Another Olympic year, another gold medal for Nataliya Dobrynska. Too bad this one came five months early and will expose her as a favorite for the London Games. The 2008 Olympic heptathlon champion from Ukraine upstaged favorites Jessica Ennis and Tatyana Chernova with a sterling long jump and a gutsy concluding 800 meters to become the first woman to break the 5,000-point mark in the five-event discipline and win the world indoor title. Yet for a woman who prefers the role of underdog, her $90,000 check for gold and a world record has a big downside. She beat the 20-year-old mark of Irina Belova with a score of 5,013 points. Dobrynska was only 9 years old when the Russian set the old record of 4,991 points. Defending champion Ennis, who led through the first three events, was left with silver and a British record 4,965 points, and Austra Skujyte set a Lithuanian record of 4,802 for bronze. Outdoor heptathlon world champion Chernova finished fifth. It was only the second gold for Dobrynska after she also upset the favorites at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She had been waiting to get the record for a long time. Dobrynska had to share the limelight with the starting gun and bad acoustics at the Atakoy Arena, a combination which eliminated some of the top sprinters from the three-day event. Amid near-incessant complaining from athletes, unbeaten Lerone Clarke sat in the blocks for almost half a second after the gun. He didn't advance from the first round of the 60 meters. American runner Kristi Castlin failed to finish her 60 hurdles race since she thought everyone would be pulled back for a false start. It didn't happen and it turned Sally Pearson into even a bigger favorite. The Australian lived up to her billing when she set a continental record of 7.85 seconds in the heats and saw one of her toughest rivals go out. In the shot put, the United States continued its domination with Ryan Whiting taking the gold with a world leading 22 meters. Outdoor world champion David Storl of Germany took silver with a throw of 21.88 and Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski had bronze with a Polish national record of 21.72. Clearing the 22-meter mark, the 25-year-old thrower said he knew he reached “a milestone and I know it will be easier from now on.” In a packed program, Ethiopian great Meseret Defar set off on her quest to become the first female athlete to win five world indoor gold medals in a row, easily winning her 3,000 heat. If the Ennis-Chernova duel turned into a one-woman show for Dobrynska, the 3,000 face-off between British runner Mo Farah and American rival Bernard Lagat also failed to deliver. Instead of reigning regally over the heat they shared, they had to scramble up to the line to secure their places in the final as five went for the line with four places available. Within a jumble of .30 seconds, Farah was second and Lagat was third. British sprinter Dwain Chambers advanced through to the semifinals of the men's 60m along with American Justin Gatlin.
