Russian Women Athletes Finding Success In Recent Japanese Sporting Events
Russian women marathon runners Lilia Shobukhova, Galina Bogomolova, Lidia Grigoryeva, Maria Konovalova, Inga Abitova and Olesya Syreva won their second straight Yokohama international women’s road relay race this past weekend.
Shobukhova ran the opening section, took the lead and Russian never looked back on their way to victory. She set a new course record in the first five-kilometer section, running it in 14:45. The Russian team finished the race in 2:14:28. Bogomolova, who was the runner-up in the 2006 New York marathon, set a new course record in the 10km second section, finishing in 31:08.
The United States team finished second in 2:16:04 and were followed by Japan in third at 2:16:07. Russia has won the race 9 times since winning the inaugural race in 1983.
In skiing action, Olga Savialova from Russia was the winner in the women’s 15-kilometer cross-country pursuit Sunday in Sapporo at the Nordic World Ski Championships.
She won the event in 41 minutes and 27.5 seconds to win the first gold for Russia in the meet. She was in fourth place after the classical section of the competition but moved up to take the lead during the freestyle portion.
The silver medalist from the Turin Olympics, Katerina Neumannova, finished .5 seconds back to finish second.
It seems that not only do Russian women make beautiful Russian brides, they also are world class competitive athletes.
