Double Olympic pole vault champion Elena Isinbayeva will spearhead Russia’s challenge in the world championships, as the country announced a strong squad for the for next month’s event in Moscow.
“We expect our team’s leaders to produce world-class results on their home turf,” Russian athletics federation president Valentin Balakhnichev told reporters.
“We have set our team the task of winning six gold and 15 silver medals at the event.”
Isinbayeva, the 2004 and 2008 Olympic champion who will bring down the curtain on her golden career in Moscow, will be hoping to bow out with a victory in front of her adoring home fans.
Russia’s high-jumpers Ivan Ukhov and Anna Chicherova, who both won gold at the London Olympics, will also be hot favourites at the men’s and women’s events.
Olympic and world women’s hammer champion Tatiana Lysenko, who won her sixth national title on Wednesday with a throw of 78.15m, the world’s leading mark for the season, is also strongly tipped for gold.
Meanwhile, Russia’s 32-year-old veteran and middle distance specialist Yury Borzakovsky also has an excellent opportunity to get amongst the medals due to the absence of the world and Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha of Kenya, who will miss the event with a twisted knee.
Russia’s top performers in men’s and women’s javelin — Dmitry Tarabrin and Maria Abakumova — also have fair chances to win medals.
National team manager Valentin Maslakov added that he had high expectations after this month’s national athletics championships, which took place at Moscow’s Luzhniki arena that will host the worlds.
“Some of our athletes showed top-class results at the national championships,” Maslakov said.
“Our athletes performed really well in men’s javelin, women’s hammer and some of the running disciplines.”
But he cautioned: “In some of the other events the results were disappointing.”
Russia will also be banking on medals from its race walking squad — traditionally one of the best in the world — including stars such as 2012 Olympic champion Sergei Kirdyapkin in the men’s blue riband 50 km event.
MEN
100m: Alexander Brednev
200m: Alexander Khyutte
4x100m: Alexander Brednev, Alexander Khyutte, Konstantin Petryashov, Roman Smirnov, Denis Ogarkov, Maxim Polovinkin
400m: Vladimir Krasnov,
4x400m: Vladimir Krasnov, Maxim Dyldin, Sergei Petukhov, Alexei Kenig, Artem Vazhov, Lev Mosin
110m hurdles: Konstantin Shabanov, Sergei Shubenkov
400m hurdles: Denis Kudryavtsev, Vladimir Antmanis, Timofei Chalyi
800m: Yury Borzakovsky
1500m: Valentin Smirnov
5,000m: Rinas Akhmadeyev
10,000m: Yevgeny Rybakov
Marathon: Alexei Sokolov
3,000m steeplechase: Ilgizar Safiullin
High jump: Ivan Ukhov, Alexander Shustov, Alexei Dmitrik
Pole vault: Sergei Kuchereanu, Alexander Gripich
Long jump: Sergei Polyansky, Alexander Menkov
Triple jump: Alexei Fyodorov
Shot put: Maxim Sidorov, Alexander Lesnoi, Soslan Tsirikhov
Discus: Viktor Butenko
Hammer: Sergei Litvinov, Alexei Korolev, Alexei Zagorny
Javelin: Dmitry Tarabrin, Alexei Tovarnov, Valery Iordan
20km walk: Denis Strelkov, Alexander Ivanov, Andrei Ruzavin
50km walk: Mikhail Ryzhov, Ivan Noskov, Sergei Kirdyapkin
Decathlon: Sergei Sviridov, Ilya Shkurenev, Artem Lukianenko
WOMEN
200m: Yelizaveta Savlinis
4x100m: Olga Kharitonova, Viktoria Yarushkina, Natalia Rusakova, Yelizaveta Savlinis, Yekaterina Kuzina, Yelena Bolsun
400m: Antonina Krivoshapka, Ksenia Ryzhova
4x400m: Antonina Krivoshapka, Ksenia Ryzhova, Ksenia Zadorina, Tatiana Firova, Anastasia Kapachinskaya, Yulia Gushchina
100m hurdles: Yulia Kondakova, Tatiana Dektyareva
400m hurdles: Natalia Antyukh, Irina Davydova, Anastasia Ott
800m: Yelena Kotulskaya, Marina Pospelova, Yekaterina Poistogova, Maria Savinova
1500m: Svetlana Podosenova, Yelena Korobkina, Yekaterina Sharmina
5,000m: Yelena Nagovitsyna, Olga Golovkina
10,000m: Gulshat Fazlitdinova
3,000m steeplechase: Natalia Aristarkhova, Natalia Gorchakova, Lyudmila Lebedeva, Yulia Zaripova
Marathon: Alevtina Biktemirova, Albina Maiorova, Nadezhda Leontieva, Tatiana Aryasova, Valentina Galimova
High jump: Svetlana Shkolina, Irina Gordeyeva, Yelena Slesarenko, Anna Chicherova
Pole vault: Yelena Isinbayeva, Anastasia Savchenko, Angelina Krasnova
Long jump: Lyudmila Kolchanova, Olga Kucherenko, Daria Klishina, Yelena Sokolova
Triple jump: Irina Gumenyuk, Anna Pyatykh, Yekaterina Koneva
Shot put: Yevgenia Kolodko, Irina Tarasova, Anna Avdeyeva
Discus: Yekaterina Strokova, Svetlana Saikina, Vera Ganeyeva
Hammer: Anna Bulgakova, Oksana Kondratieva, Gulfiya Khanafeyeva, Tatiana Lysenko
Javelin: Viktoria Sudarushkina, Maria Abakumova
20km walk: Anisya Kirdyapkina, Vera Sokolova, Yelena Lashmanova, Olga Kaniskina
Heptathlon: Kristina Savitskaya, Alexandra Butvina
Isinbayeva leads Russia challenge at Worlds
