Zadorozhniy beats Shabunin

Victory was on Andrey Zadorozhniy’s side Friday night in the continuing archrivalry between himself and Vyacheslav Shabunin. Mikhail Yeginov, who maintained a more or less respectable tempo through 1200 m (3.00,3), further accelerated over the last 300 m, followed closely by Zadrozhniy and Shabunin. The leaders covered the pentultimate 100 m split in 13,16, after which Zadorozhniy took the lead, pursued by Shabunin who was gradually devouring the gap, but nevertheless came up a mere 0,04 seconds short at the tape.

Despite running the slowest time of all the qualifiers, Yuriy Borzakovskiy advanced easily from the men’s 400 m semifinal, relaxing over the last 50 m and still advancing from 3rd position into the lead. The third heat of the same competition brought an unanticipated surprise, as reigning National Champion Dmitriy Golovastov failed to make the final. Olesya Zykina showed off her powerful style on the women’s side, advancing in 50,46, Russia’s fastest time over a lap this year, while European Indoor Champion Natalya Antyukh was the slowest quarter-miler through.