WCH Budapest 23 preview: combined events

Women's heptathlon

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For the first time in 12 years, the World Championships heptathlon field will be missing Nafissatou Thiam.

The Belgian all-rounder has dominated the event for the past seven years, winning two world titles and two Olympic gold medals, as well as five continental crowns – three indoors and two outdoors. But following her world indoor record at the European Indoor Championships in March, some recent achilles tendon problems have forced the 28-year-old to miss this year’s World Championships.

As a further plot twist, Poland’s Adrianna Sulek – who also surpassed the previous world indoor record when taking European indoor silver behind Thiam – recently announced that she is pregnant and will be missing the rest of the season.

It paves the way for a new champion to be crowned in Budapest, with Anna Hall perhaps being the most likely candidate.

The 22-year-old from the USA made a huge breakthrough in Oregon last year, adding almost 300 points to her PB to take bronze with 6755. She picked up this season where she left off, winning in Götzis with a PB of 6988, elevating her to fifth on the world all-time list.

Six weeks later, she won the US title with 6677, giving her the best two scores in the world this year heading into Budapest. This time, she may not have the home crowd support that she benefitted from in Oregon, but she has enough of a points buffer over the rest of the entrants that she doesn’t need to be at her very best in every discipline.

That said, she also can’t afford for any big disasters – which can often happen in combined events.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson, world champion in 2019, is on the comeback trail. The Briton was forced to withdraw from the Olympic heptathlon in 2021 through injury, then returned to action to place eighth at last year’s World Championships before taking Commonwealth gold on home soil.

Her form has continued to improve this season and she finished second to Hall in Götzis with 6556 – her best score in four years. Since then, she has made good strides in the hurdles and long jump, which will give her a confidence boost ahead of Budapest.

Anouk Vetter took silver behind Thiam in Oregon and Tokyo, but the Dutch record-holder hasn’t completed a heptathlon this year. She contested the first day of the Hypo Meeting in Götzis, however, and recorded good marks in the hurdles and 200m, so she will likely be in the hunt for medals in Budapest.

Vetter’s teammates Emma Oosterwegel and Sofie Dokter could also be in contention. Oosterwegel, the Olympic bronze medallist, has a best this year of 6209, but she always produces her best score of the year at a major championships. Dokter, meanwhile, finished just outside the medals at the European Indoor Championships and set a heptathlon PB of 6321 in Götzis.

Despite the absence of Thiam, Belgium will still be sending a reigning global champion to compete in the heptathlon in Budapest. World indoor champion Noor Vidts hasn’t contested a full heptathlon this year, but she displayed good form indoors, taking European indoor bronze with 4823, and has been solid across the board in individual disciplines in recent months.

Expect the home crowd to cheer loudly for Xenia Kriszan. The 2021 European indoor bronze medallist holds the Hungarian record at 6651, which she set when winning in Götzis two years ago. She recorded three fouls in the heptathlon long jump at last year’s World Championships in Oregon, but rebounded to place fifth at the European Championships in Munich with 6372 – her best score in a championship heptathlon.

Carolin Schafer, the 2017 world silver medallist, won in Ratingen with 6369 and forms part of a strong German team, alongside Sophie Weissenberg and Vanessa Grimm.

European bronze medallist Annik Kalin has competed sparingly outdoors this year, but the Swiss record-holder is a 6515 performer at her best and cannot be discounted.

Also keep an eye on rising talent Saga Vanninen, the two-time world U20 champion. The 20-year-old will be the youngest athlete in the field, but she is on a roll so far this year, setting a PB of 6391 in Götzis and taking European U23 gold in Espoo.

 

Men's decathlon

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Expect another battle royale between defending champion Kevin Mayer and Olympic champion Damian Warner. But the decathlon in Budapest will be a lot more than just that.

World record-holder Mayer hasn’t contested a decathlon so far this year, which isn’t too unusual for the 31-year-old; the last time the French all-rounder completed more than one decathlon in a single season was back in 2016.

He is clearly in good form, though, as shown by his 6348 victory at the European Indoor Championships, followed by some solid performances in selected disciplines outdoors.

Warner, meanwhile, has recovered from the injury that caused him to withdraw from the decathlon 400m at last year’s World Championships, but he suffered a rare defeat at the Hypo Meeting to fellow Canadian Pierce LePage, the world silver medallist. Warner still scored a highly respectable 8619 to LePage’s 8700, and there’s every chance both men could make it on to the podium in Budapest.

Many combined events fans will be eager to see what Leo Neugebauer does in Budapest. The 23-year-old German won the NCAA title with a world-leading collegiate record of 8836, breaking the long-standing German record in the process.

Neugebauer enjoyed the competition of his life, setting five individual PBs within that series and adding more than 350 points to his PB in one fell swoop. He hasn’t competed since then, but he is no stranger to the World Championships, having finished 10th in Oregon last year.

The top six finishers from last year’s World Championships will be in action in Budapest, including 2019 world champion Niklas Kaul. After placing sixth in Oregon, the German went on to win the European title on home soil in Munich with 8545 – his best score since winning the world title three years prior. He won in Ratingen in June with 8484, his highest score outside of a championships, which bodes well leading into Budapest.

USA’s Zachery Ziemek, Puerto Rico’s Ayden Owens-Delerme and Grenada’s Lindon Victor finished third, fourth and fifth respectively in Oregon, and all have the ability to place in the top five again in Budapest.

Norwegian duo Markus Rooth and Sander Skotheim may have something to say about that, though.

Skotheim set a Norwegian record of 6318 to take silver at the European Indoor Championships earlier this year, finishing just 30 points shy of Mayer. His improvement continued outdoors and, still aged just  20 at the time, he smashed his PB to set a Norwegian record of 8590 when placing third in Götzis behind LePage and Warner.

That record stood for just seven weeks, though, because teammate Markus Rooth excelled to win the European U23 title in Espoo with 8608. Skotheim still performed well and took silver with 8561.

Unlike Skotheim, Rooth has never competed at a global championships before, but both men are on an upward trajectory and could help propel one another to a world medal – if not in Budapest then sometime in the near future.

Ashley Moloney has battled injuries since earning Olympic bronze in 2021, but the Australian has shown some glimmers of promise this season, including competing in the first nine disciplines of the decathlon in Götzis. Teammates Cedric Dubler and Daniel Golubovic are no stranger to the championship arena, either, and both will be targeting a top-10 finish.

Estonia, as ever, will field a strong contingent. Their decathlon squad for Budapest comprises European bronze medallist Janek Oiglane, Multistars winner Karel Tilga and national champion Johannes Erm.

Kyle Garland, who took silver at the NCAA Championships behind Neugebauer with 8630, also features on the US team alongside national champion Harrison Williams. Garland’s PB of 8720 is the fourth-best of the entire field, so he could certainly challenge for medals on a good day.

Whatever unfolds, two things are almost certain: this will be one of the highest quality decathlons in World Championships history. And the medals most likely won’t be decided until the final stages of the contest.

Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics