Dima Kroyter and Anastasia Muchkayev came up well short in their attempt to qualify for the London Olympics.
By ALLON SINAIIsrael olympic team 311(photo credit: Courtesy - OCI)
Dima Kroyter and Anastasia Muchkayev came up well short in their attempt to qualify for the London Olympics on Wednesday, despite claiming gold medals at the 76th Israeli Athletics Championships at Hadar Yosef Stadium in Tel Aviv.The 19-year-old Kroyter needed to clear 2.28-meters in the high jump to set the Olympic B Standard and book his flight to London as one of the delegation’s up-and-coming athletes. However, he could only jump 2.17m and will get one last chance to secure a place in London at the European Championships later this month.“Things didn’t really work out for me tonight,” Kroyter said. “The European Championships later this month were always my main target and we’ll see what I’m capable of there.”Muchkayev will also turn her focus to the Europeans, which begin in Helsinki on June 27, after only recording 16.42m in the shot put on Wednesday, no where near the 17.20m she requires.There was further disappointment on Wednesday after favorite Donald Sanford pulled up injured during the 400m final, which was won by Reuben Majola in 47.51 seconds.There were, however, some encouraging results for the Israelis.After a short injury layoff, Jillian Schwartz cleared 4.34m in the pole vault, proving that she is slowly finding her form ahead of the London Olympics.“I feel good physically,” said the 32- year-old Schwartz, who booked her place at this summer’s London Olympics by clearing 4.52 meters in January.“I’m a little rusty with competitions as this is my first competition outdoors.It takes a couple of competitions to get into the groove,” added Schwartz, who is targeting a place in the final at the Europeans.Yochai Halevi recorded 16.86m to win the triple jump on Wednesday, but the result will not be recognized as a personal best as he benefited from an illegal tail wind.Olga Lenskiy, 19, won the women’s 100m final in a new personal best time of 11.63 seconds, but she has still yet to secure her place at the European Championships where she hopes to join her 41-year-old mother Irina, who won the 100m hurdles in 14.13s.Dmitriy Glushchenko was crowned the fastest man in Israel on Wednesday, winning the 100m final in 10.44s.Click for full JPost coverage
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