The stage to be held at Tallinn Sports Hall tomorrow, Wednesday 6 February, will for many athletes be the dress rehearsal for this weekend's Estonian Indoor Championships.
The hero of the opening stage held two weeks ago, Ksenija Balta, will start in the 60 metres, where the Estonian indoor record (Katrin Käärt's of 7.30 seconds) may well be broken. Her main rival will be last year's BIG Gold League jackpot winner Ebe Reier, who will also be competing in the 60 metre hurdles. Also testing themselves in the hurdle sprint will be Estonian record holder Mirjam Liimask (8.20) and Tartu's Kadri Viigipuu. Breaking the Estonian record will earn the athlete not only a large sum from the Gold League's namesake, the Baltic Investment Group Bank, but also a trip to the World Indoor Championships in Valencia.
Starting in the hurdles will be decathlete Kristjan Rahnu, who has the Olympic Games in his sights. His plans for victory may be ruined, however, by Rene Oruman. The 60 metres will see Estonian number one Taavi Liiv come up against the Latvian strength of current national champion Maris Grenins and Vitalijs Šimans.
In the long jump, Estonian champion Tõnis Sahk, who has been challenging the very best in Europe of late, is setting his sights on the magic 8 metre mark. Rehearsing for the Estonian Championships in the women's long jump will be Tartu girls Sirkka-Liisa Kivine and Veera Baranova.
The 800 m races will be of equally high quality. The men's events will feature the strong Latvian Dmitrijs Milkevics (personal record 1.47.61) and Lithuanian champion Vitalij Kozlov (1.47.78), as well as the best runners in Estonia today. Vying for the top step of the podium in the women's event will be Lithuania's Egle Balciunaite (2.05.26) and Anna Titova from Latvia (2.03.37).
The shot put competition will see Raigo Toompuu, who has been training in South Africa, taking on Latvia's Maris Urtans (personal record 20.18).
The men's high jump will be a showdown between Marko Aleksejev, the leader in the event in Estonia for several years, and Latvia's Normunds Pupols (personal record 2.28). The gold medal in the same event for women is likely to go to either Anna Iljuštšenko from Tartu (personal record 1.89) or Latvia's Natalja Cakova (1.89).
Any athlete who sets an Estonian record as part of the BIG Gold League will be awarded a five-figure sum from the event's namesake, the Baltic Investment Group Bank.
Tickets for the public cost just 25 kroons. All money raised from ticket sales will go towards the organisation of a sports day for children from the Tilsi orphanage in Põlvamaa. Tickets will also be entered in a draw in which the main prize for the season is a trip to the World Indoor Championships in Valencia.
The second stage of the BIG Gold League at Tallinn Sports Hall will kick off at 4.30 pm on 6 February with junior events. The main programme will begin at 5.20 pm.
Information about the events is available from the website www.bigkuldliiga.ee.
For further information please contact:
Mati Lilliallik
52 13331
mati@kuldliiga.ee
www.bigkuldliiga.ee
