Germany&rsquo;s Sophie Weissenberg leads the heptathlon by a single point, while Makenson Gletty of France tops the decathlon after the first day of competition at the Decastar meeting, this season&rsquo;s final World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold event, in Talence.
Weissenberg, who started as the overall Tour leader, achieved 3757 points from the first four events to put her just one point ahead of USA&rsquo;s Taliyah Brooks at the end of day one.
In the decathlon, Gletty scored 4344 points from the first five events, putting him 76 points ahead of Germany&rsquo;s Manuel Eitel at the halfway stage.
It was Brooks who got the strongest start in the heptathlon as she clocked 12.91 to take the lead after the first event, the 100m hurdles. The 28-year-old set a PB of 6330 to win the Multistars heptathlon in April and then finished second at the US Championships, but her campaign at the World Championships in Budapest came to an early end when she was unable to record a mark in the long jump.
Returning to combined events action, she followed her hurdles win with a 1.75m clearance in the high jump to maintain top spot ahead of Switzerland&rsquo;s Annik Kalin, who clocked 13.21 and cleared 1.75m, and Weissenberg, who topped the high jump with a 1.81m clearance after clocking 13.72 in the hurdles.
A throw of 13.67m moved Weissenberg &ndash; who finished seventh at the World Championships &ndash; into the lead after the shot put as she moved four points ahead of Brooks, who had a best of 12.93m. Defending champion Emma Oosterwegel of the Netherlands also moved up at this point, a 13.80m throw &ndash; the second best of the day behind the 14.17m by Ukraine&rsquo;s Yuliya Loban &ndash; putting her into third place overall.
Although things were close at the top after three events, they were even closer after four as Brooks closed the gap to just a single point, clocking 24.02 to Weissenberg&rsquo;s 24.05 in the 200m. Oosterwegel ran 24.48 to hold on to third place with 3688 points ahead of Kalin and Marijke Esselink of the Netherlands, both with 3654.
Eitel was the early leader in the decathlon, clocking 10.64 in the 100m ahead of Gletty and Switzerland&rsquo;s Finley Gaio, who both ran 10.78, and world bronze medallist Lindon Victor, who clocked 10.81.
Gaio leapt ahead following the long jump, as he recorded a leading 7.54m to take the overall top spot by three points from Eitel, who jumped 7.40m. Gletty was in third after a best of 7.34m.
Gletty then launched himself into the lead with a throw of 16.46m in the shot put &ndash; a 10cm PB. Eitel held on to second place, throwing 14.77m, as Gaio moved to third following a 13.85m throw.
Belgium&rsquo;s world U20 heptathlon record-holder Jente Hauttekeete moved from ninth to fifth &ndash; behind Gletty, Eitel, Gaio and Victor &ndash; thanks to his 2.08m clearance in the high jump, the best of the day by 9cm. Gletty, Eitel and Victor each managed 1.96m, while Gaio cleared 1.93m.
The top of the standings remained the same following the day&rsquo;s final event, the 400m. Gaio clocked 48.30 and Gletty a PB of 48.38 to finish day one in the lead ahead of Eitel, who ran 48.75.
<a href="https://decastar.fr/fr/classement-general-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Current standings</a>

Germany’s Sophie Weissenberg leads the heptathlon by a single point, while Makenson Gletty of France tops the decathlon after the first day of competition at the Decastar meeting

Weissenberg and Gletty lead after day one in Talence

Global bronze medallists Lindon Victor and Emma Oosterwegel return to defend their titles at the Decastar meeting, this season&rsquo;s final World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold event, in Talence this weekend (23-24).
Victor broke his own Grenadian record with 8550 points to win the Decastar decathlon last year and improved again &ndash; to 8756 &ndash; to claim world bronze in Budapest last month. Olympic bronze medallist Oosterwegel, meanwhile, tied with Ivona Dadic in Talence, as they both scored 6233 points to top the heptathlon.
Now Victor and Oosterwegel seek further strong performances as they look to move up the World Athletics Combined Events Tour standings, currently led by Karel Tilga and Sophie Weissenberg, and as athletes aim to make a mark as the Olympic year approaches.
A total of 10 athletes who have surpassed 8200 points in the decathlon and 10 heptathletes with 6200-point-plus PBs will compete at the Stade Pierre Paul Bernard, where Kevin Mayer set his world decathlon record of 9126 in 2018.
Victor moved up to 15th place on that world all-time list topped by Mayer with his performance in Budapest, where he stepped on to a global podium for the first time and finished third behind Canadian duo Pierce LePage and Damian Warner. Such was the standard, Victor&rsquo;s 8756 there was the best mark for third place in any decathlon.
As part of his series, Victor &ndash; the two-time Commonwealth Games champion &ndash; achieved a decathlon championship best of 54.97m in the discus and set PBs in the long jump, 400m and 1500m.
He will be joined in Talence by athletes including Germany&rsquo;s Manuel Eitel, Belgium&rsquo;s Thomas Van der Plaetsen, USA&rsquo;s Devon Williams and Poland&rsquo;s Pawel Wiesiolek.
Like Victor, Eitel was also in action in Budapest where he placed 11th, after scoring a PB of 8351 to finish fifth in Gotzis in May. Van der Plaetsen, who set his 8430 PB when finishing third in Gotzis in 2021, finished fourth in Ratingen in June with 8233 points.
The field also features athletes including French champion Makenson Gletty, Estonia&rsquo;s Risto Lillemets and Belgium&rsquo;s world U20 heptathlon record-holder Jente Hauttekeete.
In the heptathlon, Hungary&rsquo;s Xenia Krizsan, Netherlands&rsquo; Oosterwegel and Germany&rsquo;s Weissenberg compete again, one month on from their respective fourth, fifth and seventh place finishes at the World Championships.
On home soil in Budapest, Krizsan scored 6479 for her third best heptathlon behind the 6651 national record she set to win in Gotzis in 2021. Her World Championships performance left her just 22 points off the bronze medal mark.
Oosterwegel achieved 6464 points in Budapest &ndash; the second best score of her career behind the 6590 PB she set for Olympic bronze in Tokyo &ndash; and Talence offers her a third heptathlon of the year after she also placed third in Ratingen in June.
Weissenberg finished one place ahead of Oosterwegel in Ratingen and then set a PB of 6438 for seventh in Budapest.
Annie Kunz leads the field when it comes to PBs thanks to the 6703 points she set to win the US title in 2021 before finishing sixth at the Tokyo Olympics. Her compatriots Michelle Atherley and Taliyah Brooks also compete, with Brooks having set a PB of 6330 to win the Multistars heptathlon in Desenzano del Garda in April.
The entry list also stars Austria&rsquo;s 2019 world bronze medallist Verena Mayr, Switzerland&rsquo;s Annik Kalin and Spain&rsquo;s Claudia Conte, who competes for the first time since last year's European Championships following injury.

Global bronze medallists Lindon Victor and Emma Oosterwegel return to defend their titles at this season’s final World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting

Victor and Oosterwegel to defend Decastar titles in Talence

For any athlete, staying uninjured and in one piece is a challenge. Even more so for combined eventers who have to train for several disciplines.
Just ask Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam, who was forced to withdraw from the defence of her world title due to achilles tendon issues.
Or ask world leader Anna Hall, who went into the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 as the favourite, following her 6988 PB to win at the Hypo Meeting in Gotzis, but battled her way through the two days of competition carrying a knee injury.
Or perhaps ask Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the newly crowned world champion, who has had more than her fair share of injuries and misfortune over the years, but persevered in spite of it all and was rewarded with her third global title this evening in Budapest.
From the outset, it was clear that the competition would be closer than the world lists would have suggested. Hall and Johnson-Thompson had last clashed in Gotzis, where Hall scored her world-leading 6988 to move to fifth on the world all-time list. Johnson-Thompson was second on that occasion with 6556, a score she was more than content with, given the journey she had taken to get there.
She rehabbed her way back from injury in the first half of 2021 to make it to the Olympic start line, only to suffer yet another injury during the heptathlon 200m in Tokyo to take her out of action yet again.
Johnson-Thompson returned to form &ndash; albeit still some way off her best &ndash; in 2022, finishing eighth at the World Championships, but her season ended on a high when she took gold at the Commonwealth Games on home soil.
She continued to build on that this year, and she took great confidence from her runner-up finish in Gotzis. So she headed to Budapest quietly confident of making it on to the podium &ndash; perhaps even on the top spot.
With each event, that dream seemed to become more and more of a reality.
Hall started well, clocking 12.97 in the hurdles to Johnson-Thompson&rsquo;s 13.50. The gap seemed big, but Hall was some way down on her Gotzis mark, while Johnson-Thompson was up on hers.
Hall&rsquo;s US teammates Taliyah Brooks (12.78) and Chari Hawkins (13.04) performed well in that event, while Vetter opened with a solid 13.42 clocking.
Johnson-Thompson had the best mark of the day in the high jump, 1.86m, which was three centimetres higher than Hall&rsquo;s best (1.83m). Hall moved into the lead, followed by her two compatriots, but Johnson-Thompson was still close behind.
Hall managed to extend her lead in the shot put, throwing a lifetime best of 14.54m. Johnson-Thompson recorded a solid 13.64m, while Vetter jumped up the leaderboard thanks to her 15.72m heave.
Johnson-Thompson made a further dent in Hall&rsquo;s lead in the 200m, clocking the fastest time of the day, 23.48, and finishing 0.08 ahead of Hall. The US athlete held the overnight lead with 3998, but Johnson-Thompson was in second place with 3905, five points ahead of Hawkins. Vetter, meanwhile, was down in seventh (3792).
Johnson-Thompson started the second day in the same way she had ended the first &ndash; by posting the best mark of the field. Her 6.54m leap in the long jump gave her the overall lead for the first time in the competition, putting her 19 points ahead of Hall &ndash; now competing with strapping on her leg &ndash; who managed 6.19m.
The standings changed again after the javelin, which is where Vetter excels. The Olympic silver medallist from the Netherlands threw a championship best of 59.57m to propel herself up to second place overall.
Johnson-Thompson, meanwhile, threw a PB of 46.14m to maintain her place at the top of the standings. Hall initially struggled, starting with a foul, then throwing 37.92m, but she ended with a season&rsquo;s best of 44.88m to stay in contention.
It meant that Johnson-Thompson went into the final event, the 800m, with a 43-point lead over Hall, which translates to about 2.8 seconds in 800m terms. Hall is one of the fastest heptathletes in history over two laps of the track, but this time she had the pressure of needing to finish comfortably ahead of her main rival &ndash; while running on a leg that wasn&rsquo;t at 100%.
Johnson-Thompson had pressure, too: needing to stick within a few seconds of a woman who is capable of running 2:02 for 800m. The 30-year-old Brit lined up with a PB of 2:07.26.
Hall went out hard &ndash; perhaps too hard &ndash; on the first lap, passing through 200m in 27.73 and 400m in 58.59, speedy even for elite 800m runner terms. Johnson-Thompson was already two seconds adrift at this point; she couldn&rsquo;t afford to lose much more ground.
But Johnson-Thompson kept Hall in her sights and ensured she didn&rsquo;t lose any ground. If anything, she gained a bit on Hall as the US athlete crossed the line in a championship best of 2:04.09 and Johnson-Thompson followed in a big PB of 2:05.63.
Within seconds, the result was confirmed: Johnson-Thompson had earned gold with 6740 and Hall took silver with 6720. Vetter, who clocked 2:20.49, claimed the bronze with 6501, just 22 points ahead of Hungary&rsquo;s Xenia Krizsan (6479).
In a close contest where just 51 points separated bronze from sixth, Emma Oosterwegel was fifth (6464) and world indoor champion Noor Vidts was sixth (6450).
&ldquo;This has been one of the most gruelling heptathlons I&rsquo;ve ever done &ndash; the delayed start yesterday, the long day, then I got about three hours sleep last night,&rdquo; said Johnson-Thompson. &ldquo;I just knew I could prove to myself &ndash; and to all everyone else &ndash; that I could still do it.
&ldquo;This is the culmination of so much hard work. I'm so happy, I'm crying. I can't help it. Today I knew that if I believed in myself, I could do it. But it wasn't easy.
&ldquo;In the 800m I wasn't thinking anything at all; I was just staring at the back of her (Anna Hall&rsquo;s) legs, thinking 'Don't let her get away'. I was completely calm on the start line. I wasn't nervous at all. I knew if I believed I could do it, I would. The last lap was amazing.
&ldquo;I can't take it in &ndash; it's making me emotional,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;The past few years have been so hard, but now it seems like it was all worth it. I've won medals before but this means so much.&rdquo;
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center;" colspan="3">WOMEN'S HEPTATHLON MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968;">Katarina Johnson-Thompson 🇬🇧 GBR</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968;">6740 SB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Anna Hall 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9;">6720</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e;">Anouk Vetter 🇳🇱 NED</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e;">6501 SB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/budapest23/results/women/heptathlon/800-metres/points" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Don't forget to join <a href="https://worldathletics.org/inside-track" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Inside Track</a> for free to get access to real-time results and statistics, the latest highlights and behind-the-scenes content during the World Championships.

World Athletics Championships, Budapest 2023

For any athlete, staying uninjured and in one piece is a challenge

Johnson-Thompson returns to the top of world heptathlon podium in Budapest

<h2>Women's heptathlon</h2>
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/en/competitions/world-athletics-championships/budapest23/timetable/bydiscipline/women/heptathlon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://worldathletics.org/world-rankings/heptathlon/women" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://worldathletics.org/records/toplists/combined-events/heptathlon/outdoor/women/senior/2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2023 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/combined-events/heptathlon/outdoor/women/senior" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://worldathletics.org/disciplines/combined-events/heptathlon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
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 &ndash; 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&rsquo;s World Championships.
As a further plot twist, Poland&rsquo;s Adrianna Sulek &ndash; who also surpassed the previous world indoor record when taking European indoor silver behind Thiam &ndash; 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 G&ouml;tzis 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&rsquo;t need to be at her very best in every discipline.
That said, she also can&rsquo;t afford for any big disasters &ndash; 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&rsquo;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 G&ouml;tzis with 6556 &ndash; 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&rsquo;t completed a heptathlon this year. She contested the first day of the Hypo Meeting in G&ouml;tzis, however, and recorded good marks in the hurdles and 200m, so she will likely be in the hunt for medals in Budapest.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64daa5942b3aa941b8ef55d1.jpg" alt="Anouk Vetter in Oregon" />
Anouk Vetter in Oregon (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
Vetter&rsquo;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 G&ouml;tzis.
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&rsquo;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 G&ouml;tzis two years ago. She recorded three fouls in the heptathlon long jump at last year&rsquo;s World Championships in Oregon, but rebounded to place fifth at the European Championships in Munich with 6372 &ndash; 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 G&ouml;tzis and taking European U23 gold in Espoo.
&nbsp;
<h2>Men's decathlon</h2>
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/en/competitions/world-athletics-championships/budapest23/timetable/bydiscipline/men/decathlon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://worldathletics.org/world-rankings/decathlon/men" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://worldathletics.org/records/toplists/combined-events/decathlon/outdoor/men/senior/2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2023 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/combined-events/decathlon/outdoor/men/senior" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://worldathletics.org/disciplines/combined-events/decathlon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
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&rsquo;t contested a decathlon so far this year, which isn&rsquo;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&rsquo;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&rsquo;s 8700, and there&rsquo;s every chance both men could make it on to the podium in Budapest.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64daa56c2e3a146a105a7e2c.jpg" alt="Damian Warner in Oregon" />
Damian Warner in Oregon (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
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&rsquo;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&rsquo;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 &ndash; 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&rsquo;s Zachery Ziemek, Puerto Rico&rsquo;s Ayden Owens-Delerme and Grenada&rsquo;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&nbsp; 20 at the time, he smashed his PB to set a Norwegian record of 8590 when placing third in G&ouml;tzis 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 &ndash; 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 G&ouml;tzis. 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&rsquo;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&rsquo;t be decided until the final stages of the contest.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon

WCH Budapest 23 preview: combined events

Germany&rsquo;s Kai Kazmirek and Austria&rsquo;s Sarah Lagger came through in the final stages of the decathlon and heptathlon respectively to win at the Wieslawa Czapiewski Memorial &ndash; a World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting &ndash; in Bydgoszcz on Sunday (23).
Finley Gaio led for the first eight disciplines in the decathlon, while Britain&rsquo;s Jade O&rsquo;Dowda dominated the first day of the heptathlon. O&rsquo;Dowda was a non-starter on day two, though, while Gaio was overtaken by four opponents in the final two decathlon disciplines, narrowly missing the podium.
Gaio was the only man to break 11 seconds in the 100m, doing so comfortably with 10.68 to take an immediate lead. Kazmirek, meanwhile, was fourth overall with 11.08. Gaio also topped the long jump with 7.59m, giving him a comfortable 181-point lead after just two events from Czechia&rsquo;s Adam Helcelet and defending champion Ondrej Kopecky.
The margins closed up slightly after the shot put, though, as Gaio&rsquo;s 13.89m ranked him ninth in that discipline. He held on to his overall lead, but Helcelet (15.10m) consolidated his second place, while Poland&rsquo;s Pawel Wiesiolek (14.39m) also moved up the leaderboard. Poland&rsquo;s Rafal Horbowicz was the top performer, throwing a PB of 15.64m, moving him from 10th overall to fifth.
Gaio cleared 1.94m in the high jump, enough to maintain his lead, while Helcelet got over 1.97m to creep a bit closer in the standings. Lithuania&rsquo;s Edgaras Benkunskas produced the best leap of the day, his 2.03m clearance moving him into third place overall, seven points ahead of Kazmirek, the 2017 world bronze medallist.
A season&rsquo;s best of 47.80 &ndash; easily the fastest of the day in the 400m &ndash; gave Gaio an extra points boost to close out the first day with an overall score of 4280 &ndash; just 19 points shy of his day-one score from his recent 8022 PB in Gotzis.
Kazmirek was second best in the 400m, clocking 48.69, with Wiesiolek (49.38), Benkunskas (49.73) and Tim Nowak (49.78) all finishing inside 50 seconds.
Helcelet held on to second place overall (4081) with Kazmirek close behind (4067) and Benkunskas fourth (4025).
As expected, Gaio &ndash; the fifth-place finisher in the 110m hurdles at last year&rsquo;s European Championships &ndash; extended his lead in the first discipline of day two, clocking 13.84. Kazmirek, meanwhile, clocked a solid 14.58 to remain in contention.
Horbowicz, one of the strongest throwers of the field, was best in the discus (46.82m). Kazmirek threw 42.92m and Gaio managed 37.24m.
The gap between Gaio and Kazmirek narrowed again after the pole vault, with Kazmirek clearing 5.00m &ndash; 30 centimetres higher than Gaio&rsquo;s best.
Gaio finally surrendered the lead after the javelin, throwing just 48.29m. A season&rsquo;s best of 66.19m from Helcelet propelled the Czech decathlete into the lead with one event to go, but Kazmirek &ndash; who threw 60.92m &ndash; was just 41 points behind.
Wiesiolek was first to cross the line in the 1500m (4:35.44) with Kazmirek following a few seconds later in 4:39.34, seven seconds ahead of Helcelet. The difference meant that Kazmirek had done just enough to win with 8038, while Helcelet took second place with 8034. Benkunskas was third (7947) and Gaio fourth (7935).
Headwinds hampered performances in the opening event of the heptathlon on Saturday with Hungary&rsquo;s Rita Nemes being the only athlete to break 14 seconds (13.99). O&rsquo;Dowda clocked 14.02 to finish close behind with home favourite Adrianna Sulek, the European silver medallist, recording 14.04. Lagger was ninth best overall with 14.28.
O&rsquo;Dowda then had the competition of her life in the high jump. The Commonwealth bronze medallist went into it with a season&rsquo;s best of 1.77m and a PB of 1.80m, but she went over both of those heights on her first try. She then cleared 1.83m and 1.86m, eventually retiring after one attempt at 1.89m. Sulek was second best in the high jump with 1.80m, while Lagger cleared a season&rsquo;s best of 1.74m.
Germany&rsquo;s Vanessa Grimm moved up the leaderboard after the shot put, where she posted the best mark of the day with 14.53m, while Ukraine&rsquo;s Yuliya Loban was close behind with 14.45m. Lagger&rsquo;s 14.21m throw moved her into fifth place overall.
O&rsquo;Dowda threw 13.22m, while Sulek managed 12.68m. By the end of that event, Dowda had a 57-point lead over Loban with Grimm in third and Sulek a close fourth.
The final discipline of the day, the 200m, was close between the leading contenders. Australia&rsquo;s Tori West was the quickest with 24.62, but Grimm (24.66), Sulek (24.69) and O&rsquo;Dowda (24.80) were close behind.
O&rsquo;Dowda ended the first day in the lead with 3677 points, with Grimm second (3596), Sulek third (3572) and Loban fourth (3570). Lagger, meanwhile, was down in seventh (3480) after recording the slowest time in the 200m (25.63).
But the 2016 world U20 champion&rsquo;s fortunes started to change on the second day.
Nemes started the second day in the same way she&rsquo;d started the first &ndash; with a winning performance. The Hungarian leaped a PB of 6.30m in the long jump, while Grimm jumped 6.28m. Lagger managed 6.09m and Sulek jumped 6.04m.
With O&rsquo;Dowda withdrawing from the competition, it meant Grimm moved into the overall lead from Loban and Sulek, with Lagger now in fifth.
Lagger then produced the best mark of the day in the javelin, 47.44m, catapulting her into second place, just 20 points behind Loban, whose 43.29m javelin throw helped move her into the lead.
Nemes rounded out the weekend with victory in the 800m (2:11.47), but Lagger was close behind in 2:13.01, and finished comfortably ahead of Loban (2:18.41). It meant that Lagger took the overall victory with a season&rsquo;s best of 6089 from Grimm (6058) and Nemes (6049). Loban was fourth with 6033.

Kazmirek scores 8038, Lagger scores 6089

Kazmirek and Lagger make late charge in Bydgoszcz

World indoor silver medallist Adrianna Sulek will defend her title at the Wieslaw Czapiewski Memorial &ndash; the last stop on the Combined Events Tour before the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 &ndash; on 22-23 July.
For Sulek, it will be an opportunity to remember her former coach, after whom the meeting is named. The Pole was coached by Czapiewski up until his death in 2019.
Sulek won in Bydgoszcz last year with 6290, which at the time was just 25 points shy of her PB. She went on to improve on that with 6429 in G&ouml;tzis before breaking the Polish record with 6672 to finish fourth at the World Championships. She ended her 2022 season by taking silver at the European Championships with 6532.
She started 2023 in tremendous form, breaking her own national indoor pentathlon record with 4860 and then improving on that at the European Indoor Championships with 5014. Her score was better than the pre-event world record, but world and Olympic champion beat her to the title &ndash; and the world record &ndash; with 5055.
Outdoors, Sulek finished third in G&ouml;tzis with 6480 &ndash; her best score outside of a major championships &ndash; and last month she won the Polish heptathlon title with a comfortable 6152.
Sulek was the overall winner of the Combined Events Tour last year, and a strong performance this weekend should see her move to the top of the standings for 2023.
She&rsquo;ll have strong opposition from home and abroad. Britain&rsquo;s Jade O&rsquo;Dowda, the Commonwealth bronze medallist, heads to Bydgoszcz following a PB of 6255 in G&ouml;tzis, where she finished 10th. Since then, she has set PBs in the long jump and 100m hurdles, so there could be potential to improve on her score in Bydgoszcz.
Poland&rsquo;s Paulina Ligarska will be Sulek&rsquo;s biggest domestic rival. She set a PB of 6241 last year and finished 10th at the World Championships, while her best so far this year is 6013.
Geraldine Ruckstuhl, the 2015 world U18 champion, is also entered. The Swiss heptathlete scored 5872 in her last complete heptathlon, while her PB of 6391 dates back to 2018.
Belgium&rsquo;s Thomas van der Plaetsen leads the men&rsquo;s decathlon field. The 2016 European champion had a limited 2022 season, after injuring himself at the 2021 Olympic Games, but he returned to combined events action earlier this year and finished fourth in Ratingen with 8233 &ndash; a series that included PBs in the shot put (14.72m) and javelin (68.94m).
He will now look to build on that and get close to the PB of 8430 he set in 2021. He will also have the World Championships qualifying standard of 8460 in his sights, or will at least want to bank enough world rankings points to put himself in a position to qualify for Budapest.
Several other decathletes will be keen to boost their world ranking in Bydgoszcz.
Ondrej Kopecky returns to defend his title. The Czech decathlete won in Bydgoszcz last year with 8041 &ndash; his first time above 8000 points &ndash; and then improved to 8310 to win the Czech title. Earlier this year he won the national indoor title with a heptathlon PB of 6024 and finished sixth at the European Indoor Championships. He placed 17th in G&ouml;tzis with 7928 and currently sits just two places outside the world rankings quota for a place in Budapest.
Germany&rsquo;s 2017 world bronze medallist Kai Kazmirek is yet to complete a decathlon this year, but his performances in individual disciplines suggest he&rsquo;s in form to surpass 8000 points.
Pawel Wiesiolek and Rafal Horbowicz lead the domestic challenge. Wiesiolek, an 8333 decathlete at his best, has a season&rsquo;s best of 7872 and he came within five points of that mark to win the Polish title last month. Horbowicz, meanwhile, is the national indoor champion and has set a decathlon PB of 7800 earlier this year.

Adrianna Sulek and Thomas van der Plaetsen lead the fields

Sulek seeks second success in Bydgoszcz

Niklas Kaul achieved the Olympic standard with 8484 points to claim his first Stadtwerke Ratingen Mehrkampf-Meeting decathlon victory, while Carolin Schafer scored 6369 to win the heptathlon for the third time at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold event on Saturday and Sunday (17-18).
Germany&rsquo;s 2019 world champion Kaul surpassed the World Championships qualification standard of 8460 points for Budapest when winning his European title last year and in Ratingen he bettered that mark again to beat the standard for the Olympic Games in Paris.
He did so by 24 points, scoring his fourth-best ever tally and winning by 103 ahead of Spain&rsquo;s Jorge Urena (8381) and Netherlands&rsquo; Rik Taam (8326), who both achieved PBs.
In the heptathlon, Schafer added another victory to her wins from 2017 and 2018, taking top spot ahead of her compatriot and the 2022 winner in Ratingen, Sophie Weissenberg (6247), and Netherlands&rsquo; Emma Oosterwegel (6209).
The decathlon was close throughout the first day of action. Dutch indoor champion Sven Jansons was the surprise early leader after setting a PB of 10.65 in the 100m and following it with a windy 7.53m in the long jump and 13.63m in the shot put. But soon after, the 21-year-old was forced to withdraw from the competition due to adductor issues.
A 2.04m leap from Urena propelled the Spaniard into the overall lead, just ahead of German duo Nico Beckers and Felix Wolter. Of that lead trio, Wolter had performed best in the 100m (10.72) and long jump (7.69m), while Beckers excelled in the shot put (15.86m).
Wolter closed the gap on Urena in the 400m, running 47.59, but Urena&rsquo;s 48.39 clocking was just enough to ensure he held on to the lead at the end of the first day with a score of 4292, five points ahead of Wolter. Beckers ran 48.60 in the 400m, while Taam produced the fastest time of the day (47.18), moving him from sixth to fourth overall.
Kaul was in fifth place after a solid first day, highlighted by his second-best ever long jump (7.34m) and his third-best ever 400m (48.21). He also ran 11.50 (-1.7m/s) in the 100m, threw 14.66m in the shot put and cleared 2.04m in the high jump and was just 135 points shy of leader Urena with several strong events to come on day two.
Urena picked up from where he left off on Sunday, recording the fastest time in the 110m hurdles of 14.00. Wolter retained his No.2 spot with a 14.28 PB, while Kaul got close to his PB with 14.31.
A throw of 48.57m in the discus &ndash; his second-best ever mark &ndash; launched Kaul from fifth to first and although he dropped down to third behind Taam and Urena after this 4.80m clearance in the pole vault, his 67.44m in the javelin &ndash; more than 11 metres below his best, in an event in which he was trying a new technique &ndash; put him back on top and his winning time of 4:14.19 in the 1500m ensured he stayed there.
Urena held on to his second place, throwing 39.37m in the discus and then clearing 4.90m in the pole vault and throwing 64.00m &ndash; just 2cm off his 2015 PB &ndash; in the javelin, before running a 1500m PB of 4:24.04 to add 59 points to his previous decathlon best achieved at the Olympics in Tokyo.
Taam also achieved a 1500m PB, running 4:20.99, which came after a 14.47 110m hurdles performance, 47.29m discus throw, 5.00m pole vault clearance and 57.63m javelin throw. He also leapt a long jump PB of 7.33m on day one to help him to a decathlon lifetime best of 8326, taking him above 8300 points for the first time.
Belgium&rsquo;s Thomas Van der Plaetsen finished the first day in sixth place but a javelin throw of 68.94m &ndash; a PB by more than three metres &ndash; moved him up to third and he eventually finished fourth after a 4:45.91 1500m, taking him to a 8233 tally. Wolter finished fifth on 8118 points as a total of seven decathletes surpassed 8000 points, Germany&rsquo;s Tim Nowak scoring 8075 and his compatriot Jannis Wolff 8033 to achieve a 8000 point-plus score for the first time following a performance that featured PBs in four disciplines, including 46.00m in the discus to add almost five metres to his previous best.
On the hunt for her third win in Ratingen, Schafer led the heptathlon with 3812 points at the end of the first day, 68 ahead of Weissenberg.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/648de9b5501f4279d90fe21a.jpg" alt="Carolin Schafer in the heptathlon 100m hurdles in Ratingen" />
Carolin Schafer in the heptathlon 100m hurdles in Ratingen (&copy; DLV / Benjamin Heller)
</div>
Belgium&rsquo;s world and Olympic champion Nafi Thiam, who was contesting just a few selected disciplines in Ratingen instead of the full heptathlon, posted the fastest time of the day in the 100m hurdles with 13.38, but Schafer was close behind (13.43), giving her an early advantage over Weissenberg (13.67).
But Weissenberg responded with 1.81m in the high jump, six centimetres higher than Schafer&rsquo;s best, to take the overall lead.
The standings changed again after the shot put, where Schafer threw 14.75m &ndash; her best mark since 2017, the year in which she earned world heptathlon silver. Weissenberg managed 13.33m to slip to third in the overall standings behind USA&rsquo;s Shaina Burns, who threw 13.56m.
Schafer&rsquo;s momentum continued in the 200m as she finished ahead of her compatriot once more, 23.88 to 24.03. It gave Schafer an overall leading tally of 3812 &ndash; her best day-one score since the 2018 European Championships.
Weissenberg ended day one with a score of 3744, about 100 points shy of the first-day score she achieved last month in G&ouml;tzis where she finished fifth with 6375.
Thiam skipped the high jump, but threw 15.20m in the shot put and ran 24.45 in the 200m.
Weissenberg leapt into the lead at the start of day two with 6.31m in the long jump, the second-farthest mark of the day behind Thiam&rsquo;s 6.59m, as Schafer recorded 5.83m and moved into second spot.
Schafer was No.1 again after the javelin, however, as she threw 50.23m in a discipline topped by Thiam&rsquo;s 52.61m. Schafer then clocked 2:14.94 to triumph by 122 points, as Weissenberg ran 2:22.24 to hold on to her runner-up place.
Olympic bronze medallist Oosterwegel jumped from sixth to third with a 52.04m javelin throw after long jumping 5.83m and that is where she would stay as she won the 800m in 2:12.60 for an overall score of 6209 points.
Ireland&rsquo;s Kate O'Connor and Austria&rsquo;s 2019 world bronze medallist Verena Mayr, contesting her first heptathlon since the Olympic Games in Tokyo and following thigh problems, also surpassed 6000 points, scoring 6125 and 6023, respectively.

Niklas Kaul achieved the Olympic standard while Carolin Schafer claimed her third Ratingen title

Kaul and Schafer win in Ratingen

US all-rounder Anna Hall gave the 7000-point barrier a scare at the Hypo Meeting in G&ouml;tzis, winning the heptathlon at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting with a world-leading 6988.
It means that, at just 22 years of age, Hall moves to fifth on the world all-time list behind the four members of the 7000-point club: Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Carolina Kluft, Nafissatou Thiam and Larisa Nikitina.
The Hypo Meeting decathlon title, meanwhile, remained in Canadian hands, but seven-time winner Damian Warner had to surrender his crown to compatriot Pierce LePage, who won with a world-leading 8700.
Hall, the world bronze medallist, set the tone for the weekend in the first discipline, winning the 100m hurdles in 12.75 to take 0.03 off the meeting record. She moved straight into the lead, and there she stayed for the duration of the competition.
US compatriot Taliyah Brooks finished second in the 100m hurdles (12.85), while Cuba&rsquo;s Adriana Rodriguez also dipped under 13 seconds to place third (12.97) ahead of Adrianna Sulek from Poland (13.18).
Hall set another PB in the high jump with 1.92m, a height that was matched by Croatia&rsquo;s 17-year-old Jana Koscak, the European U18 champion. Sulek moved into third after clearing 1.83m, while Britain&rsquo;s 2019 world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson cleared 1.89m to move to fourth place.
Two-time world U20 champion Saga Vanninen from Finland moved into fourth after winning the shot put with 14.98m. Hall recorded 13.90m to hold on to her lead ahead of Sulek, who improved her PB to 14.44m to move into second place. Johnson-Thompson, meanwhile, added six centimetres to her PB with 13.92m to remain in contention.
Hall&rsquo;s momentum continued in the 200m, which she won in a PB of 22.88, giving her a day-one score of 4172. Only Joyner-Kersee, the world record-holder, ever managed a better day-one score. Johnson-Thompson ran 23.26 to move into third place behind Sulek, who ran 23.80.
Despite producing the three best marks of the long jump at the start of day two &ndash; 6.54m PB, 6.51m and 6.50m &ndash; Hall was frustrated that she took off significantly behind the board on some of those attempts. Nevertheless, she extended her lead over Sulek and Johnson-Thompson, who jumped 6.29m and 6.32m respectively.
Vanninen also moved up the leaderboard thanks to a PB of 6.43m. But the discipline marked the exit of Multistars winner Brooks, who registered three no-jumps.
The top four were relatively evenly matched in the javelin, Hall maintaining her lead after throwing 43.08m and Johnson-Thompson overtaking Sulek with their respective efforts of 44.14m and 41.83m.
Heading into the final discipline, the 800m, Hall knew that she needed to take 0.87 off her already highly respectable PB (2:03.11) to achieve a 7000-point score. Hall &ndash; who won the US indoor 400m title earlier this year &ndash; went out hard, covering the first lap in 58.51. She held on well in the second half and eventually crossed the line in a PB of 2:02.97, bringing her score to 6988.
Both Hall&rsquo;s 800m performance and her overall score are the second-best marks ever achieved in G&ouml;tzis. Having added 233 points to her PB, Hall also moves to second on the North American all-time list.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy with the score,&rdquo; said a delighted Hall, who made a big breakthrough last year to earn world bronze. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s incredible. The crowd carried me through. It&rsquo;s a dream. I am just 22 and I have time for a score over 7000 points. I am now focused on progressing. I will run the 400 metres hurdles in Florence next Friday and then I will return to the USA to get ready for the US National Championships and the World Championships.&rdquo;
Johnson-Thompson held off Sulek in the 800m, 2:12.40 to 2:14.33, to claim second place in 6556 &ndash; her best score since the 2019 World Championships. Sulek was third in 6480.
Vanninen improved her PB to 6391 to finish fourth, while Germany&rsquo;s Sophie Weissenberg completed the top five with a PB of 6375. Annie Kunz (6330), Sofie Dokter (6321) and Carolin Schaefer (6321) also broke 6300. Koscak, meanwhile, received the &lsquo;Rookie of the Meeting&rsquo; award after finishing ninth with 6293.
World and Olympic silver medallist Anouk Vetter withdrew from the competition on day two as a precaution due to a slight achilles injury.
<h2>LePage succeeds Warner</h2>
As was the case in the heptathlon, the winner of the first decathlon discipline went on to take the overall title. But the lead changed hands more often in the men&rsquo;s contest.
Pierce LePage was fastest in the 100m with a PB of 10.28, matched by Kendrick Thompson of The Bahamas. Olympic champion Damian Warner was close behind with 10.29, while Olympic bronze medallist Ashley Moloney clocked 10.39.
&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t competed for a while, so I didn&rsquo;t expect a PB,&rdquo; said LePage. &ldquo;It was the first time that I&rsquo;ve beaten Warner in the 100m.&rdquo;
Warner&rsquo;s 7.75m leap in the long jump gave him the overall lead from LePage, who jumped 7.57m. Moloney moved up to third with 7.60m, but European silver medallist Simon Ehammer had three fouls in the discipline at which he is the world bronze medallist.
Grenada&rsquo;s Lindon Victor moved into contention after throwing 16.13m in the shot put, but at the top of the leaderboard Warner held on to his lead after throwing 14.92m to LePage&rsquo;s 15.05m. Moloney, meanwhile, improved his PB to 15.20m to remain in third.
Norway&rsquo;s European indoor silver medallist Sander Skotheim cleared 2.15m to win the high jump, climbing from 11th to third overall. LePage cleared 2.03m to close the gap on Warner, who jumped 2.00m to maintain his overall lead by just six points.
A 47.66 run from Warner in the 400m helped increase his margin over LePage, who clocked 48.01. Moloney was quickest overall with a meeting record of 46.46, consolidating his third place. Skotheim, meanwhile, set a PB of 47.64.
At the start of the second day, Warner won the 110m hurdles in 13.60, edging Finley Gaio by 0.02. LePage finished in 13.87 to keep his compatriot within his sights.
But the tables turned in the discus, as LePage out-performed Warner by more than three metres, 49.34m to 46.32m, giving LePage a nine-point lead.
LePage went on to extend his lead over the next two disciplines, clearing 5.00m to Warner&rsquo;s 4.50m in the pole vault, and throwing a PB of 63.09m in the javelin to finish comfortably ahead of Warner (59.92m). Skotheim held third place for the duration of the second day, but Moloney had a disappointing pole vault and javelin and so did not start for the 1500m.
Going into the final discipline, LePage had a 206-point lead over Warner, which translates to roughly half a minute in 1500m terms.
Skotheim won the 1500m with a PB of 4:19.38, but the focus was on the two Canadians behind him. Warner finished in 4:26.16 while LePage followed in 4:45.74, giving him a winning score of 8700. Warner took second place overall with 8619 and Skotheim was rewarded with a massive PB of 8590, earning him the men&rsquo;s &lsquo;Rookie of the Meeting&rsquo; award.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my first time winning G&ouml;tzis, and my first international win since 2019,&rdquo; said LePage, whose winning score was just one point shy of his PB. &ldquo;The crowd was amazing. Damian pushed me the entire way. He is still the king of G&ouml;tzis.
&ldquo;I came here to have fun,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;The javelin PB came from nowhere. This was one of my least favourite disciplines in the past. It was not a perfect competition.&rdquo;
Warner was magnanimous in defeat. &ldquo;The better man won today,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a matter of time before Pierce LePage is on the big stage and is putting up big numbers. He is coming and I am coming up with him. It was the toughest battle I&rsquo;ve had for a while, but I never thought about giving up.&rdquo;
One month after winning the Multistars meeting, Estonia&rsquo;s Karel Tilga was fourth with 8403. Germany&rsquo;s Manuel Eitel was fifth a PB of 8351 ahead of Australia&rsquo;s Daniel Golubovic (8301) and Lindon Victor (8293).
Diego Sampaolo for World Athletics

US all-rounder Anna Hall gave the 7000-point barrier a scare at the Hypo Meeting in Götzis, winning the heptathlon at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting with a world-leading 6988.

Hall scores 6988 to win Götzis heptathlon, LePage takes decathlon

Olympic champion Damian Warner and Olympic silver medallist Anouk Vetter will be in the spotlight at the Hypomeeting in G&ouml;tzis, a World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting, this weekend (27-28).
Warner will compete at the M&ouml;sle-Stadium for the 10th time in pursuit of a record-extending eighth win at the meeting. The Canadian star became the first decathlete to win the Hypomeeting six times in 2021, scoring a then PB of 8995 points. The performance was highlighted by his 10.14 in the 100m and an 8.28m long jump, which was a world decathlon best at the time.
Warner went on to win Olympic gold in Tokyo with a national record of 9018 points, becoming the fourth decathlete in history to surpass the 9000-point barrier. He then won world indoor heptathlon gold in Belgrade in 2022, setting another national record and the second best performance on the all-time list with 6489 points, before clinching his seventh overall &ndash; and sixth consecutive &ndash; victory in G&ouml;tzis with 8797 points.
This weekend Warner returns to decathlon action for the first time since last July when he suffered a hamstring strain during the 400m at the World Championships in Oregon.
Warner&rsquo;s compatriot Pierce LePage will make his fourth appearance at the Hypomeeting. LePage placed second behind Warner in G&ouml;tzis in 2021 with 8534 and won the world silver medal in Oregon with a lifetime best of 8701. He also finished fifth at both the 2019 World Championships in Doha and at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6292765b02749390bb397548.jpg" alt="Simon Ehammer, Damian Warner and Pierce LePage in the 100m in G&ouml;tzis" />
Simon Ehammer, Damian Warner and Pierce LePage in the 100m in G&ouml;tzis (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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Simon Ehammer from Switzerland broke Warner&rsquo;s world decathlon long jump best with 8.30m in Ratingen in 2022 and improved the mark to 8.45m at last year&rsquo;s edition of the Hypomeeting en route to third place with 8377 points. Ehammer won world indoor heptathlon silver behind Warner with a national record of 6363 points in Belgrade and he also claimed world bronze in the long jump with 8.16m in Oregon and European silver in the decathlon with a national record of 8468 points in Munich.
He opened his 2023 season with 8.12m in the long jump and a PB of 13.43 in the 110m hurdles in Basel on 13 May.
The Swiss contingent also features Finley Gaio, who finished fifth in the European Championships 110m hurdles final and set a decathlon PB of 7949 in G&ouml;tzis last year.
Lindon Victor from Grenada returns to G&ouml;tzis, where he placed second last year with 8447 before finishing fifth at the World Championships in Oregon. He went on to win Commonwealth Games gold in Birmingham and won at the Decastar meeting in Talence, setting a national record of 8550. He was later rewarded for his consistency as he took the overall title in the 2022 World Athletics Combined Events Tour. Particularly strong in the javelin, Victor set his PB of 71.56m in that discipline en route to his seventh place at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Australia&rsquo;s Ashley Moloney is also back in G&ouml;tzis, where he finished 13th with 8038 on his debut in 2019 and received the 'rookie of the meeting' award. Moloney, who won the world U20 title in Tampere in 2018, went on to claim two bronze medals at the Olympic Games with an Oceanian record of 8649 points and at the World Indoor Championships in with another area record of 6344 points, the highest third-place tally for a heptathlon competition. He will be joined by his compatriot and training partner Cedric Dubler, who won Commonwealth Games bronze in Birmingham and finished eighth at the World Championships in Oregon with 8246.
Sander Skotheim from Norway will make his debut in G&ouml;tzis after a successful indoor season highlighted by European indoor heptathlon silver, while Karel Tilga from Estonia will compete in his second decathlon competition in a month after winning at the Multistars in Desenzano del Garda with a meeting record of 8482 points.
The Belgian contingent will feature European U20 champion Jente Hauttekeete and Niels Pittomvils, seventh at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade in 2017.
The line-up also includes Poland&rsquo;s 2021 European indoor bronze medallist Paweł Wiesiolek, Sweden&rsquo;s 2019 European indoor fourth-place finisher Fredrick Samuelsson and USA&rsquo;s Devon Williams, third at this year&rsquo;s Multistars in Desenzano.
<h2>Vetter aims to retain</h2>
Vetter became the first Dutch heptathlon winner in Hypomeeting history last year with a score of 6693, adding four points to the national record she set at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where she won silver. In the 2022 edition of the G&ouml;tzis meeting Vetter broke Nafissatou Thiam&rsquo;s meeting record in the javelin with a sensational throw of 59.81m.
Vetter went on to win world silver in Oregon with another national record of 6867 points, five years after her bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships in London.
The strong Dutch contingent also features Emma Oosterwegel, the Olympic bronze medallist in Tokyo with 6590 who also finished seventh at the World Championships with 6440, plus Sofie Dokter and Marijke Esselink, who finished fourth and 10th respectively at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul.
Adrianna Sulek from Poland returns to G&ouml;tzis, where she improved her PB to 6429 points to finish second last year. Sulek &ndash; the overall World Athletics Combined Events Tour winner in 2022 &ndash; won world indoor silver with 4851 points in Belgrade and improved the Polish record to 6672 points to finish fourth at the World Championships in Oregon. She started 2023 with a pentathlon silver medal at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul with 5014 points, surpassing the previous world record set by Nataliya Dobrynska at the 2012 World Indoor Championships in the same arena. Finishing first in the 800m, Sulek held the world record for about six seconds, but she had to settle for No.2 all time, as Thiam followed her over the finish line to improve the mark even further, achieving 5055 points.
NCAA champion Anna Hall will make her debut in G&ouml;tzis. The 22-year-old won world bronze, becoming the third-best heptathlete in US history with her PB of 6755 points. She holds the third-fastest ever heptathlon 800m time with 2:03.11 and has a PB of 54.48 in the 400m hurdles. This year Hall broke Brianne Theisen-Eaton&rsquo;s North American record with 5004 points in the pentathlon at the US Indoor Championships and at the same championships she later won the 400m, clocking a PB of 51.03.&nbsp;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63ef78d22c2119c457c4a7e2.jpg" alt="Anna Hall crosses the 800m finish line to break the area indoor pentathlon record at the US Indoor Championships" />
Anna Hall crosses the 800m finish line to break the area indoor pentathlon record at the US Indoor Championships (&copy; Kevin Morris)
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USA&rsquo;s Taliyah Brooks will compete in her second heptathlon meeting this year after taking the win at Multistars with a world-leading score of 6330 points. There she performed well in the long jump, leaping 6.65m in what is one of her strongest events &ndash; one in which she holds a PB of 6.78m. She also excels in the 100m hurdles and has a PB of 12.61.
The other top US heptathlete is Annie Kunz, who won the US Olympic Trials in 2021 with her PB of 6703 and finished sixth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
British combined events star Katarina Johnson-Thompson returns to the M&ouml;sle-Stadium, scene of her victories in 2014 (6682) and 2019 (6813).
The 2019 world champion, who improved Jessica Ennis-Hill&rsquo;s national record when she won in Doha with 6981, claimed her second consecutive Commonwealth Games crown in Birmingham last year in her most recent heptathlon competition. The 2018 world indoor pentathlon champion clocked 13.73 in the 100m hurdles and threw 13.13m in the shot put in Loughborough last weekend.
Great Britain will be also represented by Jade O&rsquo;Dowda, Holly Mills and Niamh Emerson. O&rsquo;Dowda won bronze at the Commonwealth Games and placed second in Desenzano del Garda this year, while Mills finished fourth at both the World Indoor Championships and Commonwealth Games and Emerson is the 2018 world U20 gold medallist.
Hungary&rsquo;s Xenia Krizsan has fond memories of G&ouml;tzis, as she won this meeting in 2021 with a national record of 6651. She finished fifth at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul with 4493.
German star Carolin Sch&auml;fer also returns to the Hypomeeting, where she has claimed three top three finishes (2015-17). Sch&auml;fer won world silver in London in 2017 and European bronze in Berlin 2018. The German contingent also includes Sophie Weissenberg and Vanessa Grimm, who was third in last year&rsquo;s edition of the Hypomeeting with her lifetime best of 6323.
The rising star to watch is Saga Vanninen from Finland, who won two world U20 titles in Nairobi in 2021 and Cali in 2022 as well as European U20 gold in Tallin in 2021 with her lifetime best of 6271.
Other athletes with a PB over 6200 are Canada&rsquo;s Georgia Ellenwood, Cuba&rsquo;s Adriana Rodriguez, Maria Huntington from Finland and Paulina Ligarska from Poland.
Austrian hopes are carried by 2016 world U20 gold medallist Sara Lagger, who finished fourth at this year&rsquo;s Multistars with 6010 in her first heptathlon competition since July 2021, when she finished fourth at the European U23 Championships. She is joined by local athlete Chiara-Belinda Schuler, who won the bronze medal at the European U18 Championships in 2018.
Diego Sampaolo for World Athletics

Olympic champion Damian Warner and Olympic silver medallist Anouk Vetter will be in the spotlight at the Hypomeeting in Götzis

Warner and Vetter defend titles against strong fields in Götzis 

Estonia&rsquo;s Karel Tilga set a meeting record of 8482 to win the decathlon at Multistars, while USA&rsquo;s Taliyah Brooks set a PB of 6330 to take the heptathlon at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting in Desenzano del Garda on Sunday (30).
Tilga, who won NCAA outdoor and indoor titles in 2021, opened his account with an 11.16 clocking in the 100m &ndash; his fastest time in two years. Switzerland&rsquo;s Nino Portmann ran the fastest time in the opening discipline, clocking 10.75 to put him ahead of Brazil&rsquo;s Felipe Dos Santos (10.82) and USA&rsquo;s Devon Williams (10.97).
Tilga shot up the leaderboard after the long jump, thanks to his 7.66m leap &ndash; the best mark of the day &ndash; which put him in second place overall, just 12 points behind Williams, who jumped 7.54m.
Germany&rsquo;s Nils Laserich produced the best throw in the shot put, setting a PB of 16.26m to move up into second place, while Tilga improved his PB to 16.19m to take the overall lead &ndash; a position he did not relinquish for the remainder of the competition. Williams also set a PB of 14.52m to hold on to his podium position ahead of 2016 European champion Thomas van der Plaetsen, who also threw a PB of 14.72m.
Tilga extended his lead in the high jump, thanks to a 2.07m clearance, once again making him the top performer of the day. He ended the first day with a 400m PB of 48.71, giving him a half-way score of 4402 and a lead of more than 200 points over Laserich, who ran 48.44 in the one-lap sprint.
The overall leader continued his strong form on day two, setting a PB of 14.85 &ndash; his first sub-15-second clocking &ndash; in the 110m hurdles. Brazil&rsquo;s Jose Fernando Ferreira Santana was fastest in that discipline, clocking 14.00 to finish 0.11 ahead of Williams.
The 2.01m tall Tilga put his wing span to good use in the discus, posting the best throw of the day with 45.46m to extend his lead over Williams, who threw 44.95m.
Sweden&rsquo;s Fredrik Samuelsson, back in form after a long period of battling back to full health, was the top performer in the pole vault, along with Italy&rsquo;s Lorenzo Naidon, both men clearing 4.95m. It moved Samuelsson into third place overall, just five points behind Williams, who cleared 4.45m. Tilga, meanwhile, held on to his comfortable lead after vaulting an outdoor PB of 4.75m.
A mighty throw of 64.05m in the javelin extended Tilga&rsquo;s lead to more than 300 points over Samuelsson, who threw 60.73m to move pas Williams (57.19m) into second place. With victory essentially guaranteed, Tilga&rsquo;s focus in the final discipline was to run faster than 4:35.60 to break Andrei Krauchanka&rsquo;s meeting record of 8390.
Tilga went above and beyond, smashing his 1500m PB by five seconds (4:21.91) to finish with a winning score of 8482.
&ldquo;It was my first competition of the year, so I didn&rsquo;t really know what to expect,&rdquo; said Tilga, who became just the second Estonian decathlete to win at Multistars, after Ingeorg Kaseorg, who won in 1995 and 2001. &ldquo;Apart from the 100m, the running events were generally good. The pole vault was held in hard windy conditions.&rdquo;
Samuelsson finished second with 8070 &ndash; his best score since 2018 &ndash; and Williams was third with 7956.
<h2>Brooks breaks through with lifetime best</h2>
USA&rsquo;s Taliyah Brooks achieved her first ever victory on the World Combined Events Tour, doing so with a heptathlon PB of 6330.
The 28-year-old, who is a world-class hurdler in her own right, was pushed by US compatriot Chari Hawkins in the 100m hurdles, Hawkins getting the verdict in the opening discipline, 13.19 to Brooks&rsquo; 13.23.
The US duo then both cleared 1.77m in the high jump, as did Britain&rsquo;s Commonwealth bronze medallist Jade O&rsquo;Dowda, which put them all into the top three overall. Hawkins extended her lead in the shot put, thanks to her 13.35m throw, while Brooks remained in second place overall after throwing 13.01m and O&rsquo;Dowda stayed in third (13.19m).
But the positions changed after the final event of the first day, with Brooks clocking 24.06 in the 200m, giving her a six-point lead over Hawkins (24.43). with O&rsquo;Dowda remaining in third (24.87).
Brooks held on to her lead throughout the second day, helped in no small part by her 6.65m leap in the long jump. O&rsquo;Dowda&rsquo;s 6.33m effort was enough to move her above Hawkins in the overall standings.
Brooks&rsquo; 39.00m throw in the javelin may have only ranked her ninth in the field, but significantly it was a PB for the US all-rounder, keeping her on track for a lifetime best score. Hawkins (42.10m) made up a bit of ground and overtook O&rsquo;Dowda, who threw 40.51m, but Brooks had a lead of almost 200 points going into the final discipline, the 800m.
Poland&rsquo;s Edyta Byelska ran a gun-to-tape race to cross the line first in the 800m in 2:08.62. Brooks, meanwhile, improved her PB to 2:15.02 to secure victory and win with 6330, a PB by 78 points.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy with my performance this weekend,&rdquo; said Brooks, who will return to the US for two weeks before turning her attention to the Hypo Meeting in Gotzis. &ldquo;Usually I wasn&rsquo;t consistent on the second day, but here I performed better in the events where I worked harder.&rdquo;
O&rsquo;Dowda regained second place in the overall standings after finishing more than 10 seconds ahead of Hawkins in the 800m, 2:12.07 to 2:22.51. O&rsquo;Dowda finished with 6178 and Hawkins scored 6036.
Diego Sampaolo for World Athletics
<h3>Leading results</h3>
Women 1 Taliyah Brooks (USA) 6330 2 Jade O&rsquo;Dowda (GBR) 6178 3 Chari Hawkins (USA) 6036 4 Sarah Lagger (AUT) 6010 5 Celine Albisser (SUI) 5858
Men 1 Karel Tilga (EST) 8482 2 Fredrik Samuelsson (SWE) 8070 3 Devon Williams (USA) 7956 4 Nils Laserich (GER) 7918 5 Tim Nowak (GER) 7889

Tilga wins with 8482, Brooks breaks PB with 6330

Tilga breaks Multistars record with 8482 in Desenzano del Garda

Markus Rooth returns to defend his decathlon title, while Taliyah Brooks and Chari Hawkins are among those on the hunt for heptathlon success at the GardaStars by Multistars &ndash; the first World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold event of 2023 &ndash; this weekend (29-30).
The 36th edition of the major Italian combined events meeting returns to the Tre Stelle athletics track in Desenzano del Garda on the shores of Lake Garda after moving to Florence, Lana and Grosseto in the past decade.
The heptathlon field features USA's Brooks and Hawkins, who hold PBs of 6252 and 6243 points, respectively.
Brooks won the NCAA indoor pentathlon title in 2018 with a score of 4572 points and holds PBs of 12.61 in the 100m hurdles and 6.78m in the long jump.
Hawkins won the US indoor pentathlon title with 4492 points in Spokane in 2022 and finished first in the Combined Events Tour Gold meeting in Arona with a heptathlon PB of 6243 points later that year.
Sarah Lagger from Austria will make her second appearance at the Multistars, two years after finishing fifth with 6111. Lagger is a two-time world U20 heptathlon medallist, who won gold in Bydgoszcz in 2016 with 5960 points and silver in Tampere in 2018 with a national U20 record of 6225 points.
Jade O&rsquo;Dowda will be looking to continue the strong British tradition at the Multistars. O&rsquo;Dowda won bronze at the Commonwealth Games on home soil in Birmingham with 6212 points and placed seventh at the European Championships in Munich with 6187 last August.
Italian hopes are carried by national indoor pentathlon record-holder Sveva Gerevini, who will be aiming to improve her PB of 6028 set last year at the European Championships in Munich and possibly come close to the national heptathlon record of 6185 set by Gertrud Bacher at the Multistars in 1999. Gerevini placed second at last year&rsquo;s Multistars with 6011 and finished eighth at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul in the pentathlon last March with 4363.
Other contenders include Alysbeth Felix Boyer from Puerto Rico (national record 6124), Myke Van de Wiel from the Netherlands (PB 6012), Edyla Bielska from Poland (PB 5945) and Jodie Smith from Great Britain (PB 5929).
In the decathlon, Norway&rsquo;s Rooth will return with the aim of repeating his win at last year&rsquo;s edition. Rooth set a national record of 8307 points when winning in Grosseto in 2022, beating his compatriot Sander Skotheim. Athletes from Norway have won the decathlon at four of the past six editions of the Multistars through Lars Rise (2016), Martin Roe in 2018 and 2021, and Rooth last year, and the 21-year-old will hope to continue this proud tradition.
The line-up also features two athletes with PBs over 8400 points: Karel Tilga from Estonia and Thomas Van der Plaetsen from Belgium. Tilga won the NCAA indoor heptathlon title in 2021 with 6264 points and the NCAA decathlon title in Eugene in 2021 with 8261 points, while he set his PB of 8484 points in Athens, Georgia, in 2021.
Van der Plaetsen won European gold in Amsterdam in 2016 with 8218 points and placed eighth at the Olympic Games in Rio with 8332. The Belgian athlete then finished third in Gotzis in 2021 with his PB of 8430.
The other leading contenders are three 8300-point-plus performers: USA&rsquo;s Devon Williams (PB 8345), Poland&rsquo;s Pawel Wiesiolek (PB 8333) and Brazil&rsquo;s Felipe dos Santos (PB 8364).
Willams, brother of heptathlon specialist Kendell Williams, won the US decathlon title in 2019 with 8295 points and the NCAA indoor heptathlon title in 2017 with 6177 points.
Wiesiolek won the Multistars in Florence in 2015 and finished third in the heptathlon with 6133 points at the European Indoor Championships in Torun in 2021. The Polish athlete set a decathlon PB of 8333 points in Warsaw in 2021.
Dos Santos set his PB of 8364 in Sao Paulo in 2020 and finished second at the 2021 South American Championships in Guayaquil.
Two other top European decathletes in the field are Germany&rsquo;s Tim Nowak, who set his PB of 8229 in 2018 and won two bronze medals at the 2013 European U20 Championships and the 2014 World U20 Championships, and Sweden&rsquo;s Fredrik Samuelsson, who placed fourth at the European Indoor Championships in 2019 and set his decathlon PB of 8172 in Gotzis in 2017.
The hopes of Italian fans are carried by national indoor heptathlon champion Lorenzo Naidon and 2021 national decathlon champion Lorenzo Modugno.
Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs will be the special guest on Saturday. Jacobs grew up in Desenzano and started his athletics career under the guidance of Gianni Lombardi, the Multistars meeting director.
Diego Sampaolo for World Athletics

Markus Rooth returns to defend his decathlon title, while Taliyah Brooks and Chari Hawkins are among those on the hunt for heptathlon success at the GardaStars by Multistars

Brooks and Hawkins head heptathlon, Rooth to defend decathlon title at Multistars

For Dan O&rsquo;Brien, 14 March 1993 was a day of redemption. His second in six months.
Having already claimed the decathlon world record in the wake of his heart-breaking failure to make the 1992 US Olympic team, the 25-year-old from Portland, Oregon, completed a world indoor record performance in the invitation men&rsquo;s heptathlon at the World Indoor Championships in Toronto.
At the same time, across in Europe in the Swedish town of Vaxjo, 10-year-old Carolina Kluft was starting to dream about making a sporting mark of her own, possibly as a footballer.
Her father, Johnny Kluft, had been a striker with the Vaxjo club Osters IF. In 1973 he scored a goal against a Feyenoord team featuring Wim van Hanegem and Wim Jansen, members of the great Dutch side that reached the 1974 World Cup final, in a Uefa Cup first-round tie at the hallowed De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam.
Exactly a decade on from Dan O&rsquo;Brien&rsquo;s combined events tour de force in Toronto, on 14 March 2003, Kluft produced one of her own, breezing to pentathlon gold at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, just 58 points shy of a world record points tally.
In doing so, with her infectious joie de vivre, the 20-year-old Swedish golden girl brought a breath of fresh air to the global athletics stage. A lasting breath of fresh air.
She also brought a shield of invincibility. Throughout her entire combined events career as a senior athlete, Kluft was unbeaten in pentathlon indoors and in heptathlons outdoors.
By the time she lined up in Birmingham that day in 2003, her first year in the senior age group, she had already suffered the only two defeats she was to experience in the 30 combined events competitions she ever contested, from her junior days in 2000 to her early retirement in 2007.
As an U20 athlete competing in senior competition, Kluft placed seventh at the European Combined Events Cup First League heptathlon in Reid, Austria, in July 2001, and third in the pentathlon at the European Indoor Championships in Vienna in March 2002, taking bronze behind Russia&rsquo;s outdoor world champion Yelena Prokhorova and Naide Gomes of Portugal.
<h2>Not so safe height</h2>
O&rsquo;Brien lost just three of the 20 combined events competitions that he completed in his stellar career, although he did not manage to last the course in two US Olympic decathlon trials.
As a 21-year-old rookie in Indianapolis in 1988, he withdrew after suffering a hamstring injury in the second discipline, the long jump. Four years later, with the 1991 world title to his name, the Oregonian stormed through the opening seven disciplines in New Orleans with the glint of golden Olympic promise in his stride.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64105a173f6269e125c9578b.jpg" alt="Dan O'Brien in the decathlon pole vault at the 1992 US Olympic Trials" />
Dan O'Brien in the decathlon pole vault at the 1992 US Olympic Trials (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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At that stage, not only was he 521 points clear of Dave Johnson, the teammate and rival who took gold ahead of O&rsquo;Brien at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle, but also 59 points ahead of the world record pace Daley Thompson set with his 8847 score at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.
But then disaster struck in the pole vault. Opting to pass the first four heights, O&rsquo;Brien registered three failures at 4.80m, plummeting from first to 12th in the standings. Though he bravely fought on in the javelin and 1500m, clawing his way up to 11th, his dream of Olympic gold in Barcelona was over.
&ldquo;When I came to the track today, I felt invincible,&rdquo; the stunned world champion reflected. &ldquo;I felt it was impossible for Dave to beat me and that there was no way I wouldn&rsquo;t be in the team.
&ldquo;I come in at 4.80m in training every day. I believe that&rsquo;s a safe height for me,&rdquo; added O&rsquo;Brien, who had a PB of 5.20m. &ldquo;I believe I can go out and make it every day. Except today.&rdquo;
Even in his pit of despair, O&rsquo;Brien resolved to bounce back stronger. &ldquo;I have pity on anyone who comes up against me in the next four years,&rdquo; he defiantly declared.
<h2>Toronto redemption</h2>
O&rsquo;Brien happens to be a natural-born fighter. Given up by his parents at birth, he spent his infant days in foster homes and was named Wesley and then Dion before being adopted at the age of two by Jim and Virginia O&rsquo;Brien.
His athletic prowess earned him a scholarship to the University of Idaho but his grades were so poor he was not allowed to compete. For three years he didn&rsquo;t even train and developed a serious alcohol problem. He was arrested for driving under the influence, and for cashing &lsquo;bad cheques&rsquo;.
After waking up hungover and alone on Christmas Day in 1987, he decided to take control of his life. He returned to training and two and a half years later he was on the Goodwill Games podium.
A month after watching the Barcelona Olympics from afar, O&rsquo;Brien broke Thompson&rsquo;s decathlon world record, racking up 8891 points at the Decastar meeting at Talence in France in September 1992. Robert Zmelik, the newly-crowned Olympic champion from the Czech Republic, finished second with 8344.
Six months after that, the new world record-holder was tempted indoors for the first and only time in his combined events career. The men&rsquo;s heptathlon at the World Indoor Championships might have been an invitational non-championship affair, but O&rsquo;Brien treated it as an opportunity to take on the world: Frenchman Christian Plaziat&rsquo;s 13-month-old world indoor record, 6418, if nothing else.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/641056469c38fe142aa34f7d.jpg" alt="Dan O'Brien in the heptathlon shot put at the 1993 World Indoor Championships" />
Dan O'Brien in the heptathlon shot put at the 1993 World Indoor Championships (&copy; Getty Images)
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With a blizzard raging outside the Toronto SkyDrome, O&rsquo;Brien got off to a whirlwind start with a 0.104 reaction time en route to a 6.67 clocking in the 60m. He followed up with a 7.84m long jump, a 16.02m throw in the shot and a 2.13m high jump clearance to finish the opening day 215 points up on Plaziat&rsquo;s world record schedule with 3800 points.
He opened day two with his fifth win out of five, clocking 7.85 in the 60m hurdles, before a 5.20m pole vault virtually assured him the world record, which he duly claimed with a score of 6476 after completing the 1000m in 2:57.96.
Thereafter, the O&rsquo;Brien redemption mission continued to gain momentum, with a second decathlon world title in Stuttgart in 1993, a third in Gothenburg in 1995 and &ndash; finally, fittingly &ndash; an Olympic gold on home ground in Atlanta in 1996.
<h2>18 nil</h2>
For Kluft, the deeds of March &ndash; of 14 March 2003 &ndash; proved to be the launchpad for a senior career as the undisputed queen of the global combined events game.
Just five weeks past her 20th birthday, when she lined up for her first senior global championship, the Swede was already a rising star in the combined events firmament, having retained her world U20 heptathlon crown with a world U20 record at the 2002 World U20 Championships in Kingston and broken it again when winning the senior European title in Munich two weeks later.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/641056c59c38fe142aa34f80.jpg" alt="Carollina Kluft in the pentathlon high jump at the 2003 World Indoor Championships" />
Carolina Kluft in the pentathlon high jump at the 2003 World Indoor Championships (&copy; Getty Images)
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At those 2003 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, she notched PBs in the 60m hurdles (8.19), high jump (1.89m), shot put (14.48m) and long jump (6.61m) on her way to a championship record tally of 4933. An 800m time of 2:11.45 or quicker would have taken her inside Irina Belova&rsquo;s world indoor record but, after blasting through the opening lap in 31.87, she slowed to a 2:15.58 finish, missing the global mark by 83 points.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a dream to be world champion,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I came here to get good results and I got four PBs. It was great fun.&rdquo;
It was a taste of great things to come.
Outdoors, at the World Championships in Paris five months later, Kluft struck gold with 7001, moving to third on the world all-time list. She won Olympic gold in Athens in 2004 and two more outdoor world titles, in Helsinki in 2005 and Osaka in 2007, before deciding to retire from combined events and concentrate on long jump for the last five years of her career.
She was only 24 when she bade farewell to the heptathlon, having set a European record of 7032 with that third world outdoor victory in Osaka.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6410590eee148c4c78b66777.jpg" alt="Carolina Kluft at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka" />
Carolina Kluft at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka (&copy; Getty Images)
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In addition to the natural radiance she shone on the global athletics scene, the engagingly-grounded Swede became one of the great Invincibles of the sport &ndash; like Herb Elliott, the Australian master of middle distance, who was unbeaten in 44 races at 1500m and the mile as a senior, and Bob Matthias, the US all-rounder who won all 11 decathlons that he contested.
As a fully-fledged senior, from her flying start in Birmingham in 2003 to her golden flourish in Osaka in 2007, Kluft contested 18 combined events competitions. She won all 18 of them.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics Heritage

Looking back at the milestone indoor achievements of Dan O'Brien and Carolina Kluft