Polish heptathlete Paulina Ligarska (© Getty Images)
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’s toughest opponent. The US heptathlete added 140 points to her PB in Götzis 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 Götzis. 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’s Elisa Pineau, the winner in Arona last year with 6020, will defend her title. She didn’t complete her heptathlon in Brescia in April, but she managed a shot put PB of 14.90m there.
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’s busy season continues in the decathlon; in fact, Sunday’s contest will be his third decathlon of the month, having scored 7918 in Götzis 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 Ureña. The 31-year-old, who’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’s Finley Gaio, looking to improve on his 7917 outing in Götzis a few weeks ago.
Sweden’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
