WCH Oregon22 preview: combined events

Women's heptathlon

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Last year she won her second Olympic gold medal, and now Belgium’s Nafi Thiam will be aiming to win world title No.2 at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.

Ever since winning Olympic gold in 2016, the 27-year-old has established herself as the leading heptathlete of her generation, winning the world title in 2017, European gold in 2018 and scoring a lifetime best of 7013.

Each time she has won a major title, her winning score has been in the region of 6800 points. The only slight blemish on her record – if you can even refer to a silver medal in such a way – is her runner-up finish at the 2019 World Championships, where Katarina Johnson-Thompson triumphed with 6981 – the best score at a World Championships since 2007.

Of the two global champions, Thiam has shown the best form this year. She hasn’t contested a heptathlon, but she won the long jump at the Belgian Championships with 6.63m and placed second in the 100m hurdles in 13.50. She has also equalled her 200m PB of 24.37.

While her high jump season’s best of 1.92m is some way short of her world heptathlon best of 2.02m, she may not need to rely on that discipline to bank extra points should all go to plan in the other events.

Throws have been a minor concern for Thiam in recent years as she has tried to manage a niggling elbow injury, so she tends not to contest throwing events outside of heptathlons. Even so, she is usually capable of throwing about 15 metres in the shot and beyond 50 metres in the javelin, which are marks few other heptathletes are able to match.

Johnson-Thompson, meanwhile, has had an up-and-down year. She made a last-minute decision to compete at the World Indoor Championships but withdrew before the final discipline. She went on to compete at the Hypo Meeting in Götzis, where she finished seventh with 6174. Following that, she changed her coaching set-up and moved from the US back to the UK.

If anyone has shown the kind of form needed to challenge Thiam this year, it’s Anouk Vetter.

The Olympic silver medallist won at the Hypo Meeting in Götzis with a world-leading Dutch record of 6693. Her series included a 59.81m PB in the javelin – the longest ever throw within a 6000pt+ heptathlon.

Vetter and Thiam are evenly matched in the throws and 800m. Vetter is slightly quicker in the sprints and hurdles, while Thiam is better in the jumps.

The host nation’s hopes rest with Anna Hall and Kendell Williams. Hall, still only 21, is undefeated in combined events competitions this year, though has competed exclusively in the US and mainly just on the collegiate circuit. She set a pentathlon PB of 4618 indoors, then scored heptathlon PBs of 6412 and 6458 outdoors, the latter when winning the US title. She followed that with victory at the NCAA Championships.

A solid all-rounder, Hall fares best in running events, so look out for her to finish with a flourish with the 200m on day one and the 800m on day two.

Williams, meanwhile, claimed her first senior global medal earlier this year when taking bronze at the World Indoor Championships. Fifth at last year’s Olympics and at the 2019 World Championships, Williams will be keen to fare better at Hayward Field – a place that holds fond memories for the 27-year-old as it’s where she claimed world U20 gold in the 100m hurdles back in 2014, as well as her three NCAA heptathlon titles in 2014, 2016 and 2017.

Noor Vidts and Adrianna Sulek claimed the top two places at the World Indoor Championships in an enthralling duel that went down to the wire. Vidts, who hasn’t completed a heptathlon outdoors this year, had some mixed results earlier in the season but the Belgian showed glimmers of promise with a 13.33 clocking in the 100m hurdles earlier this month.

Sulek, meanwhile, is showing the kind of form that suggests she could be a medal contender. The 23-year-old Pole won in Bydgoszcz with 6290, then finished second in Götzis with a PB of 6429. She came within six points of that mark to win the Polish title last month. Throughout the season, she has set PBs in five of the individual seven heptathlon disciplines.

Several other women will also be in contention at various points throughout the two days of competition, so look out for Olympic bronze medallist Emma Oosterwegel of the Netherlands, Austria’s 2018 world indoor silver medallist Ivona Dadic, Hungary’s 2021 Götzis winner Xenia Krizsan, Multistars winner and Swiss record-holder Annik Kalin, and Ratingen winner Sophie Weissenberg of Germany.

 

Men's decathlon

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This time last year, Damian Warner was the journeyman of the decathlon.

The Canadian all-rounder had stood on the podium at the World Championships, Olympic Games and World Indoor Championships, but a global title had eluded him.

A lot can happen in 12 months, though. Fast forward to 2022 and Warner is now an Olympic gold medallist, a world indoor champion, and a member of the 9000-point club. Nine years after winning his first global medal, the 32-year-old is hitting peak form – and he shows no signs of slowing down.

He won the world indoor title earlier this year with a Canadian record of 6489, moving him to second on the world indoor all-time list. Outdoors, he won the decathlon at the Hypo Meeting in Götzis for a record seventh time with 8797, the third-best score of his career.

What makes Warner such a formidable opponent is his dependability and consistency in an event where any number of things could go wrong. He often performs near or at his best in every discipline and rarely suffers a mid-competition disaster.

In fact, the last time he was beaten in a combined events competition was at the 2019 World Championships where illness meant he wasn’t at his best, but despite that rare off-day he still held on to take bronze behind surprise winner Niklas Kaul of Germany.

Kaul will defend his world title in Eugene, though he’s not quite in the same form that carried the then 21-year-old to an 8691 victory in Doha. He has, however, proven himself to be a strong championship performer so far in his burgeoning career, and as a strong day-two performer, he’ll have the benefit of flying under the radar for the first day.

If anyone has the talent and ability to stop Warner and prevent Kaul from retaining his title, it’s Kevin Mayer.

The world record-holder, who preceded Kaul as world champion, took silver behind Warner at the Olympics last year. Unlike Warner, Mayer’s combined events record is littered with many DNFs; some of them are competitions where he had no intention of finishing anyway, while others were on a grander stage, such as the 2019 World Championships and 2018 European Championships.

When he is fit and focused, though, Mayer is a medal threat. Not counting those blips in 2019 and 2018, he has made it on to the podium at all the major championships he has contested from 2014 onwards. And although he hasn’t completed a combined events competition this year, he has showed solid form in individual disciplines.

But beyond these three winners of global titles, there are many more medal contenders heading to Oregon.

Australia’s Ashley Moloney took a surprise bronze at the Olympics last year, setting an Oceanian record of 8649. He hasn’t competed at all outdoors this year, but lack of competition didn’t seem to affect him at this year’s World Indoor Championships where – despite having never competed indoors before – he took bronze with an area record of 6344.

USA’s Kyle Garland is even younger than Moloney and Kaul, but already has a superior PB. The 22-year-old added more than 500 points to his PB at the US Championships earlier this year with 8720 in a series that showed few weaknesses. A strong jumper, thrower and hurdler, Garland will also benefit from home crowd support.

He was beaten, however, at the NCAA Championships, where Puerto Rico’s Ayden Owens-Delerme triumphed with 8457, having set a national record of 8528 earlier in the season. Owens-Delerme, who was born on the exact same day as Garland, will likely bank most of his points in the running events, given his range includes a 10.27 PB for 100m, a 46.10 PB for 400m and a 4:13.17 best for 1500m.

Canada’s Pierce LePage, fifth at last year’s Olympics and at the 2019 World Championships, withdrew from the Hypo Meeting in May after two disciplines, but was back in action at the recent Canadian Championships, showing strong form in the 110m hurdles and discus.

Estonia always fields a strong line-up in the decathlon and this year is no different. World silver medallist Maicel Uibo features on their team for Oregon, though Janek Oiglane is the nation’s top scorer this year, having set a PB of 8405. He was sixth in Doha and fourth at the 2017 World Championships, so will be keen to make it on to the podium this time. Johannes Erm, the 2019 NCAA champion, rounds out the Estonian team.

USA’s Zach Ziemek, Australia’s Cedric Dubler, Grenada’s Lindon Victor and Germany’s Kai Kazmirek are all experienced championship performers and likely will feature high up on the leader board at various stages throughout the two days of competition on 23 and 24 July.

And in homage to two-time Olympic champion and former world record-holder Ashton Eaton, who studied at the University of Oregon and spent many years training at Eugene’s Hayward Field, the men’s decathlon 1500m will be the final individual track event of the championships.

Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics