Vanninen takes convincing pentathlon win in Nanjing

Saga Vanninen lived up to expectations to take the pentathlon title at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25, becoming the first Finnish woman to win a senior global combined events title.

The 21-year-old, who claimed silver in Glasgow last year, went one better here in the Chinese city to earn gold with 4821. It’s her second major title this month, having won the European indoor title two weeks ago.

Ireland’s Kate O’Connor went one better than she did at the European Indoors, taking silver with 4742 to become the first Irish woman to win a global combined events medal. USA’s Taliyah Brooks earned her first major medal, taking bronze with a PB of 4669.

While there were some minor disappointments further down the field, the competition for the three eventual medallists played out much to the form book.

Brooks, an accomplished hurdler in her own right, was the quickest in the 60m hurdles, clocking 8.09. Vanninen and O’Connor crossed the line at the same time in 8.30, a PB for the latter.

The situation remained close in the high jump with Vanninen and O’Connor once again matching one another, clearing 1.81m – this time a PB for the Finn. Brooks was close behind with a season’s best of 1.78m.

Croatia’s world U20 champion Jana Koscak, a 1.92m jumper at her best, was 20cm shy of that form in Nanjing, sacrificing precious points in her campaign.

A superb effort of 15.81m in the shot put gave Vanninen the overall lead for the first time in the competition. O’Connor maintained the pressure on her opponent by throwing a PB of 14.64m, while Brooks slipped to third overall after her throw of 14.39m.

Vanninen was once again top of the pile in the long jump, going out to 6.37m to extend her lead over O’Connor (6.32m). Brooks also stayed in medal contention thanks to a 6.35m leap.

It meant that going into the 800m, the picture was relatively clear: Saga had a comfortable lead of 94 points over O’Connor, which appeared relatively safe given their 800m ability is comparable. Brooks had a three-point lead over O’Connor; while she isn’t as strong in the final discipline, she still had a comfortable enough buffer for finishing in a podium position.

Xenia Krizsan, as she often does, excelled in the 800m and crossed the line first in 2:12.36. O’Connor followed soon after in 2:14.19, one place ahead of Vanninen. With Brooks finishing further down the field, it meant that the Finn took gold with 4821, 101 points shy of her winning score from the European Indoor Championships. O’Connor secured silver with 4742 ahead of Brooks, who set a PB of 4669 to finish comfortably ahead of Germany’s Vanessa Grimm in fourth (4481).

“This has been a big dream for me and now it's come true,” said Vanninen, a two-time world U20 champion. “My training had been going really well, so I knew that I was in good shape, but I had a little problem with my knee which made me a bit nervous. This will help with my confidence, and of course with the World Championships in Tokyo, which is my biggest goal.”

Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics