French decathlete Antoine Ferranti at the International Meeting of Arona (© Organisers)
With respective scores of 8221 and 6061 points, France’s Antoine Ferranti and Sweden’s Lovisa Karlsson were the winners at the International Meeting of Arona – the second Gold leg of the World Athletics Combined Events Tour – 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 Comín 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 Gámez 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 – eighth overall – was the fastest in the 110m hurdles with 14.00 ahead of Spain’s Jorge Ureña, 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 – 58.82m to 57.36m – 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’s victor Diakite was third (7889).
Marsh dominates on day one but Karlsson prevails
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’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’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 – 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’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’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
