PoleVaultPower.com

11:14 28.11.2008 – Athletics
Yevgeny Lukyanenko: I will most likely pass the winter European championships
The silver medalist in the pole vault at the 2008 Olympic Games and the winter world champion, Russia’s Yevgeny Lukyanenko, is likely to pass the European Indoor Athletics Championships which will be held March 6-8 in Torino Italy. Yevgeny Lukyanenko stated this himself to the agency of sport information "All Sport".

“I’ve just returned from the first preseason training camp in Kislovodsk,” said Yevgeny Lukyanenko. “From now until the middle of January I’ll train at home in Krasnodar. The first camp was devoted exclusively to general physical training, doing basic work, without which pole vaulting is impossible. So far I haven’t even picked up a pole! I’ll only start jumping next week. At the moment I don’t intend to compete this winter season in either the Russian Championships or the European Championships in Torino. I just want to jump for myself, and travel a bit on business. I have plans in late February to compete in a couple of meets in Australia, to compete with Olympic champion Steve Hooker in his territory. I’ve never been in Australia in my life, but I’m interested in seeing what’s there. But so far all these plans are preliminary. My coach and I will make final decisions a little later when it becomes clear what kind of form I have in the winter season and just what I want to do then.”

Yevgeny Lukyanenko also said that in the winter season, like in the summer Olympic season, for his initial starts he will jump from a shortened run. “In the summer I first tried to jump from a short takeoff, with 14 steps, and just increased it to 18 before the main competition. In the winter I would also like to start slowly, with a shortened takeoff. This is good training,” noted Yevgeny Lukyanenko.