Track Beauty of the Week: Yuliya Gushchina Ю́лия Гу́щина

Yuliya Gushchina Ю́лия Гу́щина is this week's Track Beauty!

Photo from Erik van Leeuwen

The sprinter has been a fixture in Russia's crack relay squads for the past years. As a junior, Gushchina won a hard fought 4x400m relay bronze at the World Junior Championships in Kingston. [1] The Russian women, a proven power in the long relays, followed this up with European Junior title the next year. [2] Ever since 2005, Yuliya has been part of almost all of Russia's major senior championship relay teams. 

To date, Gushchina had won 4x400m relay golds at the European Championships (2006) and the World Indoors (2008). Her campaign at the 2008 Beijing Olympics was remarkably fruitful, having been part of the gold medal-winning Russian 4x100m relay quartet. [3] Yuliya also had a 4x400m relay silver and a fourth place finish in the individual 400m dash. [4]

Yuliya is well-known for her versatility. She has personal bests of 11.13s, 22.53s, and 49.28s in the 100m, 200m, and the 400m, respectively. [5] Since her 200m dash silver at the 2006 European Championships, Gushchina have not managed a return to the medal podium in an individual event.

References:

1. "Yuliya Gushchina." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuliya_Gushchina. Retrieved 10-24-2012.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. "Yuliya Gushchina." http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/letter=0/athcode=187560/index.html. Retrieved 10-24-2012.