakovskiy's compatriot and training partner, Dmitry Bogdanov (1:46.48) isn't far behind. Spanish hopes rest on Antonio Reina, the defending bronze medallist. Reina has been known to rise to the occasion: at the 2002 World Cup here in Madrid, he ran to an upset win with a national record. In an otherwise mediocre winter in the event, Briton James McIlroy has run well; his 1:46.68 win in Erfurt in early February was his third personal best of the year.

Ukraine's Ivan Heshko is the class of the field in the 1500. The silver medallist at the World Indoor championships last year and fifth at the Olympics, Heshko's 3:33.99 national record this year is nearly three seconds faster than any other entrant. With Reyes Estevez opting for just the 3000, the title here, the first ever for Ukraine, is Heshko's to lose. French national record holder Mehdi Baala, who lowered his own national record at 1000 meters, is set to provide the biggest challenge.

Like Heshko, Alistair Cragg is well ahead of the chase pack in the 3000. With his world-leading 7:39.89 shocker to defeat Kenenisa Bekele at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games in late January, the 24-year-old Arkansas grad arrives in the Spanish capital as the overwhelming favorite in the event. Teammate Mark Carroll, the 2000 champion, returns to provide a solid 1-2 punch for Ireland. The traditionally talented Spanish squad is le by Reyes Estevez, who recently lowered his PB to 7:43.80. Two-time bronze medallist, John Mayock of Great Britain, returns to lead the British squad.

WOMEN'S PREVIEW

Three years ago in Vienna, Slovenia's Jolanda Ceplak capped her coming out indoor season by shattering the world record in the 800 with her 1:55.82 run. So fierce was her competitive rivalry with Steffi Graf that the Austrian too dipped under Christine Wachtel's 14-year-old standard of 1:56.40. This year Ceplak returns as the Olympic bronze medallist in the event, but after a trio of less-than-competitive races, only the fourth fastest this year among Europeans. Her strongest challenge is expected from Spaniard Mayte Martinez, who narrowly missed her own national record in Stockholm two weeks ago with a 1:59.61 runner-up finish behind Maria Mutola. At the 2003 World Indoor Championships, Martinez denied Ceplak a podium finish and in Madrid, will have the support of the Palacio de Deportes crowd. World leader Larisa Chzhao (1:57.53) returns to action after three weeks off, but has yet to duplicate her form outside of her home country.

The world's ten fastest 1500 runners are all in the line-up in Madrid, led by Poland's Lidia Chojecka, who emerged on the middle distance scene after her silver medal at these championships in 1998. The 28-year-old won four of her five races this winter at distances ranging from 1000 to 3000 meters. Her only loss came at this distance to Romanian Elena Iagar last Thursday on her last visit to Madrid. Alesya Turova of Belorus is the defending silver medallist and is the second fastest of the year (4:05.93).

Jo Pavey, the sixth fastest-ever in the 3000, arrives in Madrid as the British women's squad's top hope for gold. This year, the 31-year-old has clocked 8:41.43, more than six seconds faster than the next European, Austrian Susanne Pumper, who ran a 8:47.51 national record behind Pavey in Stuttgart in late January. Germany's Sabrina Mockenhaupt (8:48.57 in Stuttgart), Ukraine's Tetyana Holovchenko (8:49.80) along with the Polish duo of Chojecka and Wioletta Janowska can be expected to play pivotal roles in the medal hunt.

This weekend's European Championships are only the third athletics competition to be held in the newly rebuilt Palacio des Desportes located in the heart of the Spanish capital. The stunning state-of-the-art facility, one of the center points for the city's 2012 Olympic bid, sits 10,000 for athletics.

After Dortmund, Prague, Madrid and Belgrade hosted the European Indoor Games on consecutive years beginning in 1967, the creation of the EAA in late 1969 gave birth to the first European Indoor Championships the following year, which were held in Vienna. An annual event through 1990, it's spot on the calendar was moved to even years to avoid conflict with the IAAF World Indoor Championships, and with this edition, it switched again when the IAAF moved its indoor competition last year.

The middle and long distance events kick off Friday morning with the first round of the men's 3000. The afternoon and evening session includes the opening rounds of the men's and women's 800 and 1500, and concludes with the first round of the women's 3000.