World

At the start of her career, high jumper Anna Chicherova amassed a wide range of awards, but the most coveted gold medals eluded her. After taking time out to have her baby daughter, a brand new Chicherova emerged in the form of Nika, who unwittingly helped her mother win World and Olympic gold.

Talented British female combined eventers are used to dealing with high expectations in light of successes over the last decade or so. From 2000 Olympic champion Denise Lewis through to London 2012 Olympic golden girl Jessica Ennis and the junior national record-holder Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the Heptathlon has delivered a plethora of stars. This summer, Morgan Lake hopes to join this stable of champions.

The Herculis meeting, the IAAF Diamond league meeting in Monaco on 19 July, will have the cream of the current generation of French athletes competing in the Stade Louis II once again.

Julia Machtig came through strongly on the second day of the Ruhrgas DLV Mehrkampf meeting, an IAAF Combined Events Challenge competition, to set a 2013 world-leading Heptathlon of 6430 points in the German town of Ratingen on Sunday (16).

Hungary’s London 2012 Olympic Games gold medallist Krisztian Pars and Germany’s World record holder Betty Heidler produced 2013 world-leading throws of 81.02m and 76.48 at the 59th Janusz Kusocinski Memorial meeting, an IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge event, in the Polish city of Szczecin on Saturday (15).

Kai Kazmirek was the surprise overnight leader at the halfway point in the Decathlon with 4388 points while Kira Biesenbach is in pole position in the Heptathlon with 3701 points at the Ruhrgas DLV Mehrkampf meeting, an IAAF Combined Events Challenge competition, in the German town of Ratingen on Saturday (15).

There is a fine line between success and failure. The difference between the two can be dependent on many factors, but for German shot putter Christina Schwanitz her recent success has been down to one key change – a psychological one.

Eight years ago, Brianna Rollins didn’t know an elite hurdler from a high jumper.

Earlier this week, Usain Bolt said that he didn’t like running in the cold. The multiple World record-holder may not have enjoyed the conditions at the ExxonMobil Bislett Games in Oslo tonight (13) but on a dry and cool evening at the IAAF Diamond League meeting, the Jamaican didn’t let it show.

With six German decathletes who have scored over 8000 points and seven German heptathletes who have gone over 6000 points in their careers, the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting in Ratingen on Saturday and Sunday (15-16) looks likely be an all-German affair.

“Hello, my friends! Greetings from São José do Rio Preto.

The annual IAAF World Challenge de Dakar meeting in Senegal saw the top honours going to Ethiopian distance runner Almaz Ayana as well as long jumpers Eusebio Caceres and Bianca Stuart on Wednesday (12).

The 16th episode of IAAF Inside Athletics is available to watch online now.

Kenya will send 20 athletes to sustain the country’s proud tradition at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine following the conclusion on Wednesday (12) of the two-day selection event in Nairobi.

There are few people in Oslo who will be unaware that one of the biggest sporting superstars of all time is set to appear at the ExxonMobil Bislett Games, the sixth IAAF Diamond League meeting of 2013, on Thursday (13).

It has been a difficult few years for Andreas Thorkildsen and Tero Pitkamaki, but they are looking ahead to the 2013 season with renewed optimism. Both athletes have enjoyed a positive start to the summer and are now hoping for further improvement at the ExxonMobil Bislett Games tomorrow (13), the sixth leg of the IAAF Diamond League.

Mike Powell, the World record holder in the Long Jump and an IAAF Ambassador, never competed in the Russian capital during his career but visited Moscow in February 2009 to give a Master Class to the local kids and promised to come back again.

Oslo’s ExxonMobil Bislett Games is an IAAF Diamond League meeting that is steeped in tradition – one of which is the annual Strawberry Party held two days before the competition.

The Moscow Challenge, an IAAF World Challenge meeting, saw the headlines being made by two namesakes on Tuesday (11): Russia’s 2011 IAAF World Championships Javelin gold medallist Mariya Abakumova and Ukraine sprinter Mariya Ryemyen.

It has been many years since there was a major international athletic meeting in Malmo but top class athletics will return to the Swedish city on August 19, 2014, and the organisers have signed up none other than Usain Bolt.