A surprise for Glory Alozie?
An exciting decision in the 100 m hurdles is pending at the European Championships in Munich. The Spaniard Glory Alozie, who proved that she was in good form on 19 July in Monaco and set a new national record of 12.60 seconds, is starting as favourite. "My training has focussed on the European Championships, she said.
Glory Alozie (Photo: Chai)
Nonetheless, the native-born Nigerian may also come up against Patricia Girard from France. As European Cup champion she stopped the clock in Annecy with a splendid 12.64 seconds. Amongst the best of the Europeans are also the very young Bulgarian Yana Kasova (12.75 seconds) and Irina Lenskily from Israel (12.80 seconds), two fairly unknown quantities.Is Kirsten Bolm fit again?
German hopes rest on Kirsten Bolm. If she has recovered from her sciatic nerve injury, which also caused her to miss the meeting in Leverkusen, and can improve her personal best time of 12.84 seconds, then she has a good chance of a medal.
The Russian Yulia Pechonkina is a clear favourite in the women's 400 m hurdles. With 53.10 seconds she heads this year's world rankings by far. After her, there are many things possible at the Munich European Championships. If Anna Olichwierczuk and Androula Sialou repeat performances of 55.11 and 55.25 seconds respectively, these relatively unknown names will have the chance to step onto the winners' podium. Even the Russian, Yekaterina Bakhavalova, and Britain's Natasha Danvers should also reach the interesting final, which is also the goal of Germany's national champion Heike Meissner from Chemnitz. An improvement on her year's personal best of 55.74 can be relied upon – as she says: "You can always be sure to excel at these competitions held on home ground.
