Volume XXXIII Number 27 June (1), 2008

SECOND DAY at GöTZIS Karpov Wins by 7 Points

Hello Again……As threatening as the 7 point win over Sysoyev who had closed weather was on Saturday, that is how the gap to just 2 points after the javelin. appealing it turned out on Sunday, the first day of June. With as many as 4 in contention for the victory and with some Federations using the meeting as part of their Olympic team selection process, there was little letup on day two. See box below on qualifying for the Russian and German Olympic spots. Using previous bests and early season (including indoor) marks 5 had a legitimate chance to win after day one: A crowd of more than 4000 viewed the vault at Demtri Karpov, Maurice Smith, Alex Götzis. Dmitri Karpov won the event with a 5.30/ 17- 4½ effort. Drozdov, Alex Pogorelov and long-shot

Pascal Behrenbruch. Smith sndf Kasrpov This meet was notable for the weren m ore consistent thru the hurdles surprising emergence of both Sysoyev and and discus and they went to the top of the unknown Leonel Suarez, 20, of Cuba who leader board. The most interesting was 4th with 8366. Well, read on…. competition was among the 3 massive (smart) Alex Russians: Pogorelov, Drozdov and Sysoyev. By the vault Karpov, 26 had separated himself from the field and captured his first major international invitational. It was his 20th career decathlon meet. But the event went down to the final 30 meters of the 1500m and Karpov, Dmitri Karpov and Alex Sysoyev kept the final competing like a champion, hung on for a placing uncertain until the very end.

After Six: Karp 5339, Smit 5247, Pogo 5241, Behr 5187, 5174. Splits for Smith’s 110m Hurdle race: Hypo-Bank Meeting Mosle Stadium time split Götzis, Austria 1st hurdle 2.33 May 31-June 1, 2008 2nd “ 3.48 1.15 3rd “ 4.64 1.16 110m Hurdles: [10:05 – 1025 am] 4th “ 5.78 1.12 A larger crowd (@4000, bluebird 5th “ 6.72 .96 weather with nice trailing winds greeted 6th “ 7.87 1.15 the 22 decathletes on Sunday morning. In 7th “ 8.93 1.08 the first race Swede Nicklas Wiberg (in 8th “ 10.09 1.06 lane 2) and Dutchman Eugene Martinque 9th “ 11.11 1.02 (lane 5) ran stride for stride and hurdle for 10th “ 12.16 1.05 hurdle with the foppish Swede dipping for Final auto time 14.05 the win at the finish in a PR 14.69. These are hand timed from the pressbox. Hand final In the 2nd section was handled by time was 13.81.. wiry Leonel Suarez in 14.42 as Alex Discus: [11:00 – 11:44 am] Drozdov left his opportunity for a big 72 degrees, sunny and calm… score on the track by clipping hurdles 5, 8 Wow! Sign seen at Discus “Pascal goes and 10, getting a pedestrian 14.92. Aiding .” Round one of Group A (better wind +1.3mps. throwers) saw a cautious Karpov plate The 3rd race saw Pascal 49.11m./161-1 The 3rd, and mostly Behrenbruch at his best, in control the unnoticed Russian, Alex Sysoyev, line entire way and clocking 14.13.German drived a 51.97m/170-6 to take the event teammate Andre Niklaus got too close to lead. Maurice Smith’s 49.76m/163-3 9 of the ten hurdles and stumbled in at looked rushed. 14.46. A late charge by Russian Alex Round #2 had some fireworks as Pogorelov netted a 14.30 time. No wind. Pogorelov hopped around the circle after The final race matched the top 4 his discus landed at 50.17m/164-7 putting hurdlers and they put on a show. After a him back in the Russian hunt. Drozdov Smith false start (+0.055) the report saw followed with a foul (outside the right Dmitri Karpov/KAZ reacted fastest (in lane 5), Smith (lane 4) recovered and grabbed the lead at hurdle 3 and held it until hurdle 6 when he began to look a bit ragged. German Arthur Abele, to the delight of his entire family and friends - dozens were in attendance—took over and was a clear winner as Smith (14.05), sector line) and Karpov improved to 49.90m/163-8. Sysoyev fouled and Smith Canadian Massimo Bertocchi (14.07 PR) nd and Karpov (14.14) all posted fine times. 2 toss landed over 52 meters away but Karpov maintained his overall lead while outside the right sector. Smith moved to 2nd. In round #3 Drozdov finally got a decent effort, 47.42m/155-7 and the 3 way battle (Pogo-Syso-Droz) for the top two podium. In Group A the competition was Russian places and automatic tickets to so deep that eight vaulted at 5.00m/16-4 Beijing was underway. Karpov, looking ¾. Karpov, Sysoyev and Bertocchiu all very consistent and keeping his center of PR’d while clearing 5.10m/16-8¾ while gravity low (not easy when you are 6-7) Andre Niklaus passed, then made plated his 3rd effort at 49.98m/164-0. 5.20m/17- ¾ quite easily on his first try. Behrenbruch could not improve on his Yet his performance here was first toss (w/o a reverse) of 47.29m/155-2 inconsequential since he was so far down and the event was a distinct frustration. the list vs his countrymen and Olympic That brought up Sysoyev who qualifying. It made only a difference for went to the circle with purpose! Always the monetary premium by winning the very quick within the circle his final toss event. When Bertocchi and Karpov then covered 54.08m/177-5 (a PR!) of cleared 5.20m.17-¾ on 3rd tries eyebrows were raised. Maurice Smith’s 52.77m/173-1 was a Canadian best ever in a Massimo decathlon and moved Bertocchi him to second place recorded 3 overall. consecutive PRs on day 2 including a 5.20m/17-3/4 vault.

Voralberg real estate. Smith, the last thrower, responded with a fine nd The former now had 3 consecutive 52.77m/173-1 effort moving him to 2 PRs and was establishing himself as and within 34 points of Karpov’s lead. Canada’s top decathlete since Mike Smith Group B was held outside the and Mike Nolan. For Karpov, they may stadium. There Martineau won in an eight need to made heavier poles for the 6-7, man field with a 44.77m/146-10 toss. nd 225 pounder. Bertocchi nailed a 2 consecutive PR The meet shocker occurred at 3:34 with a 44.32m/ throw. pm when the Kazak scraped over 5.30m/ After Seven: Karp 6209, Smit 6175, Pogo 17-4½, a mark that has Olympic 6115, Syso 6066, Behr 6001, Droz 5991. overtones. His lead now swelled to 206 Pole Vault: [12:55 -- 3:45 pm] points. When Dmitri Karpov cleared In the concurrent and side-by-side 4.90m/16-¾ on his seco0nd attempt in group B Behrenbruch topped out at Group A, he essentially put the meet 4.50m/14-9, a height which guaranteed away. Maurice Smith had cleared 4.70m/ him the top finish by a German. Abele 15-5 and the 61 gained points, added to went 3 bars higher, a PR 4.80m/15-9. He his existing lead of 34, made his 105 point won the pit. lead look insurmountable. Only a disaster After Eight: Karp 7213, Syso 7007, Smit would keep him off the top step of the 6994, Pogo 6964, Droz 6810, Javelin: [3:30 pm and 4:45 pm] lead over Wiberg, 4: 24.64 to 4: 25.93. It In Group B young Leonel Suarez was an exciting race but paled with what of Cuba made believers. When his first was to come. Bertocchi managed a PR spear stuck at 68.21m/223-9 he nailed 4:47.70 but needed 4:40 for 8k. He missed down the annual “Rookie of the Meet” his PR by 4 points. award. When his 3rd javelin landed 70.64m/231-9 he became a relevant scorer with a chance for a top 6 place, not bad for a 20 year old in his 7th career meet. In Group A, Behrenbruch opened with a smooth 66.44m/218-0, then never improved. Sysoyev’s 62.14m/203-10 PR made him a contender for the gold medal. Wiberg’s bionic arm netted him a 72.54m /238-0 mark, but he too would not Alex Pogorelov (l) and Alex Drozdov (r) battled in the 1500m. improve. Eye-opening in round one were

the 52.22m/171-4 for Smith (w/o pain) In the second race the stocky and the 50.62m/166-1 for Karpov who no Abele took the early pace and led a 43 longer looked like a lock. seconds at 300 m, 67 at 400m, 2:02 with 2 In round #2 Smith improved to laps remaining and 2:21 at 800m. All 53.54m/175-8, Karpov did not but along young Suarez was measuring him. Sysoyev’s 64.22m/210-8 likely made him A second story developed in the middle of a potential winner, making up 15 meters the pack where Karpov attached himself on Karpov. to Syosoyev and just never let go. Smith In round #3 Arthur Abele safed a joined them. They split 2:30 for 800m. At 60.08m/197-1, his only fair mark, having the rear were the Russian pair, Pogorelov crowded the toe-board and twice netting and Drosdoz, and only one would get the foot-faults. Only Eugene Martineau auto Beijing ticket. improved in round #3, netting 67.00m/ Up front Suarez and Martineau 219-10. were closing in on Abele and they caught Karpov’s lead had been cut to a him at 1200m, passed in 3:14. Suarez paltry two points. More interestingly, sprinted by but Abele never gave up and Suarez, with significant 1500 skills, had the race was on. The pace he set assured moved to 7th. Two athletes no one had the Cuban of a huge PR, both at 1500 and given much consideration, the 23 year old total score. They desperately sprinted Russian and the 20 year old Cuban, now down the stretch with Abele making up had the opportunity to shake up the ground inch by inch. He finally forged standings with significant PRs. ahead with 20 meters remaining an earned After Nine: Karp 7811, Syso 7809, a terrific 4:15.77 clocking. For the Cuban, Pogo7786,Smit 7635, Droz 7612, Behr his astonishing 4:16.70 earned him an 7596, Suarez 7532. 8366 PR 4th place finish. It was a 210 1500 Meters: [5:50 pm and 6:00 pm] point improvement and the “Rookie of the In section #1 Wiberg sprinted to Meet” honors the result. the head of the pack and Minah sprinted But this 1500 meters was far from to the rear. Belgium’s Van Alphen took over. Up the track Karpov had jumped over with a lap remaining and held his Sysoyev with 150 meters remaining and the Russian responded. Both sprinted hard European Record “ 20,000 chasing Smith. Down the stretch these Meet Record “ 5,000 Meet record, Single Event “ 500 three hulks of men strained, grunted, 1st place in Single Event “ gold coin staggered as if this were an Olympic ROOKIE 2008 “ 500 finish. O My! No one gave up and they HYPO CASH (best result in a crossed-(Smith-Karpov-Sysoyev) in 4: Single event) 1,000 37.38, 4:37.93 and 4:38.82, then all [NB: The Exchange rate between the dollar and collapsed just passed the finish, the Euro on May 31, 2008 was $154 = 1 Euro completely spent. For Karpov the final making first place worth @ $23,100] sprint netted an additional $6000, the differential b/w 1st and 2nd place. Drosdov outleaned Pogorelov 2008 Beijing 4:53.86 to 4:53.94 but the latter earned the Olympic Team Qualifying: 2nd Russian ticket to Beijing. What a finish….no one dogged it For Russia: The top 2 Russian finishers here! Karpov held one to win by 7 points. in Götzis automatically qualify for the Sysoyev had a 140 point PR. Pogo Russian team. The 3rd selection will be the managed to hold onto 3rd (8381) and the winner of the Russian national surprising Suarez was 4th with 8366. Only championships in Moscow.The Russian 138 points separated first thru 4th. federation brought 4 decathletes and 6 Behrenbruch’s 4:45.49 gave him 6th heptathletes to Götzis. (8242, a 3 point PR), 17 points ahead of For : Abele (8225). The winner of the German champs After Ten: Karp 8504, Syso 8497, Pogo automatically goes to Beijing as long as 8381, Suar 8366, Smit 8332, Behr 8242, his score there is over 8050. The remaining two will be the top two scores from any of three meetings: Bernhausen (where the winning total was 8194); Götzis; and Ratingen itself. 2008 Prize Money 1st Euros 15,000 *(approx $ 23,100 USD) 2nd “ 11,000 3rd “ 7,500 4th “ 6,000 5th “ 4,500 6th “ 3,500 7th “ 3,000 8th “ 2,500 9th “ 2,000 10th “ 1,500

Bonus List: > 8000 points Euro 500 > 8200 “ “ 1,000 > 8400 “ “ 2,000 > 8600 “ “ 3,000 > 8800 “ “ 5,000 > 8900 “ “ 7,500

World Record “ 50,000 Final Results:

5/31-6/1 34th Hype-Bank Meeting, Mosle Stadium, Götzis, AUT 8504 Karpov, Dmitri/KAZ 10.85+0.6 723-0.7 1649 206 48.64 14.14+1.1 4998 530 5062 4:37.93 WL 8497 Sysoyev, Aleksey/RUS 10.86-0.7 701+0.5 1549 203 49.10 14.64+1.3 5408 510 6422 4:38.82 8381 Pogorelov, Aleksandr 11.06-0.8 753+0.2 1654 209 51.57 14.30 0.0 5017 480 6559 4:53.94 8366 Suarez, Leonel/CUB 11.23+0.6 716-1.0 1389 209 48.37 14.42+1.3 4467 460 7064 4:16.70 8332 Smith, Maurice/JAM 10.86-0.7 730 0.0 1650 194 48.82 14.05+1.1 5277 470 5354 4:37.38 8242 Behrenbruch, Pascal/GER 11.00+0.6 696+0.7 1658 203 49.32 14.13 0.0 4729 450 6644 4:45.49 8220 Abele, Arthur/GER 10.83+0.6 724+0.8 1317 197 48.51 13.94+1.1 4021 490 6008 4:15.77 8208 Drozdov, Aleksey/RUS 11.13+0.2 778-0.3 1597 209 51.61 14.92+1.3 4742 470 6422 4:53.86 8161 Martineau, Eugene/NED 11.15-0.8 723-0.4 1395 194 49.49 14.71+0.5 4477 500 6700 4:28.82 7959 Bertocchi, Massimo/CAN 10.99-0.7 734+1.3 1410 191 48.96 14.07+1.1 4432 520 4789 4: 47.70 7917 Wiberg, Nicklas/SWE 11.05-0.8 706-0.3 1418 200 49.18 14.68+0.5 4139 380 7254 4:25.93 7884 Shubianok, Mikalai/BLR 11.38+0.2 681-1.9 1500 206 49.81 14.53 0.0 4334 440 5996 4:28.17 7778 Chinin, Carlos/BRA 10.98+0.6 737-0.1 1293 209 49.33 14.57 0.0 3772 430 5542 4:33.32 7755 Gervasi, David/SUI 11.30-0.8 694 0.0 1472 200 50.92 14.58 0.0 3847 500 5586 4:38.07 7634 Van Alphen, Hans/BEL 11.24+0.2 708-0.7 1419 182 49.30 14.91+0.5 4389 420 5790 4:24.64 7325 Minah, Jacob/GER 10.78-0.7 736-1.1 1426 197 48.05 14.49+1.1 4201 490 5010 dnf dnf Vasilyev, Arkady/RUS 11.25-0.8 720+0.4 1468 194 49.02 14.60+1.3 4454 480 5528 withdrew dnf Niklaus, Andre/GER 11.24+0.2 724-0.2 1341 197 50.16 14.46 0.0 4387 520 5363 withdrew dnf Karas, Josef/CZE 11.11+0.2 724-1.1 1373 191 51.40 15.18+0.5 4628 nh 4301 withdrew 2809 Erins, Edgards/LAT 11.26-0.7 656+0.7 1271 182 dnf 14.97+0.5 4203 nh 5273 withdrew 3127 Müller, Norman/GER 11.16+0.6 nm 1384 188 48.45 14.68+1.3 4089 440 withdrew 3930 Garcia, Yordani/CUB 10.91-0.7 666-1.7 1472 200 51.65 withdrew 1st/2nd day scores: Karp 4382/4122, Droz 4315/3893, Pogo 4305/4076, Smit 4279/4053, Behr 4229/4013, Syso 4216/4281, Suar 4162/4204, Abel 4109/4111.