Lenskiy, Malka win 100-meter dash

Donald Sanford and Yochai Halevi failed to book their place at the World Championships on Wednesday.

By ALLON SINAI
Yochai Levi370 (photo credit: Courtesy IAA)
Yochai Levi370
(photo credit: Courtesy IAA)
Olga Lenskiy won the women’s 100-meter final at the Israeli Athletics Championships for the fourth straight year on Wednesday, recording a time of 11.57 seconds, just two hundredths slower than her personal best.
The 20-year-old was hoping to break Esther Roth-Shachamarov’s ancient record of 11.45s set over 41 years ago in the 1972 Munich Olympics, but was not too dispirited at her failure to do so.
“I came near my personal best and I didn’t really target the Israeli record today,” said Lenskiy. “I hope to break the record later this year and if I don’t I’m confident I’ll do so next year.”
Olga’s mother Irina, who represented Israel in the 2004 Olympics, ran for the last time on Wednesday, bringing her long career to an end at the age of 42.
Asaf Malka won the men’s 100m national title for the third straight year, clocking a time of 10.66s despite suffering from cramp at the start of the race.
“I was expecting to run under 10.50s, but couldn’t do it because of the injury,” said a downcast Malka.
Hanna Knyazyeva Minenko set the only Israeli record of the first day of the 77th edition of the championships, winning the women’s triple jump competition with a leap of 14.50m.
Knyazyeva Minenko, who finished fourth in the London Olympics while representing Ukraine, will jump under the Israel flag for the first time in a major competition in next month’s World Championships and will be hoping to come closer to her personal best of 14.71m.
Donald Sanford and Yochai Halevi failed to book their place at the World Championships on Wednesday.
Sanford won the 400m, but in a disappointing time of 46.24s, while Halevi claimed gold in the triple jump, clearing 16.45m, 40 centimeters short of the criteria.
“It’s disappointing to train hard and not get the result. I wanted to run faster today,” said Sanford, who was named as athlete of the year. “It’s an honor and a privilege to win the award and a testament to all my hard work.”