Yuriy Borzakovskiy expected to hit headlines at the Meeting de Madrid 2011 – IAAF World Challenge
Yuriy Borzakovskiy, the veteran middle distance runner from Russia who specialises in 800m, is expected to hit the headlines as he appears at the Meeting de Madrid 2011 event. The race, which is a part of the IAAF World Challenge, will commence on Saturday,
June 9, at the Moratalaz Municipal Sports Centre.
Just like the field for the middle distance meet, squads being assembled for the men’s 100m and women’s 1500m runs are also formidable and spectators at Madrid are looking forward to observe a real athletics feast this season.
Borzakovskiy, the track dominator, made his first international career acknowledgment after succeeding at the 2000 European Indoor Championships. At the age of 18, defeating such a strong field made the Russian an overnight star. The same year, while participating
at the Summer Olympics 2000, he entered the 800m final, however, amid a technical error, he could not prevail in the event and could only finish for a seventh position.
The perseverance he showed in his training paid dividends and the formidable runner dominated the World Indoor event for bagging the 800m title. Due to some personal reasons, he decided not to appear at the World Championships in Edmonton. Same year, in
a competition in August, the 30-year-old marked a time of one minute and 42.47 seconds, which made him appear as the 8th fastest runner of the category in the world. Moreover, for this stellar performance, the flamboyant athlete was ranked as the
Number One ‘Athlete of the Year’.
Now, after a hiatus of about one year caused by an injury, Borzakovskiy has decided to resume his game and has already marked a success at Zhukovskiy, last Sunday, where he stopped the clock in one minute, 43 seconds and 99 seconds. For the Madrid run, the
Russian star is being referred to as a favourite, but in the presence of Tyler Mulder from Russia, who has a personal best of one minute and 44.83 seconds, Borzakovskiy will have to put in extra efforts to live up the expectations of his spectators.
As far as the home crowd is concerned, they will certainly be more interested in observing the performance displayed by Manuel Olmedo, the reigning European indoor champion for 1500m, who is presently competing at the Samsung Diamond League in Paris.
Other major local athletes observers at Madrid will look forward to see are comprised of Kevin Lopez and Luis Alberto Marco, while athletes like Yeimer Lopez, Jeff Lastennet and Mohcine El Amine will also be eagerly awaited to emerge at the track.
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