With an impressive opening ceremony at the Kazan arena, the 27th World University Games began on July 6 in the presence of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Athletics is one of 27 different sports being contested in Kazan with the Russian city playing host, just one month before the IAAF World Championships begin in Moscow, 800km away from Kazan. Many of the officials who will be in Moscow next month are also doing their jobs this week in Kazan.

Held over six days (7-12 July), the athletics programme will have the greatest number of participants in Kazan with 750 men and 650 women set to compete. The Decathlon and Heptathlon is part of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge.

Lesnoy and Suzuki take first golds

Fittingly, the first title of the championships went to the host country. Alexandr Lesnoy was the only athlete who passed the 20-meter mark in the men’s Shot Put final, throwing 20.30m on his second attempt.

In second, India’s Indrajit Singh improved his PB by 39 centimetres, throwing 19.80m. Lesnoy’s compatriot Valeriy Kokoyev had only one valid throw, but his 19.65m was enough to get the bronze medal.

The women’s 10,000m final was also held on the first day. Only two countries were in contention for medals, with the gold eventually going to Japan’s Ayuko Suzuki in 32:54.17. Russia’s Alina Prokopyeva prevented a Japanese 1-2-3, taking silver in 33:00.93, as Suzuki’s team-mates Mai Tsuda and Mai Sho Ji were third and fourth.

Home favourites make it through the first round

The first morning session of the championships began with the women’s 400m heats. Sub-50-second runner Ksenia Ustalova was the fastest of the four heats, clocking 52.98. Spain’s Aauri Lorena Bokesa was only marginally slower, winning her heat in 52.99. South Africa’s Justine Palframan, who finished fifth at the World Junior Championships last year in 51.87, made an early exit.

The women’s Long Jump qualification was dominated by two Russians, Olympic silver medallist Elena Sokolova (6.70m) and two-time European indoor champion Darya Klishina (6.48m).

Four men’s events were scheduled in the morning, starting with the 400m where all the heats were won by athletes who have this year broken 46 seconds. The fastest time was set by Brazil’s Andreson Henriques (46.63).

Meanwhile in the 100m, the fastest time recorded across the nine heats came from South Africa’s Akani Simbine in 10.36, but Ukraine’s Sergey Smelyk impressed in the second round, setting a PB of 10.25. Olympic semi-finalist Ryota Yamagata (10.27) and Olympic 200m finalist Anaso Jobodwana (10.28) also progressed.

In the women’s 100m, Romania’s Andreea Ograzeanu is the fastest so far with her 11.46. USA’s Aurieyall Scott, who broke 11 seconds at the recent US Championships, also advanced comfortably after running 11.48.

The most notable field event athletes to miss out on making finals were Canadian shot putter Timothy Nedow who recorded three fouls in qualifying, while Russian triple jumper Ruslan Samitov was eliminated with a best of 15.11m, more than two metres shy of his PB.

The fastest time in the women’s 800m heats came from Kazakhstan’s Margarita Mukasheva in 2:03.18, with the other heats won by New Zealand’s Angie Smith (2:04.68) and Russian duo Ekaterina Kupina (2:07.74) and Elena Kotulskaya (2:05.96).

Fourteen athletes qualified for the men’s High Jump final, including Olympic champion Ivan Ukhov and European indoor champion Sergey Mudrov.

Hans van Kuijen for the IAAF

Severe thunder storms forced the organisers of the World University Games to suspend the second day’s programme in Kazan, Russia, for more than 30 minutes but that didn’t distract Russian long jump star Darya Klishina on Monday (8).

As in the qualification rounds on Sunday, Klishina and her Russian compatriot Yelena Sokolova dominated the final and although the worse of the deluge had abated, there was still steady rain.

The 22-year-old Klishina, the two-time European indoor champion, started with a leap of 6.72m and, despite sodden sand and a watery runway, produced her longest distance of 6.90m in the fourth round while Sokolova took the silver medal, just like at the London 2012 Olympic Games, with a leap of 6.73m in the third round.

Another one-two for the host country came in women’s Discus. Vera Ganeeva won with a distance of 61.26m and was more than four metres ahead of her nearest rival and compatriot Yelena Panova, who was second with 56.86m.

The hammer throwers finished their final just before the downpour.

In the first round, Poland’s Pawel Fajdek opened with a throw of 76.96m but Russia’s Sergey Litvinov overtook him with 78.08m in the third round. Fajdek then responded in the next round when he equalled his season’s best of 79.99m to secure the victory.

In the last round, Slovakia’s Marcel Lomnicky produced a personal best performance of 78.73m to snatch the silver medal from Litvinov.

South African men's double in 100m and 10,000m

The women’s 100m final saw USA’s Aurieyall Scott, who had run this distance earlier this year in 10.96, secure the title with a run of 11.28, ahead of Lithuania’s Lina Grincikaite, who was second in 11.32. 

In the men’s race, Japan’s Ryoto Yamagata had the best start but he was caught at the halfway mark by South Africa’s Anaso Jobodwana, who crossed the finish line in 10.10 to equal his best.

The next three athletes crossed the line together and were given the same time of 10.21 but, after studying the finish photo, the silver medal went to Yamagata, with Ivory Coast’s Hua Wilfried Koffi and Ukraine’s Serhiy Smelyk third and fourth respectively as both got personal bests.

In the 10,000m, the Russian twin brothers Anatoliy and Yevgeniy Rybakov controlled the race for 24 laps. However, in the home straight of the last lap, South Africa’s Stephen Mokoka caught up with them and possessed the stronger finish, winning in 28:45.96.

Anatoliy beat his sibling to the silver medal by 0.01, clocking 28:47.27 to Yevgeniy’s 28:47.28.

Belgium’s 2011 European Under-23 champion Thomas Van Der Plaetsen started a Decathlon for the first time in almost two years. His last appearance was at the 2011 World Championships and injuries prevented him from combined events competitions last year.

However, the 22-year-old athlete showed no signs of ring rust in Kazan. In the first three events, he produced personal best performances of 11.12, 7.80m and 13.48m.

The Decathlon High Jump was delayed for almost one hour due to the adverse weather conditions and moved indoors but Van Der Plaetsen cleared 2.07m and ended the day with 49.37 in the 400m for a total of 4253 and a lead of 118 points from Russia’s Sergey Sviridov.

The combined events at the World University Games are also part of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge.

The fastest athletes in the 400m semifinals were Ireland’s Brian Gregan with 45.91 and Russia’s Kseniya Ustalova in 51.71.

Ukraine’s Hana Titimets was the fastest in the 400m Hurdles semifinals with 55.38 while the 800m semifinals were dominated by the Russian pair, with Yekaterina Kupina winning her race in 2:00.76 and Yelena Kotulskaya taking the second semifinal in 2:01.23.

Hans van Kuijen for the IAAF

Despite his below-par performance at his only other outdoor outing this summer, London 2012 Olympic Games champion Ivan Ukhov was still the High Jump favourite on the third day of the World University Games in Kazan, but he found himself upstaged by his compatriot Sergey Mudrov on Tuesday.

Ukhov, who could only clear 2.21m at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene last month, went over 2.28m in front of his home audience but this was only good enough for for fifth place.

Mudrov, a former European junior champion, and Ukraine’s Andriy Protsenko both scaled 2.31m, in both cases equalling their personal bests, while Ukhov and two others failed at that height.

Both Mudrov and Protsenko then failed at 2.34m three times and the gold went to the Russian as he had got over 2.31m at the first time of asking while his rival had taken three attempts. China’s Wang Yu took the bronze medal at 2.28m on countback from Australia’s Nic Bojic and Ukhov.

If Ukhov had a competition to forget, it was a day to remember for the rest of the Russian team who took five of the other nine gold medals on offer in front of many of their athletes family and friends.

The first event of the day was the 20km Race Walk. Immediately after the start, Russia’s Andrey Ruzavin took the lead and had a 50 seconds advantage at the halfway point on the slightly undulating 1km course.

However, he started to struggle from the 17th kilometre and his compatriot Andrey Krivov came through to win in a new Games record of 1:20:47, with Ukraine’s Rusian Dmytrenko just seven seconds behind him.

Russia’s Vladimir Krasnov won the 400m in 45.49, just ahead of Brazil’s Andreson Henriques in 45.50. Jamaica’s Nicholas Maitland took the bronze in a personal best of 45.63.

The hosts also took the honours over one lap of the track in the women’s 400m when Ksenia Ustalova won in 50.60, followed home by her teammate Alena Tamkova in a best of 51.17.

In the 1500m, Kenya’s Paul Chelimo led into the home straight, but Russia’s Valentin Smirnov came through to win in 3:39.39 as Chelimo faded to sixth.

The last field event of the day saw Russia take gold and silver for the host country. World leader and 2011 World champion Mariya Abakumova won with 65.12m and Victoriya Sudarushkina was the only other woman over 60 metres when she finished second with 62.68m.

Ukraine’s Viktor Kuznetsov won the Triple Jump when he jumped 17.01m in the fifth round and there was more success for the host’s neighbours as Hanna Titimets and Anna Yaroshchuk were first and second in the 400m Hurdles in 54.64 and 54.77 respectively.

Kazakhstan’s Margarita Mukasheva was a most impressive winner when she took the 800m gold medal in a national record of 1:58.96.

The Decathlon overnight leader, Belgium’s Thomas Van Der Plaetsen, lost some of his advantage in the first two events of the second day but he showed his strength in the Pole Vault when clearing 5.30m and no one could challenge him during the remaining two events before eventually taking the title in a personal best of 8157.

Hans van Kuijen

No less than 10 gold medals were decided on day four of the World University Games with the hosts Russia taking half of them in Kazan on Wednesday (10).

However, the plaudits for the best performance went to South African sprinter Anaso Jobodwana who added to his 100m title when he sped to the 200m crown in 20.00.

The 20-year-old student at Jackson State University in the USA will be mildly frustrated by the fact that the wind reading was 2.4 metres-per-second, but even though the breeze was too strong for record purposes, it didn’t invalidate what a fine run it was.

Jamaica’s Rasheed Dwyer and Japan’s Shota Iizuka were second and third in 20.23 and 20.33 respectively. 

The first final of the afternoon was the women’s Hammer and the USA’s American collegiate (NCAA) champion, Jeneva McCall, clinched her global title with her third-round effort of 73.75m.

Russia’s 2013 world leader Oksana Kondratyeva had to be satisfied with silver with 72.22m while Moldova’s 2011 World University Games champion Zalina Marghieva was unable to defend her title and finished third with 71.10m.

In the morning, Russian athletes achieved a clean sweep in the women’s 20km Race Walk.

The four Russians were packed together right from the start onwards and never let the other competitors come near.

After the disqualification of former World record-holder Vera Sokolova, Anisya Kirdyapkina took the gold medal in a World University Games record of 1:29:30, Irina Yumanova passed the line second in 1:30:41, with Lina Bikulova a distant third in 1:32:30.

Russia easily were the winners of the team title.

Russia’s Dmitry Tarabin put all his energy into the first attempt and his 83.11m was enough for the gold and make it a husband-and-wife double after his spouse Mariya Abakumova won the women’s title on Tuesday.

A surprising winner in the men’s 400m Hurdles was Slovakia’s Martin Kucera. With a fifth place in Tuesday’s semifinal, he only just scraped into the final. Coming into the home straight, and running in lane one, he was near the back of the field but in the last 100 metres he overtook the complete field before finishing in a personal best of 49.79.

Finland’s Hanna-Maari Latvala, who entered the competition with a season’s best time of 23.62, had the best start of the field in the 200m final and kept her lead until 40 metres before the end, when she was overtaken by Kimberly Hyacinthe.

The Canadian took the gold in a personal best of 22.78 while Latvala broke the 23-second barrier for the first time by clocking 22.98 for the silver medal.

USA’s Vashti Thomas won the 100m Hurdles in a super-quick 12.61. She had by far the best start and kept her advantage the whole race. She broke the World University Games record of Poland’s Lucyna Langer, set in 1979 at altitude in Mexico City, by 0.01.

Belarus’ Alina Talay was second with 12.78.

Russia’s two-time World University Games champion Alexandra Kiryashova could go no higher than 4.20m in the Pole Vault, which placed her seventh and opened the door for her compatriot Anastasia Savchenko to take her title.

Savchenko cleared all her attempts up to and including 4.60m on her first attempt before three failures at a World University Games record-equalling height of 4.70m.

The last event of the day was the women’s 3000m Steeplechase and Russia’s Olympic and World champion Yulia Zaripova typically went into the lead straight from the gun.

She won in a European-leading time of 9:28.00 and finished more than 12 seconds ahead of her nearest rival.

Russia’ 2011 World champion Tatyana Chernova is the overnight leader in the Heptathlon with 3861 points, only 66 points shy of her day-one total when she took the world gold in Daegu, and 167 points ahead of Czech Republic’s Eliska Klucinova.

Latvia’s Laura Ikauniece is just 24 points behind Klucinova and the gap between places two and five is only 80 points so, barring Chernova having a disaster, an interesting battle for silver and bronze can be expected.

Hans van Kuijen for the IAAF

Heptathlete Tatyana Chernova showed that she is in good shape ahead of the defence of her World title in Moscow next month when she produced a world-leading total of 6623 points at the World University Games on Thursday (12).

Chernova, the overnight leader, increased her advantage with the longest leap in the opening event of the second day, 6.48m in the Long Jump, and after a Javelin throw of 47.90m there was never any question she was going to triumph on home soil in Russia.

She also won the last event, the 800m, in 2:11.58.

“This University Championships was an important test for me ahead of the World Championships next month. I could perform relaxed and saw this competition as important training. I feel I am ready for it. I look forward to perform well in Moscow,” said a happy Chernova.

Silver went to Latvia’s Laura Ikauniece with 6321 points and Hungary’s Gyorgyi Zsivoczky-Farkas was third with 6269, after improving her personal best marks in both the Long Jump and Javelin.

IAAF Combined Events Challenge implications

The Heptathlon in Kazan also counted towards the 2013 IAAF Combined Events Challenge, and the results there could have a significant effect on the final standings when the Challenge comes to an end in September.

All three medallist have now completed two competitions and are expected to have their third qualifying competition in Moscow, the next event in the Challenge which will then be followed by the final two meetings in the series in September.

After her win in Kazan, Chernova will not only have her eyes on the podium in Moscow but also on retaining her Challenge crown for the four consecutive year, which comes with an annual first prize of US$30,000.

Another outstanding win for a home athlete went to triple jumper Yekaterina Koneva, who successfully defended her title from two years ago when she bounded out to a championship record and personal best of 14.82m in the fifth round.

Koneva started with 14.39m, which itself would have been good enough to win, and improved to 14.59m in the next round, and then 14.72m in the fourth round before her big winning leap one round later.

Second was Poland's Anna Jagaciak with 14.21m and Romania’s Carmen Toma got the bronze with 14.14m.

Russia’s Irina Tarasova had a battle in the Shot Put but won with her fifth round effort of 18.75m, with China’s Liu Xiangrong also over 18 metres but taking second with 18.58m.

Safiullin steeple success

Former European junior champion Ilgizar Safiullin won the 3000m Steeplechase in 8:32.53 for another gold for the host country, in the end winning well from Spain’s Sebastian Martos, who was second in 8:37.94.

Another Russian gold medal was expected from 2012 European champion Sergey Shubenkov, who sped to a time of 13.10 in his semifinal that was only slightly wind-assisted (+2.2 metres-per-second).

However, mistakes at the start of the final meant he was only third in 13.47, with the gold medal going to US Virgin Islands’ US Eddie Lovett in 13.43 with Russia’s Konstantin Shabanov second in 13.46.

Sam Kendricks won the Pole Vault with 5.60m, the US athlete winning by virtue of a first-time clearance as he had done at every height after coming into the competition at 5.00m. Second was Japan’s Seito Yamamoto at the same height but he only made it on his third attempt. Both men failed at 5.70m. The bronze medal went to Kazakhstan’s Nikita Filipov with 5.50m.

Romania’s Roxana Birca clocked 15:39.76 to win the 5000m, leaving the European champion Olga Golovkina trailing in her wake on the last lap, the Russian finishing second in 15:43.77

Ukraine was fastest in both the 4x100m Relay heats with 38.75 and 42.88 for their men and women’s teams respectively. In the Long Jump qualification rounds, Russia’s Sergey Polyanskiy achieved the best mark with 8.12m with favourite Aleksandr Menkov also qualifying with 7.83m.

Hans van Kuijen for the IAAF

Mexican long jumper Luis Alberto Rivera flew out to a national and meeting record, and 2013 world-leading mark, with an impressive leap of 8.46m on the final day of the World University Games in Kazan on Friday (12).

Rivera produced his massive effort in the fourth round, aided by a 1.3 metres-per-second following wind, to add 16cm to his recent national record. It was the best jump in the world since July 2011.

In a thrilling finale, Russia’s Aleksandr Menkov produced a personal best of 8.42m in the fifth round to add three centimetres to his personal best, just four centimetres short of Leonid Voloshin’s long-standing national record of 8.46m which has stood since 1988. For good measure, Menkov also jumped 8.34m with his last attempt.

Azerbaijan’s Hayle Ibrahimov clocked a Games record of 13:35.89 to win the 5000m.

Ibrahimov led from the start and increased the pace further with to two laps to go to shake off his last remaining rivals. He entered the last lap with a 40-metre advantage over Kenya’s Paul Chelimo but eased off over the final few hundred metres and Chelimo closed to finish second in 13:37.09.

Poland's Kamila Stepaniuk, who set a national record of 1.99m recently, cleared 1.96m on her second attempt to win the High Jump on countback from Russia’s Mariya Kuchina, who went over the same height but on her third attempt for an outdoor personal best.

Botswana’s London 2012 Olympic Games 800m silver medallist Nijel Amos, who is still a junior, won over two laps of the track in 1:46.53.

Hosts Russia went one-two in the in women’s 1500m as Yekaterina Sharmina won in 4:05.49 after speeding away from the other contenders in the last 300m.

Her compatriot Yelena Korobkina followed her home in 4:08.13, while Albania’s Luiza Gega got a rare international medal for her country when she finished third in 4:08.71.

Brazil’s Ronald Juliao was the best in the Discus with 63.54m.

In the men’s Half-marathon, which was run along both sides of the nearby Kazanka river, Japanese and South African runners took the lead early in the race, headed by 2009 World University Games champion 10000m Gladwin Mzazi.

Mzazi led the field at 5km in 15:00, 10km in 30:04, 15km in 45:16 and 20km in 1:00:23. In the final kilometre, Mzazi only had his team-mate Stephen Mokoka, who had earlier won the 10,000m, for company and the pair had a duel for the gold which Mzazi won in 1:03:37.

Mokoka was given the same time but had to settle for the silver medal while third was Japan’s Shogo Nakamura in 1:04.21.

The women started 25 minutes after the men and Russia’s Lyudmila Lebedeva led the pack through 5km in 17:35 before Ukraine’s Olga Skrypak moved to the front and was was first at 10km in 35:09, the modest times due to the hot weather conditions.

Japan’s Mai Tsuda, the 10,000m bronze medallist in Kazan, moved to the fore in the second half of the race and won in 1:13:12, six seconds ahead of Russia’s Alina Prokoyeva while Japan’s Yukiko Okuno was third in 1:13:24.

Ukraine took both the 4x100m Relays in 38.56 and 42.77 while Russia triumphed in both the 4x400m Relays with 3:03.70 and 3:26.61.

Hans van Kuijen for the IAAF