Isinbayeva leads Russia challenge at Worlds

Double Olympic pole vault champion Elena Isinbayeva will spearhead Russia's challenge in the world championships, as the country announced a strong squad for the for next month's event in Moscow. "We expect our team's leaders to produce world-class results on their home turf," Russian athletics federation president Valentin Balakhnichev told reporters. "We have set our team the task of winning six gold and 15 silver medals at the event." Isinbayeva, the 2004 and 2008 Olympic champion who will bring down the curtain on her golden career in Moscow, will be hoping to bow out with a victory in front of her adoring home fans. Russia's high-jumpers Ivan Ukhov and Anna Chicherova, who both won gold at the London Olympics, will also be hot favourites at the men's and women's events. Olympic and world women's hammer champion Tatiana Lysenko, who won her sixth national title on Wednesday with a throw of 78.15m, the world's leading mark for the season, is also strongly tipped for gold. Meanwhile, Russia's 32-year-old veteran and middle distance specialist Yury Borzakovsky also has an excellent opportunity to get amongst the medals due to the absence of the world and Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha of Kenya, who will miss the event with a twisted knee. Russia's top performers in men's and women's javelin -- Dmitry Tarabrin and Maria Abakumova -- also have fair chances to win medals. National team manager Valentin Maslakov added that he had high expectations after this month's national athletics championships, which took place at Moscow's Luzhniki arena that will host the worlds. "Some of our athletes showed top-class results at the national championships," Maslakov said. "Our athletes performed really well in men's javelin, women's hammer and some of the running disciplines." But he cautioned: "In some of the other events the results were disappointing." Russia will also be banking on medals from its race walking squad -- traditionally one of the best in the world -- including stars such as 2012 Olympic champion Sergei Kirdyapkin in the men's blue riband 50 km event. MEN 100m: Alexander Brednev 200m: Alexander Khyutte 4x100m: Alexander Brednev, Alexander Khyutte, Konstantin Petryashov, Roman Smirnov, Denis Ogarkov, Maxim Polovinkin 400m: Vladimir Krasnov, 4x400m: Vladimir Krasnov, Maxim Dyldin, Sergei Petukhov, Alexei Kenig, Artem Vazhov, Lev Mosin 110m hurdles: Konstantin Shabanov, Sergei Shubenkov 400m hurdles: Denis Kudryavtsev, Vladimir Antmanis, Timofei Chalyi 800m: Yury Borzakovsky 1500m: Valentin Smirnov 5,000m: Rinas Akhmadeyev 10,000m: Yevgeny Rybakov Marathon: Alexei Sokolov 3,000m steeplechase: Ilgizar Safiullin High jump: Ivan Ukhov, Alexander Shustov, Alexei Dmitrik Pole vault: Sergei Kuchereanu, Alexander Gripich Long jump: Sergei Polyansky, Alexander Menkov Triple jump: Alexei Fyodorov Shot put: Maxim Sidorov, Alexander Lesnoi, Soslan Tsirikhov Discus: Viktor Butenko Hammer: Sergei Litvinov, Alexei Korolev, Alexei Zagorny Javelin: Dmitry Tarabrin, Alexei Tovarnov, Valery Iordan 20km walk: Denis Strelkov, Alexander Ivanov, Andrei Ruzavin 50km walk: Mikhail Ryzhov, Ivan Noskov, Sergei Kirdyapkin Decathlon: Sergei Sviridov, Ilya Shkurenev, Artem Lukianenko WOMEN 200m: Yelizaveta Savlinis 4x100m: Olga Kharitonova, Viktoria Yarushkina, Natalia Rusakova, Yelizaveta Savlinis, Yekaterina Kuzina, Yelena Bolsun 400m: Antonina Krivoshapka, Ksenia Ryzhova 4x400m: Antonina Krivoshapka, Ksenia Ryzhova, Ksenia Zadorina, Tatiana Firova, Anastasia Kapachinskaya, Yulia Gushchina 100m hurdles: Yulia Kondakova, Tatiana Dektyareva 400m hurdles: Natalia Antyukh, Irina Davydova, Anastasia Ott 800m: Yelena Kotulskaya, Marina Pospelova, Yekaterina Poistogova, Maria Savinova 1500m: Svetlana Podosenova, Yelena Korobkina, Yekaterina Sharmina 5,000m: Yelena Nagovitsyna, Olga Golovkina 10,000m: Gulshat Fazlitdinova 3,000m steeplechase: Natalia Aristarkhova, Natalia Gorchakova, Lyudmila Lebedeva, Yulia Zaripova Marathon: Alevtina Biktemirova, Albina Maiorova, Nadezhda Leontieva, Tatiana Aryasova, Valentina Galimova High jump: Svetlana Shkolina, Irina Gordeyeva, Yelena Slesarenko, Anna Chicherova Pole vault: Yelena Isinbayeva, Anastasia Savchenko, Angelina Krasnova Long jump: Lyudmila Kolchanova, Olga Kucherenko, Daria Klishina, Yelena Sokolova Triple jump: Irina Gumenyuk, Anna Pyatykh, Yekaterina Koneva Shot put: Yevgenia Kolodko, Irina Tarasova, Anna Avdeyeva Discus: Yekaterina Strokova, Svetlana Saikina, Vera Ganeyeva Hammer: Anna Bulgakova, Oksana Kondratieva, Gulfiya Khanafeyeva, Tatiana Lysenko Javelin: Viktoria Sudarushkina, Maria Abakumova 20km walk: Anisya Kirdyapkina, Vera Sokolova, Yelena Lashmanova, Olga Kaniskina Heptathlon: Kristina Savitskaya, Alexandra Butvina Source: AFP