Borzakovskiy brings the crowd to its feet yet again

Yuriy Borzakovskiy entered into the third of four 400 m final heats at the
"Russian Winter" Games. Following the first two heats, the top spot
belonged to current World leader Oleg Mishukov, who incidentally was the one
to sensationally defeat Yuriy at the same distance last year, at Russian U23
Nationals in Cheboksary. Yuriy started in lane 4, but stuck to own even
pace and found himself in fourth, and last, position when runners merged at
the 150 m mark. Dmitriy Forshev took them through the first lap in an
unofficial time of 22,23 sec, while Yuriy trailed by nearly a full second,
clocked at 23,12. It was not until the 300 m mark that Borazakovskiy moved
to the right and pulled even with the contestant in third position. There
was a curve ahead of him, however, and Yuriy would have to run it in lane 2,
but he knew no fear. Covering the obviously unnecessary meters of the
distance, Yuriy not only caught up with the leader at the top of the
homestretch, but eased past him in a trademark victorious finishing spurt.
The performance looked so spectacular that it literally threw the crowd into
a frenzy. Immediately following the race, Yuriy was stalked by journalists,
and, when they had had enough, got swarmed by a throng of autograph hunters.
Yuriy`s final time of 47,46 assured him first place. Soon he will be
facing the world`s best runners over his main distance, the 800 m.