Olga Rypakova Concluded Her Season in Brussels
Six athletes competed in the women’s triple jump sector: Ibargüen from Colombia, Ekaterina Koneva from Russia, world vice-champion Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko from Israel, Kimberly Williams from Jamaica, Gabriela Petrova from Bulgaria, and, of course, Olga Rypakova. Besides the touching moments of saying goodbye to another summer season, many athletes in Brussels faced purely competitive objectives. Olga Rypakova, for instance, certainly aimed to defend her second-place standing in the overall Diamond League rankings. The 2012 London Olympic Champion could not climb any higher—Colombian Caterine Ibargüen had secured the top spot long before the final and could afford not to compete at all or jump at half-strength. However, the battle for the remaining two positions in the top three promised to be fierce. To displace Rypakova from her position, her closest pursuer and world season leader Ekaterina Koneva of Russia needed to win the stage and hope that our star compatriot would finish lower than second. Olga “helped” Koneva with the second part of that plan. A dip in form at the end of the season, compounded by a back injury, took its toll. Her first attempt was a foul, but after a second jump of 14.23m, Rypakova moved into second place for the stage behind Ibargüen, who had jumped only 3 cm further. She maintained this position after the third jump. However, past the halfway point, the competitors’ results began to improve sharply. Olga delivered her best jump in the final attempts—14.26m. We are no longer surprised by this, knowing Rypakova’s character, which allows her to find extra strength and improve at the decisive moment. The 14.26m jump earned Olga only fifth place in the final protocol, which suited Koneva perfectly. However, the Russian athlete failed to fulfill her own part of the plan. With a best effort of 14.37m, she fell 23 centimeters short of Caterine Ibargüen, who won yet another Diamond League stage. Following the season results, the Colombian took first place with 28 points. Trailing by 21 points, Rypakova finished second overall, while Ekaterina Koneva took third place with 6 points. XIV Diamond League Stage. Triple Jump. Women: Caterine Ibargüen (Colombia) – 14.6 Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko (Israel) – 14.42 Ekaterina Koneva (Russia) – 14.37 …5. Olga RYPAKOVA (Kazakhstan, EKR) – 14.26 Source: vksport.kz
Zkrienova’s Another “Hat-trick”
Special attention from athletics experts and specialists was focused on two participants of the Asian Championship: Oryngul Zkrienova and Nadezhda Dubovitskaya. The latter, as a reminder, managed to win a bronze medal at the continental championship, so no one expected anything but a victory from the Semey-born athlete. Dubovitskaya did not disappoint her fans and coaches, jumping 165 cm. This result, while not her personal best, can be attributed to the fact that she tackled the last two heights alone, which often leads to fatigue and a lack of incentive for further progress. Veta Kharitonova from Ust-Kamenogorsk, who took second place, trailed the Asian Championship bronze medalist by 10 cm. Zkrienova made her competitive debut after a serious injury. Unfortunately, the damage prevented her from attending the World Youth Championships, so Oryngul enters the new season not only seeking to regain her form but possessed by a fierce desire for a rematch with fate. This means she will be relentless in upcoming starts—she has clearly missed the track, the competition, and the whistle of the wind in her ears during her four-month hiatus! Her first “victims” were her rivals in the 60m, 200m, and 60m hurdles. The fact that she faced a limited number of competitors in these disciplines was certainly not her problem. Among the young men, Timur Parygin from Semey was unrivaled in the sprints, winning both the 60m and 200m distances. For the most part, Timur was competing against himself. For instance, in the 60m preliminary heats, he clocked 7.36 seconds. The question was whether he could improve that time in the final. While he didn’t surpass it, he didn’t lose either, recording the exact same seconds and hundredths. Oleg Orlov from Ust-Kamenogorsk put up a great fight against Parygin in the final, falling short of first place by just a fraction of a second. Both will surely be invited to the autumn Kazakhstan Championship. Surprisingly, the only discipline to rival the sprints in terms of mass participation was the boys’ 1500m race. Eight athletes competed for the first-place title, with Alexander Lukyanov from Ridder emerging as the strongest. He finished a solid 5 seconds ahead of the runner-up, leaving the rest of the field even further behind. EAST KAZAKHSTAN REGION ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIP Age Category: born 1998-1999 60M RUN. Girls (10 participants): Oryngul Zkrienova (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 8.27 Anastasia Sauer (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 8.56 Aida Eskalieva (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 8.63 Boys (8 participants): Timur Parygin (Semey) – 7.36 Oleg Orlov (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 7.37 Semyon Pilyugin (Novaya Bukhtarma) – 7.89 200M RUN. Girls (4 participants): Oryngul Zkrienova (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 26.97 Anastasia Plakhotina (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 28.9 Darya Merlina (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 30.63 Boys (6 participants): Timur Parygin (Semey) – 23.72 Oleg Orlov (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 23.94 Rustem Kartaev (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 24.7 400M RUN. Girls (1 participant): Viktoria Baranova (Beskaragay) – 1:14.56 Boys (4 participants): Zhandos Kumarbekov (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 53.59 Amir Mamarbekov (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 53.71 Eduard Horst (Semey) – 57.1 1500M RUN. Girls (4 participants): Moldir Seitkhanova (Ridder) – 5:03.33 Tatyana Druzhina (Ridder) – 5:05.26 Anastasia Shuklina (Beskaragay) – 6:45.6 Boys (8 participants): Alexander Lukyanov (Ridder) – 4:25.83 Sabyrzhan Akabaev (Semey) – 4:31.96 Vladimir Klein (Semey) – 4:33.73 60M HURDLES. Girls (5 participants): Oryngul Zkrienova (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 9.02 Erika Kem (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 9.56 Aida Eskalieva (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 9.78 Boys (3 participants): Ilyas Kadyrov (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 8.88 Miras Kaidarov (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 9.01 Georgy Ermolov (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 10.0 3000M RACE WALK. Girls (1 participant): Viktoria Drozhzhina (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 17:29.42 HIGH JUMP. Girls (4 participants): Nadezhda Dubovitskaya (Semey) – 165 Veta Kharitonova (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 155 Anastasia Plakhotina (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 150 Boys (1 participant): Georgy Ermolov (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 170 LONG JUMP. Girls (3 participants): Veta Kharitonova (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 5.03 Darya Merlina (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 4.23 Azhar Madieva (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 4.1 Boys (4 participants): Ivan Dmitriev (Semey) – 6.51 Semyon Pilyugin (Novaya Bukhtarma) – 6.19 Vasily Borisevich (Semey) – 5.71 TRIPLE JUMP. Girls (1 participant): Azhar Madieva (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 8.42 Boys (3 participants): Vasily Borisevich (Semey) – 12.77 Ivan Dmitriev (Semey) – 12.33 Miras Kaidarov (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 12.1 SHOT PUT. Girls (3 participants): Erika Kem (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 12.51 Dinara Sharimanova (Semey) – 9.81 Elena Larionova (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 7.85 Boys (3 participants): Artur Gafner (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 14.31 Sayat Assylkhanov (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 11.18 Konstantin Skrynnik (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – 10.93 Source: vksport.kz