Ukraine will send 14 athletes to the IAAF World Indoor Championships Portland 2016 on March 17-20.
Two of the three athletes who earned medals in Sopot in 2014 are back on the team. High jumper Andriy Protsenko and pentathlete Alina Fodorova will be aiming to improve upon their bronze medals from two years ago.
Fodorova is joined in the pentathlon by current world leader Anastasiya Mokhnyuk. Oleksiy Kasyanov, the 2012 world indoor silver medallist, has been invited to compete in the heptathlon.
<h3>Ukrainian team for Portland</h3>
MEN 60m hurdles: Serhiy Kopanayko, Artem Shamatryn High jump: Andriy Protsenko Heptathlon: Oleksiy Kasyanov
WOMEN 60m: Olesya Povh 800m: Nataliia Lupu, Anastasiya Tkachuk 60m hurdles: Anna Plotitsyna 4x400m: Olga Bibik, Anastasiia Bryzhina, Dzhois Koba, Anastasiia Lebid Pentathlon: Alina Fodorova, Anastasiya Mokhnyuk

Ukraine will send 14 athletes to the IAAF World Indoor Championships Portland 2016 on March 17-20.

Fourteen named on Ukrainian team for Portland

Russia&rsquo;s Ilya Shkurenev and Ukraine&rsquo;s Alina Fodorova lead the way at the halfway point of the European Cup Combined Events Super League on Saturday (4), part of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge, this year being held in the French town of Aubagne.
Shkurenev, the 2012 and 2014 European decathlon bronze medallist, has 4278 points but he is only nine points in front of Ukraine&rsquo;s Oleksiy Kasyanov, the pair having an entertaining duel over the first day.
Kasyanov was better than his Russian rival across the first three events, posting marks of 10.79, 7.60m and 14.28m in the 100m, long jump and shot put. But the European indoor heptathlon champion stayed close with 11.05, 7.55m and 14.24m before moving to the fore when he went over 2.10m in the high jump to Kasyanov&rsquo;s 1.98m.
The Ukrainian, who won the 2012 European decathlon silver medal, clocked 48.80 in the 400m to Shkurenev&rsquo;s 49.40 but it was not quite enough to regain the lead.
Great Britain&rsquo;s Liam Ramsay lies in third place overnight with 4158 points, helped by a personal best of 47.27 in the 400m, more than a second faster than anyone else.
There is also a tight contest in the heptathlon in Aubagne as Fodorova, the world indoor pentathlon bronze medallist, leads with 3851 points but only has an advantage of 44 points over her compatriot Anastasia Mokhynuk.
Fodorova started with a 100m hurdles best of 13.80 and followed it with an outdoor shot best of 15.01m.
A lot will depend on her javelin, usually a weak event for her, but she could have a chance of improving on her best of 6126 which dates from 2012.
Mokhynuk, the European under-23 heptathlon bronze medallist, recently set a personal best of 6331 in Gotzis at the end of May. Although she started badly with a 13.46 100m hurdles, nearly half a second slower than her recent best, she recovered a lot of ground with a personal best of 14.96m in the shot put, almost a metre better than she&rsquo;s done before.
<h3>Ukraine leads team standings</h3>
The European Cup Combined Events leagues are, in fact, competitions where the top three men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s scores from the same nation are aggregated together but only individual athletes&rsquo; scores from the decathlon and heptathlon count towards the IAAF Combined Events Challenge.
Nevertheless, after the first day in the Super League, Ukraine has a narrow advantage over their neighbours and defending champions Russia.
Ukraine leads with 22,904 points with Russia second with 22,822. Hosts and 2013 winners France is third with 22,170 points.
In the First League in Inowroclaw, Poland, Norway&rsquo;s Martin Roe leads the decathlon with 4182 points, moving into first place after the shot put and consolidating his position after being the fastest man in the 400m with a personal best of 49.00.
Roe now has a chance of surpassing 8000 points for the first time in his career.
Poland&rsquo;s Karolina Tyminska is in front after four events in the heptathlon with 3696 points.
Her 13.99m shot put was just over a metre down on her best but still good enough to move her into first place after three events. After the 200m she has an advantage of 108 points over her compatriot Izabela Mikolajczyk.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF

Russia’s Ilya Shkurenev and Ukraine’s Alina Fodorova lead the way at the halfway point of the European Cup Combined Events Super League on Saturday (4), part of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge, this year being held in the French town of Aubagne.

Shkurenev and Fodorova lead after day one of the European Cup Combined Events Super League 

In an exciting finale to the women’s pentathlon, six out of the eight athletes set a personal best in the 800m with the remaining two ending up with a season’s best.Nadine Broersen did exactly what she had to in the race, dropping to the back of the field with the others starting fast. But the 23-year-old remained calm and finished with a 2:14.97 personal best, 1.71 seconds faster than her earlier indoor best from 2013.The Dutchwoman scored a world-leading 4830 points for a national record, wiping off Karin Rucksthul’s previous mark of 4801 from the 2007 European Indoor Championships in Birmingham.It was the best comeback possible for Broersen, as she came to Moscow thinking about a medal and then tripped in the first event, the 100m hurdles. She still managed to finish in 10th place at those World Championships, showing great resilience.Brianne Theisen-Eaton was too far away from Broersen, but ran a brave 800m race to overcome the 2.2 seconds difference between Ukrainian Alina Fodorova and her for the second place. The Canadian led the race almost until the end, finishing in a personal best of 2:10.07. It crushed her previous indoor best of 2:11.82 from the 2011 NCAA Championships and came quite close to her 2:09.03 outdoor best achieved in the magical 800m heptathlon race in Moscow last summer.The 25-year-old set a national record of 4768, bettering the 4555 mark she set in 2012.Fodorova was just able to hold on to the bronze medal with Sharon Day-Monroe running away fast at the front. The 24-year-old Ukrainian clocked a 2:15.31 personal best for a total score of 4724, also a PB.Day-Monroe, the pre-championships world leader, just missed out on a medal despite a great 800m race. She did all she could, winning the 800m in 2:09.80, cutting more than two seconds off her previous best of 2:11.89 from 2012. She too came close to her outdoor PB of 2:08.94 from Moscow 2013, but in the end just six points stood between her and the bronze medal. Day-Monroe scored 4718 points for the fourth place, her second best total in this event.German Claudia Rath finished the pentathlon well, clocking a 2:10.29 personal best in the 800m to finish fifth with 4681, adding more than 300 points to her previous best from 2011. Yana Maksimava of Belarus was sixth with 4651 points, world champion Hanna Melnychenko was seventh with 4587 and Karolina Tyminska of Poland scored 4557 points for eighth place.Mirko Jalava for the IAAF

In an exciting finale to the women’s pentathlon, six out of the eight athletes set a personal best in the 800m with the remaining two ending up with a season’s best.

Report: women’s pentathlon 800m – Sopot 2014

Nadine Broersen has a firm grip on the pentathlon gold medal after opening up a big 101-point lead before the final event, 800m.The 23-year-old from the Netherlands produced a personal best of 6.17m in round two to bring her score to 3937. She is also a decent 800m runner, which makes it near impossible for the others to catch her.Ukraine&rsquo;s Alina Fodorova continued with her solid performances today, surpassing the six-metre mark with each of her three attempts. The longest one was 6.26m and she will be fighting hard to keep the silver medal position, which she now has with 3836 points.The 24-year-old has equal 800m ability to Broersen, so she cannot catch her and has to concentrate on keeping the others behind her in the final event.World silver medallist Brianne Theisen-Eaton had big problems in the long jump. The 25-year-old fouled her first two jumps and then jumped way behind the board with the last. Despite all this, a 6.13m leap with that last attempt keeps her eyes firmly on a medal. She has 3804 points for the third place.Sharon Day-Monroe jumped 5.94m, a decent enough result for her, and she is in fourth place with 3750 points before the final event.World champion Hanna Melnychnko will not win here and quite possibly doesn&rsquo;t have enough running power to even aim at the bronze during the 800m. She did manage a good result in the long jump with a 6.27m season&rsquo;s best result coming in round three. She has 3742 points for the fifth place.Claudia Rath of Germany was the best long jumper today with 6.37m and is in sixth place with 3721 points.Belarusian Yana Maksimava is a good 800m runner, but she is a bit too far from the medals now. A 5.90m long jump gives her 3705 points for the seventh place and Karolina Tyminska of Poland jumped 6.07m in the long jump for 3622 points and place eight.Broersen&rsquo;s lead over Fodorova converts to 7.2 seconds in the 800m. Fodorova is 2.2 seconds ahead of Theisen-Eaton and Day-Monroe is just 3.8 seconds behind the Canadian. Day-Monroe is the strongest 800m runner out of these four runners and the leading trio has to do well to keep her off the medals.Mirko Jalava for the IAAF

Nadine Broersen has a firm grip on the pentathlon gold medal after opening up a big 101-point lead before the final event, 800m.

Fourteen named on Ukrainian team for Portland

Shkurenev and Fodorova lead after day one of the European Cup Combined Events Super League

Report: women’s pentathlon 800m – Sopot 2014

Report: women’s pentathlon long jump – Sopot 2014