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World bronze medallist Jenny Meadows starts as one of Britain’s brightest medal hopes at the World Indoor Championships but a strong Russian duo led by Mariya Savinova will provide stiff resistance
JENNY MEADOWS starts as one of Britain’s leading medal hopes at the World Indoor Championships but the Wigan & District athlete will have to contend with a very strong Russian duo of Mariya Savinova and Yevgeniya Zinurova to claim the title in Doha next weekend.
Meadows won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Berlin and the 28-year-old has risen in confidence since forging through into world-class territory last year. Meadows has won all but one of her indoor races this season and in her most recent contest at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham, Meadows lowered Dame Kelly Holmes’s UK indoor record from 1:59.21 to 1:59.11 to move to No.2 on the world rankings heading into Doha.
Rather ominously though, the only race Meadows lost this year was to Savinova at the Russian Winter meeting in Moscow last month and Savinova starts as the pre-competition favourite for the gold medal. After an inauspicious debut on the world stage at the World Indoor Championships two years, Savinova rocketed to the European indoor title in Turin last season and finished fifth at the World Championships in Berlin last year.
The 24-year-old Russian has also set a 400m PB of 52.05 and a 1500m PB of 4:08.2 this winter which shows Savinova must be capable of bettering her 800m indoor PB of 1:58.10.
Despite these credentials, Savinova is the Russian No.2 on time as Zinurova leads the world rankings with a PB of 1:58.65 from the Moscow Indoor Championships. Even though Zinurova was comprehensively outclassed by Savinova in a tactical contest at the Russian Indoor Championships, this was merely an indication of Savinova’s formidable form as Zinurova produced a splendid 4x800m relay leg of 1:58.08 the following day.
Former Olympic 800m silver medallist Hasna Benhassi from Morocco, US indoor champion Anna Pierce and Ukraine’s Yuliya Krevsun, who was fourth in Berlin last year, will also be in medal contention.
Meadows is joined on the British team by Vicky Griffiths, who will be making her senior debut in a GB vest. The 25-year-old, who finished second at the UK Indoor Championships, boasts an outdoor lifetime best of 2:00.49 and an indoor PB of 2:02.30.
2010 world rankings;
1. Yevgeniya Zinurova (RUS) 1:58.65
2. Jenny Meadows (GBR) 1:59.11
3. Mariya Savinova (RUS) 1:59.23
4. Yuliya Krevsun (UKR) 2:00.36
5. Yevgeniya Zolotova (RUS) 2:00.62
6. Anna Balakshina (RUS) 2:00.65
7. Anna Pierce (USA) 2:00.84
8. Angelika Cichocka (POL) 2:00.86
9. Elena Kofanova (RUS) 2:01.45
10. Alysia Johnson (USA) 2:01.45
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