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Carolin Schafer in the heptathlon 100m hurdles in Ratingen

Chari Hawkins in the heptathlon 200m in Arona

Damian Warner in the decathlon discus in Gotzis

With respective scores of 8221 and 6061 points, France&rsquo;s Antoine Ferranti and Sweden&rsquo;s Lovisa Karlsson were the winners at the International Meeting of Arona &ndash; the second Gold leg of the World Athletics Combined Events Tour &ndash; in Tenerife this weekend (21-22).
The 25-year-old Karlsson took the lead at the start of the second day and led a trio of 6000-point-plus athletes in the heptathlon, while the 22-year-old Ferranti improved his previous PB by a huge margin to break the 8000-point barrier for the first time in the decathlon.
The men's opening events were dominated by Spain's Tayb David Loum and Switzerland's Finley Gaio. The 21-year-old Spaniard won the 100m in 10.65 to Gaio's 10.72, but the Swiss athlete took the lead after the second event thanks to a 7.51m leap in the long jump to Loum's 7.41m, with Germany's defending champion Malik Diakite sandwiched between them after a 7.42m effort. By then, Gaio led with 1861 points and had an eight-point advantage on Loum.
The morning session closed with a local win by Bruno Com&iacute;n in the shot put with a 14.92m toss, just one centimetre farther than Venezuela's Gerson Izaguirre, while Gaio managed to keep his overall lead after finishing fifth with 14.04m.
The afternoon session opened with a quality high jump contest, the victory going to Spain's Pablo Martinez thanks to a third-time 2.12m clearance, while Ferranti set a lifetime best of 2.09m to take the overall top spot with 3327 points to Loum's 3285 and Gaio's 3262. The 400m proved to be a close fight between Spain's Pablo G&aacute;mez and Gaio, the Spaniard prevailing by the narrowest of margins, 48.07 to 48.08.
At the end of day one, Ferranti was at the helm on 4200 points, 33 points ahead of Gaio. Loum was third (4152), while Vilem Strasky of Czechia achieved a balanced day to stay in fourth (4123).
On the second day, Izaguirre &ndash; eighth overall &ndash; was the fastest in the 110m hurdles with 14.00 ahead of Spain&rsquo;s Jorge Ure&ntilde;a, who set a career best of 14.12, while Ferranti placed fifth despite setting a PB of 14.51. That was still enough for him to keep the overall top spot by two points on Gaio.
Izaguirre also struck in the discus thanks to a 46.89m PB, while Gaio regained a narrow lead as he scored 20 points more than Ferranti following their respective throws of 41.32m and 40.33m. But the French athlete bounced back strongly in the pole vault, being the only athlete over 5.00m, a career best, with Gaio managing a best of 4.40m to lose the top spot.
Ferranti had a score of 6691 to lead by 149 points with two events remaining, while Izaguirre moved into second place following a 4.60m clearance.
The javelin was topped by Diakite thanks to a 66.20m throw and Ferranti strengthened his overall lead on Izaguirre &ndash; 58.82m to 57.36m &ndash; to virtually secure his overall victory before the 1500m, one of his strongest events. In the end, the French athlete won in 4:20.25 to become the only athlete to exceed the 8000-point barrier. Strasky finished runner-up with 7972 and last year&rsquo;s victor Diakite was third (7889).
<h2>Marsh dominates on day one but Karlsson prevails</h2>
USA's Erin Marsh lived up to expectation in the opening 100m hurdles as she took a convincing win in 13.28, while both New Zealand&rsquo;s Briana Stephenson and Karlsson clocked 13.40, just 0.01 ahead of Portugal's Mariana Bento with a PB. The main favourite, Poland's Paulina Ligarska, had to settle for a 13.95 clocking and was 98 points down on Marsh at that stage.
The high jump witnessed a win by another US athlete, Lexie Keller, who was the sole athlete over 1.75m. That was three centimetres higher than Ligarska and Stephenson, among others, with Marsh and Karlsson managing 1.69m.
The afternoon session opened with a win by France's defending champion Elisa Pineau in the shot put thanks to a 14.38m heave from her opening and only valid attempt. USA&rsquo;s Shaina Burns also surpassed the 14-metre mark thanks to a 14.17m final effort. Saturday's closing 200m was taken by Finland's Vilma Italinna in 23.98, closely followed by Marsh (24.02) and with Stephenson a further 0.15 adrift.
Marsh led at the end of day one thanks to a 3659 tally &ndash; a generous margin of 105 points on Karlsson, who was 10 points clear of Keller. Ligarska was another three points behind (3541).
On day two, Karlsson leapt 6.45m to top the long jump ahead of Briton Thea Brown, who set a PB of 6.36m. Marsh could not exceed 6.06m and was overtaken by the Swedish athlete by 18 points.
Pineau managed her second individual win in the discus with a 44.03m effort, while Karlsson extended her overall lead as she threw 39.38m to Marsh&rsquo;s 35.90m to face the closing 800m some 84 points clear of Marsh, 5200 and 5114 their respective scores. Keller was another 11 points adrift.
The final event featured a win for Ligarska but her 2:12.43 was not enough to assault the leading places, while Karlsson&rsquo;s sixth place in 2:17.26 was enough to capture the overall victory. Her 6061 points saw her finish 22 points ahead of Marsh, who was 13 clear of Keller.
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competition/calendar-results/results/7216692?eventId=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>
&nbsp;

France’s Antoine Ferranti and Sweden’s Lovisa Karlsson were the winners at the International Meeting of Arona

Ferranti and Karlsson triumphant in Arona

Defending champions Elisa Pineau and Malik Diakite take on a closely-matched field in Arona, Tenerife, this weekend (21-22) for the second Gold level meeting on the 2025 World Athletics Combined Events Tour.
Paulina Ligarska heads to Arona fresh from winning the Polish title in Warsaw earlier this month with 6189, just 52 points off her PB from 2022. This year she has set PBs at 200m (24.37), 800m (2:09.76) and long jump (6.15m indoors).
Pan-American champion Erin Marsh could be the Pole&rsquo;s toughest opponent. The US heptathlete added 140 points to her PB in G&ouml;tzis a few weeks ago with a score of 6171, a series that included PBs of 12.93 in the 100m hurdles and 23.60 in the 200m.
Lovisa Karlsson is the only other heptathlon entrant to have bettered 6000 points this season, having scored 6026 in G&ouml;tzis. She set her PB of 6146 at last year's Europeans Championships in Rome where the 25-year-old finished 10th.
Austria's 2018 world indoor silver medallist Ivona Dadic is also one to watch. Her PB of 6552, which is the best of the Arona field, dates back to 2018, while her best score last year was 6115.
France&rsquo;s Elisa Pineau, the winner in Arona last year with 6020, will defend her title. She didn&rsquo;t complete her heptathlon in Brescia in April, but she managed a shot put PB of 14.90m there. &nbsp;
Ashtin Zamzow-Mahler, who has a PB of 6291 and finished 11th at the 2022 World Championships, and US compatriot Shaina Burns, a 6130 performer, will also be looking to complete their first heptathlon of the year.
Vilem Strasky&rsquo;s busy season continues in the decathlon; in fact, Sunday&rsquo;s contest will be his third decathlon of the month, having scored 7918 in G&ouml;tzis and 7964 last weekend at the Czech Championships. The 25-year-old, who placed fifth at the World Indoor Championships earlier this year, will be aiming to get close to his PB of 8088 from last year.
Local hopes rest with 2019 European indoor champion Jorge Ure&ntilde;a. The 31-year-old, who&rsquo;ll be making his outdoor season debut, has the best PB of the field (8381).
Malik Diakite, the winner in Arona last year, is back again and looking to make amends after failing to finish his last decathlon in Papenburg last month. German compatriot Marcel Meyer, an 8190 performer, is also set to compete, as is Switzerland&rsquo;s Finley Gaio, looking to improve on his 7917 outing in G&ouml;tzis a few weeks ago.
Sweden&rsquo;s Marcus Nilsson, the victor here in 2022, recently completed his first decathlon in almost three years, scoring 7674 in Brescia in April and is now hoping to build on that in Arona. The 34-year-old is an 8327 performer at his best.
Weather forecasters predict a mild and sunny weekend with pleasant temperatures ranging between 20-23C.
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics

Defending champions Elisa Pineau and Malik Diakite take on a closely-matched field in Arona, Tenerife, this weekend (21-22) for the second Gold level meeting on the 2025 World Athletics Combined Events Tour.

Competitive combined events clashes confirmed for Arona

Anna Hall moved up to equal second on the world all-time list when winning the heptathlon at the Hypo Meeting with a meeting record of 7032 on Sunday (1). Meanwhile, world indoor champion Sander Skotheim continued his remarkable 2025 campaign by winning the decathlon at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting in G&ouml;tzis with 8909.
Hall jumped into the lead after the second heptathlon discipline and maintained it to the end, setting PBs in the high jump, shot put, javelin and 800m en route to her winning score. She finished 456 points ahead of Sofie Dokter of the Netherlands, who took second place with a PB of 6576 while Colombia&rsquo;s Martha Araujo set a South American record of 6475 in third.
Skotheim put together a similarly stunning series across the two days of competition to smash his PB and reclaim the Norwegian record from Olympic champion Markus Rooth, setting PBs in the 100m and discus. He now sits at equal seventh on the world all-time list with his score here, which gave him victory ahead of USA's Kyle Garland (8626) and Switzerland's Simon Ehammer and Niklas Kaul (8575).
<h2>Hall back on top</h2>
US duo Erin Marsh and Michelle Atherley were the fastest in the opening discipline of the heptathlon, both clocking 12.93 to win their respective heats of the 100m hurdles. Two other women &ndash; Abigail Pawlett (12.94) and Sienna MacDonald (12.97) &ndash; finished inside 13 seconds.
Somewhat surprisingly, Annik Kalin wasn&rsquo;t one of the four women to better 13 seconds, but her 13.03 clocking was still one of her fastest to date. Similarly, Hall&rsquo;s 13.19 run was her best since the 2023 World Championships.
Hall then leaped into the lead &ndash; quite literally &ndash; in the high jump. She was the only athlete to get over 1.89m, which was a season&rsquo;s best, but she then went on to equal her PB of 1.92m before setting a lifetime best of 1.95m, giving her an overall lead of 163 points.
European indoor silver medallist Sofie Dokter moved into second place overall, thanks to a high jump clearance of 1.86m, while USA&rsquo;s Timara Chapman climbed up to third overall after jumping 1.83m.
Hall&rsquo;s momentum continued into the shot put, where she unleashed a PB of 14.86m. It was 32 centimetres farther than anything she&rsquo;d achieved previously in a heptathlon and put her 38 points ahead of PB pace. Dokter consolidated her second-place position overall with a PB of 14.17m.
Hall ended the first day with a 23.37 run in the 200m, her fastest time in two years, and giving her a first-day score of 4161, just 11 points shy of her pace from her 2023 Hypo Meeting victory.
Pawlett was comfortably the fastest 200m sprinter, smashing her PB with 23.06 to jump up to fourth in the overall standings (3867). Dokter and Kalin ran 23.46 and 23.42 respectively, putting them in second (3942) and third (3868) overall.
The second day started well for Hall, who sailed out to a season&rsquo;s best of 6.44m in the long jump. As expected, Kalin &ndash; a world indoor and European indoor medallist in this discipline &ndash; topped the group with a leap of 6.77m, backed up by jumps of 6.73m and 6.76m.
It was also a good event for Araujo, who went out to a PB of 6.63m. Dokter (6.42m), Pawlett (6.42m) and Vicente (6.41m) all remained in contention at the top of the leaderboard, while Germany&rsquo;s Serina Riedel moved up thanks to her leap of 6.46m.
A PB of 46.16m in the javelin kept Hall on pace to not only win, but to break her heptathlon PB of 6988. Australia&rsquo;s Tori West produced the best throw of the day with 50.48m, while Araujo also excelled, throwing 49.42m.
Going into the final discipline, Hall knew that she needed to run 2:03.33 in the 800m to join the heptathlon&rsquo;s elusive 7000-point club. In a perfectly paced effort, she ran a world heptathlon best of 2:01.23 to bring her winning score to 7032, putting her joint second on the world all-time list alongside Carolina Kluft.
Dokter ended with 2:10.88 in the 800m to give her a score of 6576 in second place while Araujo clocked 2:15.89 to take third place overall with 6475. USA&rsquo;s Michelle Atherley was fourth (6425), ahead of Kalin (6395), Allie Jones (6367) and Riedel (6322).
&ldquo;The last heptathlon I did before this broke my heart,&rdquo; said Hall, referring to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where she finished fifth, 92 points shy of a medal. &ldquo;But I feel like this heptathlon healed it.
&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t run an 800m this year so I was a bit scared. I knew I was fit, but I didn&rsquo;t know how I&rsquo;d feel in the race. When came through the first lap in 58 seconds, I was like, &lsquo;oh no&rsquo;. But this is what you train for and thankfully I was able to hold on. I&rsquo;m really pleased with it.
&ldquo;It means so much to break the meeting record on the 50th anniversary of this competition,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;To have all these past legends here &ndash; some of them met with my family, some gave me words of encouragement &ndash; makes it all the more special.&rdquo;
<h2>Supreme Skotheim</h2>
In the opening event of the men&rsquo;s decathlon, much of the focus was on the sixth and final 100m heat, and it duly delivered the fastest time of the day thanks to Ayden Owens-Delerme&rsquo;s 10.33 clocking. Damian Warner, holder of the world decathlon best in this discipline, was second in 10.39 ahead of Germany&rsquo;s Manuel Eitel (10.46).
But while the other heats weren&rsquo;t quite so fast, they were just as significant. Kyle Garland won his in a PB of 10.50, while world indoor champion Sander Skotheim ran a lifetime best of 10.70.
Soon after, Simon Ehammer produced one of the standout performances of the day. The 2024 world indoor champion sailed out to 8.34m in the long jump. It was notable not only for the distance &ndash; it was just 11 centimetres shy of the world decathlon best he set here three years ago &ndash; but also because it came in the first round. The Swiss decathlete had acquired an unfortunate record of no-jumps in past decathlons, but his huge first-round leap here could go some way in boosting his confidence for future competitions.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/683c7a5c7f2071a4307b21bb.jpg" alt="Sander Skotheim in the decathlon pole vault in Gotzis" />
Sander Skotheim in the decathlon pole vault in Gotzis (&copy; Sam Su)
</div>
Skotheim also went beyond eight metres, leaping 8.06m, while Leo Neugebauer was just shy of the barrier, jumping 7.91m. Owens-Delerme jumped 7.65m while Warner was some way short of his best, recording 7.51m.
It meant that after two events, Ehammer had a 103-point lead over Skotheim. Owens-Delerme reclaimed the lead after the shot put, though, producing the best mark of the day with 16.19m. Garland, who shared a birthday with Owens-Delerme earlier this week, almost matched the Puerto Rican&rsquo;s mark with 16.14m, moving him up to fourth in the overall standings.
Neugebauer moved up to second place overall with a throw of 15.93m. Ehammer was near the bottom of the pack in the shot put with his 13.60m but it was enough to keep him in the top three overall. Eight-time Hypo Meeting winner Warner threw 14.41m to move up to seventh, two places behind Skotheim.
World and Olympic bronze medallist Lindon Victor was a non-starter for the high jump, while Germany&rsquo;s Tim Nowak withdrew after one attempt. Garland and Skotheim were the last men standing as both cleared 2.15m to jump further up the standings. USA&rsquo;s Heath Baldwin also moved up the leaderboard after clearing 2.12m.
World champion Pierce LePage (2.03m), Neugebauer (2.00m) and Warner (2.00m) finished further down the event standings.
Owens-Delerme ended the first day the same way he started it &ndash; by producing the best time of the day. He blazed around the Mosle Stadium track in 46.20 to break the meeting record and regain the overall lead. Harrison Williams was second in 46.86, while Ehammer clocked a PB of 47.18. Skotheim clocked 47.47, marginally quicker than Warner&rsquo;s 47.57.
It meant that at the end of the first day, Owens-Delerme had accrued 4652 points, giving him the lead ahead of Ehammer (4620) and Skotheim (4611).
The 110m hurdles at the start of the second day went much to the form book with Ehammer (13.57) and Warner (13.76) producing the best marks of the event, moving Ehammer into the lead overall. Garland (14.04), Owens-Delerme (14.09) and Skotheim (14.12) were just the other side of the 14-second barrier.
Skotheim moved into the lead for the first time after the discus, thanks to a PB of 49.18m. It made him the third-best thrower of the day behind Neugebauer and Estonia&rsquo;s Karel Tilga, who both threw 51.47m. Garland also performed well, throwing a PB of 49.10m to move into second place overall behind Skotheim.
Skotheim consolidated his lead in the pole vault, as he was one of three men &ndash; alongside Neugebauer and Ehammer &ndash; to produce clearances of 5.10m. Garland&rsquo;s vault of 4.90m kept him in second place ahead of Ehammer and Neugebauer. Owens-Delerme (4.80m) and Warner (4.70m) ended the discipline in fifth and sixth place overall respectively.
As expected, 2019 world champion Niklas Kaul was the standout performer in the javelin. The German sent his spear out to 72.13m to move up the leaderboard into seventh overall. A 61.46m throw from Skotheim kept the Norwegian in the lead, giving him a score of 8124 with the 1500m still to come. Garland threw 58.77m and Ehammer managed 55.30m. Neugebauer was just behind with 54.28m while Warner crept up the standings into fifth with 62.30m.
Kaul went out hard in the second 1500m heat and held on to win in 4:16.40. Skotheim followed a few seconds later in 4:23.88, bringing his winning tally to 8909 - the third-best score ever achieved at the Hypo Meeting. He eventually won by almost 300 points from Garland (8626) while Ehammer and Kaul shared third place with 8575, 20 points ahead of Neugebauer (8555). Eight-time winner Warner had to make do with sixth place, though the Canadian still scored a highly respectable 8527.
"I couldn't be happier," said Skotheim. "I thought a score like this was possible, but I definitely didn't expect to do it. I wanted to push through 8800 but not 8900. I'm super happy with myself, and thanks to the crowd cheering us on - that gave us 10 seconds in the 1500m."
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

Anna Hall moved up to equal second on the world all-time list when winning the heptathlon at the Hypo Meeting with a meeting record of 7032 on Sunday (1). Meanwhile, world indoor champion Sander Skotheim continued his remarkable 2025 campaign by winning the decathlon at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting in Götzis with 8909.

Hall scores meeting record of 7032 in Götzis, Skotheim claims decathlon

More than a decade after he first won at the Hypo Meeting, Damian Warner will line up for the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting in G&ouml;tzis this weekend (31 May &ndash; 1 June) looking to notch up another victory.
Warner, the 2021 Olympic decathlon champion, already holds the record for the most wins in G&ouml;tzis, having racked up eight victories to date, stretching back to 2013.&nbsp;But world decathlon champion Pierce LePage is also back in the Austrian town, looking to repeat his win from two years ago.
The last time Warner contested a decathlon, it ended in disappointment. The Canadian was in contention for a medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, but failed to register a height in the pole vault, bringing an end to his title defence.
Three months prior to that, though, he won in G&ouml;tzis with 8678, showing he is still very much a force in the combined events world. The 35-year-old will be aiming to prove a similar point at this year&rsquo;s competition as part of his preparations for the World Championships later this year, where he&rsquo;ll be targeting his first world decathlon title. He has started the year in good form, too, having clocked season&rsquo;s bests of 21.31 over 200m and 4.85m in the pole vault.
Fellow Canadian LePage didn&rsquo;t even make it to the Paris Olympics, as injury ruled him out of most of last year. The 29-year-old, who beat Warner to the 2023 world title with a PB of 8909, made a return to competition earlier this year, putting together a string of decent indoor performances before a similarly solid start to his outdoor campaign over the past month.
But the Canadian duo won&rsquo;t be the only winners of global titles on the decathlon start line.
Norway&rsquo;s Sander Skotheim has enjoyed a sensational start to 2025, setting two European indoor heptathlon records, the latter when winning the European indoor title (6558). Two weeks later, he added the world indoor title to his collection with a score of 6475.
Skotheim, who will turn 23 on the first day of competition this weekend, earned European silver last year with a PB of 8635, a mark that was a Norwegian record at the time. That mark was subsequently bettered by Markus Rooth with his gold-medal-winning performance of 8796 at the Paris Olympics, but Skotheim&rsquo;s indoor form suggests that Rooth&rsquo;s national record could be under threat in G&ouml;tzis.
Rooth won&rsquo;t be in G&ouml;tzis, but the two men who joined him on the Olympic podium will be: silver medallist Leo Neugebauer and bronze medallist Lindon Victor.
Neugebauer will be making his G&ouml;tzis debut. He turned professional last year after retaining his NCAA title with 8961, breaking the German record for the second year in a row. The 24-year-old has competed indoors and outdoors already this year, but hasn&rsquo;t contested a decathlon since last year&rsquo;s Olympics where he took silver with 8748.
Victor hasn&rsquo;t competed at all since the Paris Olympics where he finished third, matching his finish from the previous year&rsquo;s World Championships. The Grenadian was runner-up in G&ouml;tzis in 2019 and 2022, so he&rsquo;ll be looking to achieve his first victory, which would also make him the first athlete from the Caribbean to win at the Hypo Meeting.
Puerto Rico&rsquo;s Ayden Owens-Delerme could also be in the running to achieve that. The 2022 NCAA champion, who has a PB of 8732, will be making his Hypo Meeting debut.
USA&rsquo;s Kyle Garland, who has the exact same date of birth as Owens-Delerme (28 May 2000), will also be competing in G&ouml;tzis for the first time. The 8720 performer hasn&rsquo;t competed since winning the US indoor heptathlon title earlier this year.
Other contenders include 2019 world champion Niklas Kaul, 2024 world indoor champion Simon Ehammer, Estonia&rsquo;s Karel Tilga and US duo Harrison Williams and Heath Baldwin.
<h2>Hall back for more</h2>
Anna Hall has fond memories of competing in G&ouml;tzis. Two years ago, she put together a stunning series to win with 6988 and then went on to claim silver at the World Championships in Budapest. The 24-year-old had a delayed start to her 2024 campaign after undergoing surgery at the start of that year, but she managed to finish fifth at the Paris Olympics with 6615.
The 2025 season so far has been business as usual for Hall, who has competed several times already this year, recording season&rsquo;s bests of 51.68 for 400m and 54.43 for the 400m hurdles.
World champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson, a two-time winner at the Hypo Meeting, had been set to compete this weekend but the Briton was a late withdrawal due to a minor injury. There'll be another past Hypo Meeting champion on the start line, though.
Hungary&rsquo;s Xenia Krizsan, who won here in 2021 with a PB of 6651, will be making her seventh Hypo Meeting appearance. The 32-year-old finished seventh at last year&rsquo;s Olympics and fourth at the 2023 World Championships.
Poland&rsquo;s Adrianna Sulek-Schubert missed last year&rsquo;s Hypo Meeting as it came just three months after she gave birth. She resumed competition in late June, though, and went on to compete at the Paris Olympics, where she set a season&rsquo;s best of 6226.
In 2022, she earned world indoor silver, placed second in G&ouml;tzis and went on to set a PB of 6672 when finishing fourth at the World Championships. With a full winter behind her and a solid indoor campaign, Sulek-Schubert hopes to get back to that kind of form this year.
Switzerland&rsquo;s Annik Kalin was runner-up in G&ouml;tzis last year before going on to place fourth at the European Championships and the Olympic Games, the latter with a national record of 6639. So far this year, she has focused more on individual events, taking European indoor and world indoor long jump silver. With PBs of 6.90m for the long jump and 7.92 for 60m hurdles now in her armour, it could translate to a big heptathlon score this weekend.
Sofie Dokter of the Netherlands took European indoor silver earlier this year with 4826, a 200-point improvement on her previous best. She, too, could now be set to revise her heptathlon PB (6452).
Versatile Spaniard Maria Vicente missed most of last year due to injury, and prior to that had been focusing on individual disciplines. She made a long-awaited return to competition earlier this month and now heads to G&ouml;tzis hoping to complete her first heptathlon in almost four years.
Other leading competitors include South American champion Martha Araujo of Colombia and last year&rsquo;s Hypo Meeting third-place finisher Michelle Atherley of the USA.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
<h3>Leading entries with PBs</h3>
Women&rsquo;s heptathlon Anna Hall (USA) 6988 Adrianna Sulek-Schubert (POL) 6672 Xenia Krizsan (HUN) 6651 Annik Kalin (SUI) 6639 Michelle Atherley (USA) 6465 Sofie Dokter (NED) 6452 Martha Araujo (COL) 6429 Timara Chapman (USA) 6339 Maria Vicente (ESP) 6304 Beatrice Juskeviciute (LTU) 6295 Tori West (AUS) 6245 Allie Jones (USA) 6234 Lovisa Karlsson (SWE) 6146 Marys Patterson (CUB) 6113 Mathilde Rey (SUI) 6086
Men&rsquo;s decathlon Damian Warner (CAN) 9018 Leo Neugebauer (GER) 8961 Pierce LePage (CAN) 8909 Lindon Victor (GRN) 8756 Ayden Owens-Delerme (PUR) 8732 Kyle Garland (USA) 8720 Niklas Kaul (GER) 8691 Karel Tilga (EST) 8681 Sander Skotheim (NOR) 8635 Harrison Williams (USA) 8630 Heath Baldwin (USA) 8625 Simon Ehammer (SUI) 8468 Manuel Eitel (GER) 8351 Rik Taam (NED) 8326 Jente Hauttekeete (BEL) 8268 Tim Nowak (GER) 8282

More than a decade after he first won at the Hypo Meeting, Damian Warner will line up in Götzis looking to notch up another victory

Past winners Warner, LePage and Hall return to Götzis

Norway&rsquo;s Sander Skotheim scored 6484 points to break the European heptathlon record and move to fifth on the world all-time list at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Silver meeting in Tallinn, Estonia.
Closing his campaign with a 2:37.85 1000m on Sunday (2), the 22-year-old added five points to the previous European record set by world decathlon record-holder Kevin Mayer in 2017.
World indoor heptathlon silver medallist Skotheim, who <a href="https://worldathletics.org/awards/news/fair-play-award-2024-sander-skotheim" target="_blank" rel="noopener">received the International Fair Play Award at last year&rsquo;s World Athletics Awards</a>, started the competition in Tallinn on Saturday (1) with a 7.04 60m before an impressive 8.19m PB in the long jump.
He then achieved another PB &ndash; 15.00m in the shot put &ndash; and cleared 2.06m in the high jump.
He started day two by clocking 8.04 in the 60m hurdles before soaring 5.25m in the pole vault.
The European record was well within reach and he achieved it by running 2:37.85 in the 1000m, taking him to a tally of 6484 points.
<h2>Finnish record for Vanninen</h2>
The world indoor pentathlon silver medallist also won in Tallinn, Finland&rsquo;s Saga Vanninen setting a national record and world lead of 4843 points to do so. That score puts her 16th on the world all-time list.
Her performances included outright PBs of 6.48m in the long jump and 2:11.70 in the 800m, and her overall score added almost 200 points to her previous pentathlon best of 4677.
The top three all set national records as Kate O'Connor scored 4683 to improve her Irish record and world U20 heptathlon champion Jana Koscak managed 4478 to break her own Croatian record.
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-combined-events-tour/calendar-results/7213928/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>

Norway’s Sander Skotheim scored 6484 points to break the European heptathlon record and move to fifth on the world all-time list

Skotheim sets European heptathlon record in Tallinn 

Michelle Atherley and Johannes Erm have been confirmed as the winners of the 2024 World Athletics Combined Events Tour, which rewards their season-long consistency in the heptathlon and decathlon, respectively.
The Combined Events Tour takes each athlete&rsquo;s best three marks across the series and converts them into result scores (also used as the basis of the world rankings system). Winners of the Combined Events Tour, which features both indoor and outdoor meetings, receive a US$30,000 prize.
The top eight at the end of the season are:
Heptathlon 1 Michelle Atherley (USA) 3466 2 Taliyah Brooks (USA) 3421 3 Emma Oosterwegel (NED) 3421 4 Kate O'Connor (IRL) 3326 5 Vanessa Grimm (GER) 3320 6 Verena Mayr (AUT) 3303 7 Lovisa Karlsson (SWE) 3290 8 Tori West (AUS) 3289 <a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-combined-events-tour/standings/2024/women" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-cke-saved-href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-combined-events-tour/standings/2024/women">Full standings</a>
Decathlon 1 Johannes Erm (EST) 3661 2 Sander Skotheim (NOR) 3624 3 Heath Baldwin (USA) 3614 4 Sven Roosen (NED) 3599 5 Devon Williams (USA) 3477 6 Felix Wolter (GER) 3454 7 Tim Nowak (GER) 3450 8 Jente Hauttekeete (BEL) 3447 <a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-combined-events-tour/standings/2024/men" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-cke-saved-href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-combined-events-tour/standings/2024/men">Full standings</a>
Atherley&rsquo;s highest single heptathlon score of the season came at the Hypomeeting in Gotzis in May, where the US athlete scored a PB of 6465 points to place third. Her results in Gotzis included a PB and meeting record of 12.71 in the 100m hurdles and a PB of 13.67m in the shot put.
She went on to finish fourth at the US Olympic Team Trials with 6391 points and her series also included a 6372-point win at the Mt. SAC Relays in April.
Her US compatriot Taliyah Brooks secured second place in the series. After retaining her title at the Multistars meeting in Brescia in April with a PB-equalling 6330 points, she improved to a PB of 6408 to finish third at the US Olympic Team Trials and then competed at the Olympic Games in Paris, where she was 11th with 6258.
After winning the Combined Events Tour last year, Dutch heptathlete Emma Oosterwegel was third this time but it was incredibly close. She ended the season on 3421 tour points &ndash; the same as Brooks &ndash; and finished third overall as Brooks had a higher single heptathlon score (6408 to 6386).
That 6386 performance for Tokyo bronze medallist Oosterwegel came on the biggest stage of them all, as she achieved the fifth-best score of her career to finish seventh at the Olympics in Paris. She also finished fourth in Gotzis with 6337 points and second at the season-ending Decastar in Talence on 6273 points.
In the decathlon, Estonia&rsquo;s Erm had the season of his life. He won the European title in Rome in June, setting a PB of 8764 that put him third on the season top list. His series also included a score of 8462 to finish third at the Hypomeeting in Gotzis and he ended his year on a high, achieving 8589 points to win the Decastar in Talence, where his performance included a big PB of 5.37m in the pole vault.
Alongside those results, Erm also finished sixth at the Paris Olympics and claimed heptathlon bronze at the World Indoor Championships.
Norway&rsquo;s Sander Skotheim secured a second consecutive runner-up spot in the Combined Events Tour, in a season that was topped by his PB of 8635 to finish second to Erm at the European Championships. He was also runner-up to Erm in Talence, scoring 8517, while his first scoring performance as part of the tour was in the heptathlon in February in Tallinn, where he won with 6281 points. He went on to secure world indoor heptathlon silver in Glasgow.
Claiming third place in the tour was Heath Baldwin, who scored a PB of 8625 to win at the US Olympic Team Trials and then finished 10th at the Paris Olympics with 8422 points. His series also featured a runner-up finish at the Mt. SAC Relays (8470).
World Athletics

Michelle Atherley and Johannes Erm have been confirmed as the winners of the 2024 World Athletics Combined Events Tour

Atherley and Erm win World Athletics Combined Events Tour

Estonia&rsquo;s Johannes Erm won the decathlon and Colombia&rsquo;s Martha Araujo was victorious in the heptathlon at the Decastar meeting, this season&rsquo;s final World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold event, in Talence on Saturday and Sunday (14-15).
In a year that has included a European title win, sixth place at the Olympics and bronze at the World Indoor Championships, Erm achieved the second-best score of his career &ndash; 8589 points &ndash; to end his season on a high. That performance clinched him the win by 72 points ahead of Sander Skotheim of Norway, while Sven Roosen of the Netherlands was third on 8293.
Araujo has improved with every competition this year and in Talence she scored a South American record of 6429 points. That followed the then lifetime best of 6386 she set to secure seventh place at the Paris Olympics, while she also scored 6329 at the Colombian Championships in June and 6274 at the Ibero American Championships in May.
That PB performance in Talence put her 156 points ahead of defending champion Emma Oosterwegel of the Netherlands, who had finished joint seventh with Araujo in Paris, while USA&rsquo;s Michelle Atherley was third on 6267.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/66e729f1b929ab50920ec4be.jpg" alt="Martha Araujo celebrates her performance in Talence" />
Martha Araujo celebrates her performance in Talence (&copy; Team Photo / Pascal Laplassotte)
</div>
It ended up being close at the top in the decathlon. Germany&rsquo;s Manuel Eitel got the strongest start, clocking 10.56 in the 100m, as Roosen ran 10.71 and Erm 10.79. Skotheim launched himself into the lead as he soared 7.70m in the long jump, Erm managing 7.37m and Roosen 7.34m.
Belgium&rsquo;s Niels Pittomvils and Roosen were the two athletes to surpass 15 metres in the shot put, Pittomvils throwing 15.15m and Roosen 15.06m. Erm was next on 14.79m. That moved Roosen up to second just 15 points behind Eitel, with Skotheim third only another 10 points back and Erm a close fourth.
Skotheim then soared ahead as he cleared 2.11m in the high jump, six centimetres higher than anyone else, and ran 47.51 in a 400m topped by Roosen&rsquo;s 46.72. Erm was next best on 47.27.
The first day ended with Skotheim on 4444 points, 112 ahead of Erm. Belgium&rsquo;s Jente Hauttekeete had moved up into third place on 4241.
That order was maintained after the first event on day two, the 110m hurdles, as Skotheim clocked 14.17, the same as Hauttekeete, while Roosen ran 14.12 and Erm 14.21. Skotheim then held on to his lead after a 44.75m discus throw but Erm moved up into second with a leading mark of 47.25m.
A big PB 5.37m vault by Erm made the difference. He was the sole athlete to manage five metres or more and so leapt above Skotheim overall, with 7119 points to 6999. Erm was then one of three athletes to surpass 60 metres in the javelin as he threw 60.47m to Jose Fernando Ferreira Santana&rsquo;s 64.87m, while Devon Williams managed 60.01m. With one event &ndash; the 1500m &ndash; to go, Erm sat top on 7864, 140 ahead of Skotheim.
That&rsquo;s how the top two remained, with Erm running 4:33.04 and holding on to secure victory with 8589 points ahead of Skotheim (4:22.74) with 8517. Roosen (4:24.91) moved up into third on 8293, 25 points ahead of Hauttekeete with 8268.
Araujo opened her heptathlon campaign with 13.12 in the 100m hurdles, with only Atherley (13.04) going faster. Araujo then cleared a PB of 1.75m in the high jump, adding two centimetres to her previous best, to move into the overall lead.
Germany&rsquo;s Vanessa Grimm had the best mark in the shot put, throwing 14.37m, as Araujo managed 13.38m and then clocked 24.31 in the 200m. That left her on 3726 points at the end of the first day, 42 ahead of Atherley on 3684. Poland&rsquo;s Adrianna Sulek-Schubert was third on 3638 and Sweden&rsquo;s Lovisa Karlsson fourth on 3610.
Araujo and Karlsson continued their impressive form at the start of day two, leaping 6.49m and 6.55m respectively in the long jump. That put them in the top two spots, separated by 97 points, after five events. But there was disappointment for Grimm, who did not return to competition following the 200m.
Germany&rsquo;s Marie Dehning and Oosterwegel dominated the javelin, respectively throwing 53.18m and 52.56m. Araujo also surpassed 50 metres with 50.64m and that maintained her leading position overall, as she sat top on 5603, 272 ahead of Oosterwegel, with Atherley another 58 points off with one event to go.
Atherley went quickest in the 800m, running 2:08.01, but Araujo&rsquo;s 2:19.80 was more than enough to clinch her the win as she scored her total of 6429, 156 ahead of Oosterwegel who ran 2:11.56, with Atherley third on 6267 and Karlsson fourth on 6111.
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-combined-events-tour/calendar-results/7196993/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>

Estonia’s Johannes Erm won the decathlon and Colombia’s Martha Araujo was victorious in the heptathlon at the Decastar meeting

Erm and Araujo triumphant in Talence

Global medallists Lindon Victor and Emma Oosterwegel will be among the athletes looking to end their seasons on a high at the Decastar meeting, this season&rsquo;s final World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold event, in Talence this weekend (14-15).
Grenada&rsquo;s Victor claimed Olympic decathlon bronze in Paris, matching the colour of medal he secured at the World Championships in Budapest last year, while Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Oosterwegel of the Netherlands finished seventh in the heptathlon in Paris.
Now they return to Talence on the hunt for further victory, following their wins in 2022, and 2022 and 2023, respectively. Victor achieved 8550 points when winning his Decastar title two years ago and that remains the third-best score of his career behind the national record of 8756 he set in Budapest and the 8711 he managed in Paris. Oosterwegel&rsquo;s PB of 6590 was set when she claimed her Olympic medal in Tokyo, with the score of 6495 that she set to win in Talence last year remaining the second-best mark of her career. In 2022 she was a joint Decastar winner alongside Ivona Dadic, and the Austrian athlete also returns to Talence this weekend.
The decathlon field features 12 athletes who have surpassed 8000 points in the 10-event discipline, with Victor joined by fellow 8600 point-plus athletes Johannes Erm of Estonia, Sander Skotheim of Norway and Sven Roosen of the Netherlands.
Erm won the European title in Rome in June, setting a PB of 8764 that puts him third on this season&rsquo;s top list and 14th on the world all-time list, one place above Victor. He followed that with 8569 to finish sixth at the Paris Olympics and also claimed world indoor heptathlon bronze in Glasgow in March.
Talence gives him the opportunity for a rematch with Skotheim, who claimed heptathlon silver ahead of Erm in Glasgow but finished runner-up to his Estonian rival in Rome.
Roosen finished fourth, one place behind Victor, at the Paris Olympics as he scored a national record of 8607.&nbsp;
Germany&rsquo;s Manuel Eitel has finished runner-up at the past two editions of Decastar and will be looking to go one better this time around. Also returning are USA&rsquo;s Devon Williams and Belgium&rsquo;s Jente Hauttekeete, while Brazil&rsquo;s Jose Fernando Ferreira Santana joins them on the entry list following a PB performance of 8213 in Paris.
In the heptathlon, Oosterwegel and Dadic are among 15 athletes in the field who have surpassed 6000 points in their careers so far.
Like Oosterwegel, Dadic has a PB above 6500 points, thanks to the 6552 score she achieved at the European Championships in Berlin in 2018. She will be looking to rebound after falling in the 100m hurdles in Ratingen in June as she contests her first heptathlon since then. Prior to that she scored 6115 at the Hypomeeting in Gotzis in May.
Her compatriot Verena Mayr also returns to Talence and as it was for Dadic, Gotzis was the scene of Mayr&rsquo;s most recent full heptathlon as she scored 6196.
Poland&rsquo;s Adrianna Sulek-Schubert gave birth to her son in February, but she returned to competition in June, scoring 6033 at an event in Warsaw, and competed at the Olympics, finishing 12th with 6226.
Colombia&rsquo;s Martha Araujo secured seventh place at the Paris Olympics with a PB of 6386 and she also scored 6329 at the Colombian Championships in June and 6274 at the Ibero American Championships in May.
Another athlete looking to make a statement will be USA&rsquo;s Michelle Atherley, who scored a PB of 6465 in Gotzis in May, while Germany&rsquo;s Vanessa Grimm will also want to build on her Hypomeeting performance, having scored 6307, just off her PB of 6323 from 2022.

Global medallists Lindon Victor and Emma Oosterwegel will be among the athletes looking to end their seasons on a high at the Decastar meeting

Past winners Victor and Oosterwegel seek end of season success in Talence

Germany&rsquo;s Felix Wolter and Poland&rsquo;s Adrianna Sulek-Schubert lived up to expectations as the pre-event favourites for the Wiesław Czapiewski Memorial as they claimed victories at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting in the Polish town of Naklo nad Notecia on Sunday (1).
Wolter scored a meeting record of 8068 after being pushed all the way by Japan&rsquo;s Yuma Maruyama and Estonia&rsquo;s Risto Lillemets, both of whom also scored in excess of 8000 points.
Sulek-Schubert, meanwhile, retained her title from 2022 with 6007 to win comfortably from Ukraine&rsquo;s Yuliya Loban.
Wolter led from the outset, clocking 10.63 in the 100m and leaping 7.64m in the long jump, the best marks of the day for those disciplines. His opponents made a dent on his lead in the shot put as the German managed 13.49m while Zsombor Galpal topped the event with 15.09m.
A 1.94m leap in the high jump kept Wolter in the lead ahead of Czechia&rsquo;s Vilem Strasky and Maruyama, then he ended the first day with a 48.39 victory in the 400m to increase his lead to 120 points.
Wolter started the second day with a 14.52 run in the 110m hurdles, an event in which Lorenzo Naidon (14.12) and Maruyama (14.20) produced the fastest times.
Lithuania&rsquo;s Edgaras Benkunskas, the strongest thrower in the field, topped the discus with a PB of 49.89m, while Wolter managed 44.06m. Lillemets then climbed up the leader board into fifth after clearing 5.00m in the pole vault with Wolter &ndash; still the overall leader &ndash; vaulting 4.70m and Maruyama managing 4.80m.
Benkunskas, Lillemets and Maruyama all threw beyond 60 metres in the javelin to make a small dent on Wolter&rsquo;s lead. But his 56.43m throw kept him in pole position going into the 1500m.
Naidon was the fastest in the final discipline (4:31.99) and he was closely followed by Lillemets (4:32.24) and Maruyama (4:36.59) but Wolter did enough to hold on to his lead (4:43.61), ending with a score of 8068.
Maruyama scored 8021 for second place, just ahead of Lillemets (8012).
Like Wolter, Sulek-Schubert led the heptathlon from start to finish.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/66d593e3c135065377afe554.JPG" alt="Adrianna Sulek-Schubert at the Czapiewski Memorial" />
Adrianna Sulek-Schubert at the Czapiewski Memorial (&copy; Organisers)
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The European indoor silver medallist opened with a 13.44 victory in the 100m hurdles and then cleared 1.77m, the best of the day, in the high jump.
Yuliya Loban produced the best throw in the shot put, 14.86m, but Sulek-Schubert&rsquo;s 13.75m kept the Pole in the lead. Sulek-Schubert then increased her leading margin to 166 points at the end of the first day thanks to a 24.28 victory in the 200m.
Sulek-Schubert and Loban produced the exact same mark in the long jump, 5.79m, then the Ukrainian out-threw Sulek-Schubert in the javelin by almost five metres, 42.22m to 37.81m, but it wasn&rsquo;t enough to displace the leader.
A 2:16.95 run in the 800m sealed the victory for Sulek-Schubert, giving her a winning score of 6007. Loban was second with 5861.

Germany’s Felix Wolter and Poland’s Adrianna Sulek-Schubert lived up to expectations as the pre-event favourites for the Wiesław Czapiewski Memorial

Wolter and Sulek-Schubert win in Naklo nad Notecia

European indoor silver medallist Adrianna Sulek-Schubert and Germany&rsquo;s Felix Wolter lead the entries for the Wiesław Czapiewski Memorial &ndash; a World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting &ndash; in the Polish town of Naklo nad Notecia this weekend (31 August &ndash; 1 September).
Sulek-Schubert, who was formerly coached by Czapiewski, won the inaugural edition of this meeting in 2022 with 6290 &ndash; which remains the meeting record &ndash; and then went on to finish fourth at the World Championships that year in a Polish record of 6672.
At the start of 2023 she finished second at the European Indoor Championships with 5014 &ndash; a mark that exceeded the previous world indoor record, but was bettered on the day by gold medallist Nafi Thiam&rsquo;s 5055 world record.
Sulek-Schubert cut her 2023 season short when she discovered she was pregnant. She gave birth in February 2024 and returned to competition just four months later, scoring 6033 in her first heptathlon since childbirth. She went on to place 12th at the Olympic Games in Paris with a season&rsquo;s best of 6226.
The 25-year-old will now look to cap her season in winning ways and will start as the favourite in the heptathlon.
Two other women in the field &ndash; Ukraine&rsquo;s Yuliya Loban and Poland&rsquo;s Edyta Bielska &ndash; have PBs in excess of 6000 points, while a third, Hungary&rsquo;s Szabina Szucs, is just four points shy of that mark.
Loban, the World University Games silver medallist, finished sixth at the World Indoor Championships earlier this year, but is yet to complete an outdoor heptathlon this year. Szucs, the 2021 world U20 bronze medallist, started her outdoor campaign with a PB of 5996 and she would dearly love to end the season as a member of the 6000-point club.
Seven men with PBs in excess of 8000 points will line up for the decathlon in Naklo nad Notecia this weekend.
Felix Wolter, who finished second in Ratingen in June with a season&rsquo;s best of 8226, is the leading entrant. The German set his PB of 8299 last year, and he&rsquo;ll have one eye on the meeting record of 8041.
But so too will the likes of Lithuania&rsquo;s Edgaras Benkunskas and Czechia&rsquo;s Vilem Strasky, both of whom have bettered 8000 this season.
Estonian duo Risto Lillemets and Taavi Tsernjavski should also put up a good fight, as should Hungary&rsquo;s Zsombor Galpal, Poland&rsquo;s Pawel Wiesiolek and Italy&rsquo;s Lorenzo Naidon.

Adrianna Sulek-Schubert and Felix Wolter lead the entries for the Wiesław Czapiewski Memorial

Sulek-Schubert and Wolter aim to end season on a high in Naklo nad Notecia

Till Steinforth and Sandrina Sprengel achieved personal best performances to complete a German double at the Stadtwerke Ratingen Mehrkampf-Meeting, the final World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold event ahead of the Paris Olympics, this weekend (22-23).
Steinforth&rsquo;s score to win the decathlon was 8287, 61 points ahead of his compatriot Felix Wolter. Czechia&rsquo;s Vilem Strasky placed third on 7986.
Sprengel scored 6260 points to win the heptathlon by 16 points ahead of Ireland&rsquo;s Kate O'Connor, with Australia&rsquo;s Tori West only another nine points back in third place.
Steinforth threatened the meeting record in the very first event, improving his 100m PB from 10.69 to 10.41 (1.4m/s). Sven Jansons matched his PB of 10.56 to finish second, while his Dutch compatriot Rik Taam was third with 10.59, a PB by 0.03. Wolter was fourth with 10.65 and Strasky fifth with 10.72.
Steinforth would maintain his lead for the next six events, only dropping to second place after the pole vault and regaining top spot after the javelin. He and Wolter occupied the top two spots throughout.
They went one-two in the long jump, Steinforth leaping 7.59m (1.0m/s) and Wolter 7.55m (0.7m/s) and they were separated by 66 points at that stage.
Estonia&rsquo;s world fourth-place finisher Karel Tilga, who decided to test himself in a few disciplines in Ratingen, only took one attempt &ndash; a foul &ndash; in the long jump, but he led the shot put with a PB throw of 16.59m, surpassing 16 metres in each of the three rounds and finishing just four centimetres off the meeting record. Niels Pittomvils was next best on 15.25m, while Tim Nowak threw 14.87m. US-based Steinforth was below his best of 14.33m but he remained in the overall lead with a throw of 13.48m.
Nowak topped the high jump thanks to a 2.01m clearance, while Steinforth, Wolter, Strasky and Fred Isaac Fleurisson all made it over 1.98m.&nbsp;
The final event on day one was topped by Taam, on the hunt for a Paris place. He went quickest in the 400m, clocking 47.24 to finish just ahead of Steinforth in a PB of 47.38 &ndash; his first time under 48 seconds. Wolter was third in 47.72.
That left Steinforth in the lead overnight, the 22-year-old having 4374 points, 67 ahead of Wolter.
Day two started with the 110m hurdles, led by Fleurisson in 13.96 (0.2m/s) ahead of Strasky (14.04). Steinforth was just 0.01 off his PB in winning the second race in 14.12. That result maintained Steinforth&rsquo;s lead and after six events he was 123 points ahead of Wolter, who held on to second spot overall despite almost falling in the hurdles. Taam was in third and Strasky fourth.
There were PBs for Pittomvils and Wolter in the discus as they respectively threw 48.35m and 45.42m. Steinforth stayed ahead with a best of 42.18m, but Wolter&rsquo;s PB performance closed the gap to 57 points with three events to go. It was at this stage that Taam&rsquo;s winning hopes came to an end as he was unable to achieve a valid throw and Strasky moved into third place overall.
Steinforth lost the lead for the first time after the pole vault, as he cleared 4.70m to Wolter&rsquo;s PB-equalling 5.00m. Strasky managed 4.90m and between them they kept the top three spots, but with Wolter top on 6895 points, 34 ahead of Steinforth.
Steinforth launched himself back into the lead with another PB in the penultimate event, the javelin. His 59.53m was the second best of the competition, behind Leon Mak&rsquo;s 59.85m &ndash; a PB by almost three metres. Wolter had to settle for a best of 52.03m but still had a top two place and the compatriots were 78 points apart with just the 1500m to go.
Steinforth kept Wolter in his sights in that final event and raced to a more than five second PB of 4:37.73 to clinch the title with a lifetime best of 8287. Wolter ran 4:35.07 to secure second place with 8226, while Strasky &ndash; in his third decathlon in five weeks &ndash; closed his campaign with a 4:47.35 1500m to score a total of 7986 for third place. Pittomvils finished fourth on 7906 after a strong end to his series.
&ldquo;An increase of more than 200 points is of course great. I even had weaker disciplines like the shot put and the pole vault,&rdquo; Steinforth told the German athletics association.
&ldquo;I hope that my development continues like this, because in four years I want to be at the Olympic Games. That is my goal.&rdquo;
<h2>Strong series for Sprengel</h2>
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/667869c84120f87b8c7952dc.jpg" alt="Sandrina Sprengel in Ratingen" />
Sandrina Sprengel in Ratingen (&copy; Fynn Zenker)
</div>
Sprengel, the European U20 champion and world U20 bronze medallist, also started her campaign in PB style, clocking 13.50 (0.5m/s) in the 100m hurdles. That was the fifth fastest time of the first event, led by Esther Conde-Turpin of France with a wind-assisted 13.25 (2.7m/s). Behind Conde-Turpin, China&rsquo;s Zheng Ninali ran 13.32 and Germany&rsquo;s 2017 world silver medallist Carolin Schafer ran 13.35. There was disappointment for Austria&rsquo;s Ivona Dadic who fell and did not finish.
Sprengel&rsquo;s aim for the season was to surpass 6200 points and she remained on track for that in Ratingen with a high jump clearance of 1.78m &ndash; down on her PB of 1.83m but enough to see her achieve the joint second-best height of the morning behind Jana Koscak&rsquo;s 1.81m.&nbsp;
Schafer, a two-time Ratingen winner, had started well in her most recent heptathlon at the European Championships in Rome but then she recorded three fouls in the shot put. She had more success this time in Ratingen, throwing 14.40m for the second-best throw of the day, three centimetres off the leading 14.43m by Germany&rsquo;s Vanessa Grimm, contesting her third heptathlon in five weeks. O'Connor was also among the five athletes to surpass 14 metres with 14.16m, while Sprengel set another PB with her 13.26m throw.
Schafer shot to the top spot after three events, 24 points ahead of the 20-year-old Sprengel.
Schafer held on to that lead to finish the first day as No.1 on 3736 points, clocking 24.17 (-1.8m/s) for the second quickest 200m of the day behind West&rsquo;s 24.14 (-1.3m/s). In that same heat, Sprengel clocked 24.21 to finish second behind West and ended day one in second place, 27 points behind Schafer. Zheng ran 24.73 and was in third place overnight, with West in fourth and O'Connor in seventh.
Things didn&rsquo;t go to plan for Schafer at the start of day two, as she managed a best of 5.66m in the long jump. Sprengel replaced her as leader after that event, jumping 6.27m &ndash; just 10cm off her PB and 8cm off the leading mark achieved by Lucie Kienast.
Sprengel set another PB in the penultimate event, throwing 46.03m to improve her previous best by more than a metre and maintain top spot overall. Her compatriot Marie Dehning threw farthest, improving her PB by almost three metres with 56.12m and breaking the meeting record. O'Connor threw 52.12m, West 51.74m and Schafer 48.31m, as the other three athletes to surpass 46 metres.&nbsp;
With only the 800m to go, Sprengel was 71 points ahead of West, with O'Connor another 10 points back. Schafer was in fourth place and Zheng in fifth, but they did not race the final event.
Running in the same race as O'Connor and West, Sprengel didn&rsquo;t let them get too far away and crossed the finish line in 2:19.25 to secure victory on her Ratingen debut with her PB of 6260 points. O'Connor was fastest overall and her 2:14.57 took her to a total of 6244 to secure second place ahead of West on 6235. Elisa Pineau of France finished fourth on 6000.
&ldquo;I am overjoyed because I never expected to win,&rdquo;&nbsp;said Sprengel. &ldquo;After the 100m hurdles I already felt that such a score was possible, because when the hurdles go well, the entire heptathlon usually goes well for me too.&rdquo;
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-combined-events-tour/calendar-results/7203853/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>

Till Steinforth and Sandrina Sprengel achieved personal best performances to complete a German double at the Stadtwerke Ratingen Mehrkampf-Meeting

Steinforth and Sprengel achieve German double in Ratingen

As the final World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting ahead of the Paris 2024 Games, the Stadtwerke Ratingen Mehrkampf-Meeting on 22-23 June will be an important stepping stone ahead of the Olympics.
Some of the leading contenders in Ratingen are already in a position to qualify for the Games, but several others are on the brink of qualification and so will be looking to boost their world ranking in the German city this weekend.
Karel Tilga leads the decathlon field. The Estonian hasn&rsquo;t competed since last year&rsquo;s World Championships in Budapest &ndash; where he finished fourth with a PB of 8681 &ndash; and achilles and knee injuries kept him out of this year&rsquo;s World Indoor Championships and the European Championships.
The 26-year-old already has the Olympic qualifying mark, so he won&rsquo;t have to worry about big scores this weekend in Ratingen. He will, however, be keen to put together a confidence-boosting series, having not competed for 10 months.
Three other athletes in the field &ndash; Spain&rsquo;s Jorge Urena, Australia&rsquo;s Daniel Golubovic and Rik Taam of the Netherlands &ndash; are currently in an Olympic qualifying position in the world rankings, but they&rsquo;ll need a strong performance this weekend to hold on to those places.
Urena, the 2019 European indoor champion, was second in Ratingen last year with a PB of 8381. The Spaniard has a best this year of 7505, set earlier this month in Arganda del Rey, but he&rsquo;ll be hoping for a mark nearer to &ndash; or even in excess of &ndash; 8000 points in Ratingen.
Taam finished one place behind Urena in Ratingen last year, also setting a PB (8326). The Dutch all-rounder went on to finish 13th at the World Championships in Budapest, but he hasn&rsquo;t completed a combined events competition since then. As the athlete currently in the 24th and final qualifying spot for the Olympics, he&rsquo;ll be highly motivated going into this weekend.
Golubovic is sandwiched between Urena and Taam in the road to Paris qualifying rankings. The Commonwealth and Oceanian silver medallist will be competing in Ratingen for the first time in what he hopes will be a key performance towards securing selection for his first Olympics.
Two German men &ndash; world leader Leo Neugebauer and 2019 world champion Niklas Kaul &ndash; already have the Olympic qualifying standard, while a third, Manuel Eitel, is ranked within the qualifying quota. None of these will be competing in Ratingen, but a few other German decathletes will be in action in a bid to move ahead of Eitel in the rankings.
Tim Nowak, runner-up in Ratingen two years ago, set a PB of 8282 in G&ouml;tzis last month, then went on to finish ninth at the European Championships with 8150. Ratingen will mark his third decathlon within five weeks, but a solid performance certainly won&rsquo;t harm his world rankings points.
Kai Kazmirek, the 2017 world bronze medallist, was a non-finisher in Arona last month. The two-time Ratingen winner last completed a decathlon in July last year, winning in Bydgoszcz with 8038, but his PB (8580) is the second-best of the field, behind Tilga.
Germany&rsquo;s Felix Wolter set his PB of 8299 when winning in Marburg last year, and he came close to it in G&ouml;tzis five weeks ago with 8190. He&rsquo;ll be aiming to match or improve on his fifth-place finish in Ratingen last year.
Czech decathlete Vilem Strasky is another who&rsquo;s within sniffing distance of an Olympic qualifying spot, while the likes of Ondrej Kopecky, Australia&rsquo;s Cedric Dubler and Poland&rsquo;s Pawel Wiesiolek will also be looking to pull out something special ahead of the Games.
Two-time Ratingen winner Carolin Schafer will start as the favourite for the heptathlon. The 2017 world silver medallist has been in solid form this year and got off to a promising start at the recent European Championships before recording three fouls in the shot put.
If she&rsquo;s able to hold her nerve this weekend, she could notch up yet another Ratingen victory, becoming just the fourth woman to win three or more times in the German city. But she&rsquo;ll face strong competition from the likes of compatriot Vanessa Grimm, Austria&rsquo;s Verena Mayr and China&rsquo;s Zheng Ninali.
Grimm came within 16 points of her PB to finish fifth in G&ouml;tzis last month with 6307. She is currently within the qualifying quota for Paris, but only just as she&rsquo;s in 23rd place &ndash; one place behind Mayr and one place ahead of Zheng.
Mayr won in Ratingen in 2019 with a national record of 6591 then went on to claim bronze at the World Championships later that year. More recently she was eighth in G&ouml;tzis with 6196 but then, like Schafer, did not finish at the European Championships.
Zheng, the Asian Games champion, currently sits in the 24th and final qualifying spot for Paris. Earlier this year she scored 6164 in California, so she&rsquo;ll be keen to improve on that to climb into a safer position in the world rankings.
Several other women heading to Ratingen are just outside of the top 24 qualifying positions.
Australia&rsquo;s Tori West set a PB of 6245 to finish sixth in G&ouml;tzis and is now just two places behind Zheng on the road to Paris list. Ireland&rsquo;s Kate O&rsquo;Connor and Ukraine&rsquo;s Yuliya Loban are close behind West, while Sarah Lagger and teenager Jana Koscak are also in the top 32.
The likes of French duo Esther Conde-Turpin and Celia Perron will also be highly motivated, with a home Games on the horizon, so too will Austria&rsquo;s Ivona Dadic, a two-time runner-up in Ratingen.

Stadtwerke Ratingen Mehrkamp-Meeting

As the final World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting ahead of the Paris 2024 Games, the Stadtwerke Ratingen Mehrkampf-Meeting will be an important stepping stone

Calendar
Date	Meeting	Venue	Country
25–26 JAN 2025	X-ATHLETICS	Stadium Jean-Pellez, Aubiére	FRA
01–02 FEB 2025	Tallinn 2025	Tallinna Kergejõustikuhall, Tallinn	EST
16 FEB 2025	Combined Events Copernicus Cup	Arena, Toruń	POL
22–23 FEB 2025	USA Indoor Championships	Ocean Breeze Athl. Complex, New York, NY	USA
16–19 APR 2025	Mt. SAC Relays	Hilmer Lodge Stadium, Walnut, CA	USA
26–27 APR 2025	38th Multistars	Centro Gabre Gabric, Brescia	ITA
31 MAY–01 JUN 2025	Hypomeeting	Mösle-Stadium, Götzis	AUT
21–22 JUN 2025	XIV Meeting Arona Pruebas Combinadas	Antonio Domínguez Stadium, Arona	ESP
05–06 JUL 2025	Décastar	Stade Pierre Paul Bernard, Talence	FRA
26–27 JUL 2025	4th Wiesław Czapiewski Memorial	Stadion Miejski, Nakło nad Notecią	POL
31 JUL–03 AUG 2025	USA Championships	Hayward Field, Eugene, OR	USA
09–10 AUG 2025	EAP International Combined Events Meeting	Tynedale Athletics Park, Hexham	GBR

Hall and Skotheim win World Athletics Combined Events Tour

Kopecky breaks meeting record, Sulek-Schubert retains title in Naklo nad Notecia

Sulek-Schubert targets third win at Czapiewski Memorial

Owens-Delerme wins decathlon, Araujo retains heptathlon title in Talence

Defending champions Erm and Araujo face tough opposition in Talence

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