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)
</div>
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)
</div>
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)
</div>
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)
</div>
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

O'Brien and Kluft: The feeling of invincibility and being top of the world

As the year draws to a close, we look back at the key moments of 2022 in each area of the sport.
The series continues with a review of combined events and will be followed over the coming days by reviews of other event groups.
&nbsp;
<h2>Men&rsquo;s decathlon</h2>
<h3>Season top list</h3>
<table style="border: 1px solid #999999; width: 80%; height: 110px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 15%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee; padding-left: 5px;">8867</td>
<td style="width: 35%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">Garrett Scantling 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">Fayetteville</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">7 May</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 15%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd; padding-left: 5px;">8816</td>
<td style="width: 35%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd;">Kevin Mayer 🇫🇷 FRA</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd;">Eugene</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd;">24 July</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 15%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee; padding-left: 5px;">8797</td>
<td style="width: 35%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">Damian Warner 🇨🇦 CAN</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">Gotzis</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">29 May</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 15%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd; padding-left: 5px;">8720</td>
<td style="width: 35%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd;">Kyle Garland 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd;">Fayetteville</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd;">7 May</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 15%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee; padding-left: 5px;">8701</td>
<td style="width: 35%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">Pierce LePage 🇨🇦 CAN</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">Eugene</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">24 July</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/combined-events/decathlon/outdoor/men/senior/2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full season top list</a> 
<h3>World medallists</h3>
<table style="border: 1px solid #34495e; width: 80%; background-color: #eee; fff; border-style: solid;" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968;">Kevin Mayer 🇫🇷 FRA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968;">8816</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Pierce LePage 🇨🇦 CAN</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9;">8701</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e;">Zach Ziemek 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e;">8676</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/world-athletics-championships-oregon-2022-7137279/results/men/decathlon/1500-metres/points" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3> Major winners</h3>
World Championships: Kevin Mayer 🇫🇷 FRA 8816 World Indoor Championships: Damian Warner 🇨🇦 CAN 6489 World Combined Events Tour: Lindon Victor 🇬🇩 GRN 3608 African Championships: Larbi Bourrada 🇩🇿 ALG 7776 European Championships: Niklas Kaul 🇩🇪 GER 8545 Oceanian Championships: Max Attwell 🇦🇺 AUS 7635 Commonwealth Games: Lindon Victor 🇬🇩 GRN 8233
<h3>Season at a glance</h3>
The highly anticipated clash between Olympic champion Damian Warner and world record-holder Kevin Mayer may not have materialised this year, but both men still enjoyed major success in 2022.
Warner picked up where he left off last year, and produced a stunning series of marks &ndash; including a national indoor long jump record of 8.05m, and PBs of 6.68 for 60m and 7.61 for 60m hurdles &ndash; to win the world indoor heptathlon title in Belgrade with 6489, moving him to second on the world indoor all-time list.
His strong form continued outdoors as he won the Hypo Meeting in G&ouml;tzis for a record-breaking seventh time, scoring a season&rsquo;s best of 8797. He was tipped to add a third global title to his collection at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, where he was lining up against Mayer. Things started off well for Warner in the first four disciplines, but he crashed out of the competition at the end of the first day when injury struck in the 400m.
Mayer was sad to see his friend and rival bow out of the championships in that fashion, especially as he himself had experienced a similar fate in 2019. But the French all-rounder held it together for the two days of competition and regained the world title he first won five years prior, taking gold with 8816.
Despite Warner&rsquo;s absence, Canada still made it on to the podium thanks to Pierce LePage, who took silver with 8701. And there was cause for celebration for the home crowd as journeyman decathlete Zach Ziemek earned his first global medal, taking bronze with 8676.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Oya8_wVA1ek" width="100%" height="475" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Several other combined eventers excelled in 2022.
Switzerland&rsquo;s Simon Ehammer continued his highly promising breakthrough by taking world indoor heptathlon silver with a national record of 6363. He went on to set three more national records outdoors in the decathlon (8354 in Ratingen, 8377 in G&ouml;tzis, and 8468 to take silver at the European Championships).
But he also excelled in the long jump. He set a world decathlon best of 8.45m in that event in G&ouml;tzis, which put him second on the world list this year, and he claimed bronze at the World Championships.
It was also a good year for 2019 world champion Niklas Kaul, who improved steadily throughout the season before peaking at the European Championships on home soil in Munich, where he took gold with 8545 &ndash; his highest score since winning the world title three years ago.
Lindon Victor also enjoyed a strong season. The Grenadian set a national indoor record of 6029 at the World Indoor Championships, then finished second in G&ouml;tzis and fifth at the World Championships &ndash; his highest placing at a global championships. Just a few weeks later he successfully defended his Commonwealth title, then he capped his season by winning in Talence with a national record of 8550. His season-long consistency meant he topped the World Athletics Combined Events Tour standings.
Garrett Scantling set a world-leading score of 8867 to win the US title, but he was subsequently suspended for missing three out-of-competition drug tests. Compatriot Kyle Garland finished second at the US Championships with a huge PB of 8720. Puerto Rico&rsquo;s Ayden Owens-Delerme also had a breakthrough season, finishing fourth at the World Championships with 8532.
There was record depth in the event this year with five men scoring 8700 or above for the first time ever. And nine men scored 8500 or higher &ndash; the first time that has happened since 2000.
&nbsp;
<h2>Women&rsquo;s heptathlon</h2>
<h3>Season top list</h3>
<table style="border: 1px solid #999999; width: 80%; height: 110px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 15%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee; padding-left: 5px;">6947</td>
<td style="width: 35%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">Nafissatou Thiam 🇧🇪 BEL</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">Eugene</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">18 July</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 15%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd; padding-left: 5px;">6867</td>
<td style="width: 35%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd;">Anouk Vetter 🇳🇱 NED</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd;">Eugene</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd;">18 July</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 15%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee; padding-left: 5px;">6755</td>
<td style="width: 35%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">Anna Hall 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">Eugene</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">18 July</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 15%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd; padding-left: 5px;">6672</td>
<td style="width: 35%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd;">Adrianna Sulek 🇵🇱 POL</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd;">Eugene</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #ddd;">18 July</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 15%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee; padding-left: 5px;">6559</td>
<td style="width: 35%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">Noor Vidts 🇧🇪 BEL</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">Eugene</td>
<td style="width: 25%; height: 22px; background-color: #eee;">18 July</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/combined-events/heptathlon/outdoor/women/senior/2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full season top list</a> 
<h3>World medallists</h3>
<table style="border: 1px solid #34495e; width: 80%; background-color: #eee; fff; border-style: solid;" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968;">Nafissatou Thiam 🇧🇪 BEL</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968;">6947</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Anouk Vetter 🇳🇱 NED</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9;">6867</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e;">Anna Hall 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e;">6755</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/world-athletics-championships-oregon-2022-7137279/results/women/heptathlon/800-metres/points" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3> Major winners</h3>
World Championships: Nafissatou Thiam 🇧🇪 BEL 6947 World Indoor Championships: Noor Vidts 🇧🇪 BEL 4929 World Combined Events Tour: Adrianna Sulek 🇵🇱 POL 3498 African Championships: Odile Ahouanwanou 🇧🇯 BEN 5756 European Championships: Nafissatou Thiam 🇧🇪 BEL 6628 Oceanian Championships: Taneille Crase 🇦🇺 AUS 5945 Commonwealth Games: Katarina Johnson-Thompson 🇬🇧 GBR 6377
<h3>Season at a glance</h3>
It was a great year for Belgium in women&rsquo;s combined events as Nafi Thiam and Noor Vidts claimed the three big titles of 2022.
Vidts was a surprise winner of the world indoor title in Belgrade at the end of an epic tussle with Poland&rsquo;s Adrianna Sulek. Vidts emerged the winner with a score of 4929, breaking Thiam&rsquo;s national indoor record. Sulek was also rewarded with a national record in second place (4851) and USA&rsquo;s Kendell Williams earned her first senior global medal by taking bronze (4680).
Outdoors, it was Thiam&rsquo;s turn to shine. After picking up her second Olympic title last year, she doubled up on world and European titles this year, taking gold in Oregon in a world-leading 6947 &ndash; her highest score at a global championships and the second-best mark of her career &ndash; and then winning European gold with 6628 exactly one month later.
In Oregon, Anouk Vetter pushed Thiam all the day, just as she had done in Tokyo last year. The Dutch heptathlete claimed another silver, this time with 6867 &ndash; a big improvement on the national record of 6693 she set to win in G&ouml;tzis two months prior.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2lgL2ONrMZU" width="100%" height="475" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Vetter didn&rsquo;t finish the heptathlon at the European Championships, but Sulek came through to take her second silver medal of 2022, this time with a score of 6532. Switzerland&rsquo;s Annik Kalin finished close behind to take bronze with a national record of 6515.
But perhaps the biggest breakthrough performer in the heptathlon this year is USA&rsquo;s Anna Hall. Aged just 20 at the start of the year, she dominated the US collegiate circuit by setting a pentathlon PB of 4618 and winning the NCAA indoor title with 4586.
The day after turning 21, she set a PB of 6412 in her first heptathlon of the year, then improved to 6458 to win the US title. She won the NCAA title with 6385 and then produced the series of her life to smash her PB with 6755 en route to taking bronze at the World Championships on home soil.
Sulek finished fourth at the World Championships with 6672, and her consistency across the season meant she finished top of the leader board in the World Combined Events Tour.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson had a frustrating start to her season as she struggled to find the form that carried her to the world title in 2019, but the Briton ended it on a high by winning the Commonwealth title on home soil with 6377.
World Athletics

A look back at the key moments of 2022 in the combined events

2022 review: combined events

Poland&rsquo;s Adrianna Sulek and Grenada&rsquo;s Lindon Victor are the winners of the 2022 World Athletics Combined Events Tour, rewarding their season-long consistency in the heptathlon and decathlon respectively.
The Combined Events Tour, which this year replaced the former Combined Events Challenge, takes athletes&rsquo; best three marks across the series and converts them into performance scores (as also used by the world rankings system). Winners of the Combined Events Tour receive a wildcard entry for the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23, as well as a US$30,000 bonus.
The top five at the end of the season are:
Heptathlon 1 Adrianna Sulek (POL) 3498 2 Annik Kalin (SUI) 3463 3 Emma Oosterwegel (NED) 3409 4 Claudia Conte (ESP) 3307 5 Bianca Salming (SWE) 3268 <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-combined-events-tour/standings/2022/women" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full standings</a>
Decathlon 1 Lindon Victor (GRN) 3608 2 Simon Ehammer (SUI) 3578 3 Marcus Nilsson (SWE) 3436 4 Dario Dester (ITA) 3414 5 Finley Gaio (SUI) 3333 <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-combined-events-tour/standings/2022/men" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full standings</a>
Sulek enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2022, which began with her silver medal at the World Indoor Championships Belgrade 22. That strong form continued outdoors on the Combined Events Tour, starting with her victory on home soil in Bydgoszcz at the Wiesław Czapiewski Memorial, the newest addition to the Gold level meetings on the tour, and a meeting that is named in memory of her former coach.
Just two weeks later, Sulek smashed her PB to finish second at the prestigious Hypo Meeting in G&ouml;tzis, scoring 6429. That remained her PB until the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, where she scored 6672. Although she narrowly missed out on a medal, ultimately placing fourth, she found consolation in the fact that she broke the long-standing Polish record.
Sulek ended her season by taking silver at the European Championships with 6532 &ndash; her fourth heptathlon this year in which she has exceeded 6400 points.
Annik Kalin finished second in the series, following a great season for the Swiss all-rounder. She won at the Multistars meeting in Grosseto with a national record of 6398. She went on to break that with her sixth-place finish at the World Championships (6464) and with her bronze medal at the European Championships (6515).
Emma Oosterwegel finished third in the series, having placed fifth in G&ouml;tzis (6265), seventh at the World Championships (6440) and joint first in Talence (6233).
Victor had a similarly high quality and consistent season. Like Sulek, Victor started the year by setting a national indoor record at the World Indoor Championships, scoring 6029. His first decathlon of the season was in G&ouml;tzis, where he finished second with 8447. He improved on that season&rsquo;s best when finishing fifth at the World Championships with 8474, his best score and placing at a global championships.
Just two weeks later he struck gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, but that event is not part of the Combined Events Tour, so he needed one more performance within the series. He headed to the Decastar meeting in Talence and not only won, but he broke his own national record in the process, scoring 8550.
That was enough to move him to the top of the tour leader board with 3608 points, ahead of Switzerland&rsquo;s Simon Ehammer and Sweden&rsquo;s Marcus Nilsson.
Ehammer made as much of an impact in the decathlon this year as he did in the long jump. He won in Ratingen with 8354, then improved on that national record with 8377 in G&ouml;tzis to finish third &ndash; a series in which he leaped a world decathlon best of 8.45m in the long jump. He focused on just the long jump at the World Championships, taking bronze, and then reverted back to the decathlon for the European Championships, earning silver with 8468.
Nilsson won in Arona (8115), while his fourth-place finishes in Ratingen (7927) and at the European Championships (8327) contributed to his third-place finish in the overall standings.
World Athletics

World indoor silver medallist Adrianna Sulek and Commonwealth champion Lindon Victor top the end-of-season standings

Sulek and Victor confirmed winners of World Athletics Combined Events Tour

Commonwealth champion Lindon Victor broke his own Grenadian record with 8550 to win the decathlon at the Decastar meeting in Talence on Sunday (18), winning the overall men&rsquo;s title in the World Athletics Combined Events Tour in the process.
The women&rsquo;s Decastar heptathlon title, meanwhile, went right down to the wire as Emma Oosterwegel of the Netherlands and Ivona Dadic of Austria ended in a tie for victory, both women scoring 6233.
Victor was contesting his fourth decathlon of the year, having finished second in G&ouml;tzis and fifth at the World Championships before his triumph at the Commonwealth Games, but he showed relatively little sign of fatigue in Talence at this late stage of the season.
The 29-year-old opened his campaign with a wind-assisted 10.61 (3.1m/s) in the 100m, finishing second to Germany&rsquo;s Manuel Eitel with 10.44. Switzerland&rsquo;s Finley Gaio was third in 10.63.
Gaio leapt into the lead after the long jump, soaring 7.76m. That was seven centimetres farther than USA&rsquo;s Steven Bastien, his mark a PB, while Victor recorded 7.49m and Eitel 7.29m.
Come the shot put it was Victor&rsquo;s turn to launch ahead thanks to a 15.75m throw, almost a metre farther than any of his rivals. France&rsquo;s Makenson Gletty recorded 14.88m and Eitel a 14.86m PB. Lithuania&rsquo;s Edgaras Benkunskas topped the high jump with 2.08m, while Estonia&rsquo;s Risto Lillemets and USA&rsquo;s Jack Flood both cleared 2.05m and Victor 2.02m.
Victor ended day one with a win in his 400m heat, clocking a PB of 48.20 for the day&rsquo;s third-quickest time behind Germany&rsquo;s Malik Diakite (47.74) and Gaio with (48.19), giving the Grenadian an overnight score of 4438 and a 128-point lead over Gaio.
Victor&rsquo;s strong series continued on Sunday, starting the day with a 14.70 run in the 110m hurdles, just a few hundredths shy of his season&rsquo;s best. Gaio, an international-standard hurdler in his own right, dominated that event with a 13.68 run, giving him a brief lead before slipping down the leaderboard over the course of the day.
But Victor responded in the next event, throwing 51.00m &ndash; the best mark of the day &ndash; in the discus to regain the lead. Eitel remained in contention too, throwing 43.53m.
Victor equalled his 4.80m season&rsquo;s best in the pole vault and followed it with a 66.01m throw in the javelin, another strong event for the Grenadian, giving him a lead of almost 400 points going into the final event. &nbsp;Eitel remained in second place, following his 4.80m vault and a 60.51m javelin throw. Lillemets, meanwhile, climbed up to third place thanks to a 5.00m vault and 59.82m javelin throw.
Diakite was a comfortable winner of the 1500m, but all eyes were on Victor and whether he&rsquo;d do enough to break his own national record. He pulled out a lifetime best of 4:43.74, bringing his score to 8550 &ndash; an 11-point improvement on his previous best.
Eitel and Lillemets held on to their podium places, finishing second and third respectively with scores of 8193 and 8149. France&rsquo;s Makenson Gletty was close behind in fourth (8141).
In the heptathlon, 2018 world indoor pentathlon silver medallist Dadic started with 13.81 in the 100m hurdles, won by France&rsquo;s Esther Turpin in 13.51 from Oosterwegel, the Olympic bronze medallist, in 13.66.
Sweden&rsquo;s Bianca Salming topped the high jump, clearing 1.86m as USA&rsquo;s Ashtin Zamzow-Mahler managed 1.80m and Dadic and Turpin both went over 1.77m. Next up was the shot put, Switzerland&rsquo;s Geraldine Ruckstuhl leading the way with a PB throw of 14.68m, adding 10 centimetres to her previous best. Salming had the second best mark of 14.41m, while Oosterwegel threw 13.75m and Dadic 13.68m.
The day came to a close with the 200m, Dadic clocking 24.11 to give her a day-one score of 3689, 112 points ahead of Salming. Oosterwegel, meanwhile, was further down in fifth, almost 200 points adrift of the leader.
Dadic extended her lead in the first event of the second day, leaping 6.01m in the long jump. Oosterwegel recorded a best of 5.92m, moving her into second place overall.
But everything changed in the javelin. Oosterwegel launched her spear out to a lifetime best of 55.47m and catapulting herself into the lead, nine points ahead of Dadic, who threw 43.92m.
Dadic knew she had to finish a stride ahead of Oosterwegel in the final event, the 800m, to claw back the points deficit and regain the lead. And she did indeed finish ahead, clocking 2:11.12 to Oosterwegel&rsquo;s 2:11.78, but it was &lsquo;only&rsquo; enough to bring her level with the Dutch all-rounder, both women scoring 6233. Salming held on to third place with 6028.
The performance also elevated Oosterwegel up to third in the overall Combined Events Tour standings.
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-combined-events-tour/calendar-results/7171048/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>

Victor sets Grenadian record of 8550, Dadic and Oosterwegel tie with 6233 as the World Athletics Combined Events Tour comes to a close in Talence

Victor wins Decastar decathlon, Dadic and Oosterwegel tie for heptathlon title

More than 1500 athletes from 145 teams are set to compete at the&nbsp;World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22&nbsp;between 1-6 August.
Here we take a look at the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s race walks and combined events&nbsp;at the Pascual Guerrero Olympic Stadium. 
<h2>Women&rsquo;s 10,000m race walk</h2>
Just weeks after Japan&rsquo;s success in the race walks at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, the nation heads to Cali with hopes of another 1-2 finish, this time in the women&rsquo;s 10,000m race walk.
Ai Ooyama and Ayane Yanai are the fastest entrants for the championships, thanks to their road clockings of 45:19 and 45:21 respectively. Ooyama, who will be one of the youngest athletes in Cali, will be making her track debut, but if she is able to match her speed from the roads, then it should put her in medal contention.
Australia&rsquo;s Olivia Sandery already has considerably experience across a range of distances and surfaces. She holds the fastest time on the track this year by an U20 athlete with her 45:24.1 PB from January. A fifth-place finish at the World Race Walking Team Championships in March has no doubt fired up Sandery ahead of the World U20 Championships.
Ukraine&rsquo;s Valeriya Sholomitska also won&rsquo;t be short of motivation. The 17-year-old finished fourth at the World U20 Championships last year and at the World Race Walking Team Championships earlier this year. Since fleeing her home country earlier this year, she has been training and racing in different locations around the world.
Heta Veikkola finished strongly at the World Race Walking Team Championships to finish third. She went on to set PBs for 5000m (22:11.54), 5km (22:44) and 10km (46:02), which suggests her track 10,000m PB of 49:39.40 is due for serious revision.
Italy, another strong race walking nation, will be represented by Giada Traina, who has a best this year of 46:51.44. She didn&rsquo;t finish at the World Race Walking Team Championships but may fare slightly better on the track and in the kinder conditions of Cali. 
<h2>Men&rsquo;s 10,000m race walk</h2>
Heristone Wanyonyi, surprise winner of this title in Nairobi last year, will defend his title but this time the Kenyan takes on a much tougher line-up than before.
The 19-year-old may not have the fastest times to his name, but that&rsquo;s mainly because most of his races have either been at altitude or in extreme temperatures. He clocked 42:10.84 to win the title last year and is about a minute shy of that so far this year, but he was competitive at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Muscat, placing fourth. And the three men who finished ahead of him there won&rsquo;t be in Cali.
Turkey&rsquo;s Mazlum Demir, who led for several kilometres at the World Race Walking Team Championships before fading and eventually finishing 11th, heads to Cali as the fastest man in the field. He clocked a national U20 record of 40:42.09 in June and he&rsquo;ll be keen to improve upon his sixth-place finish from last year&rsquo;s World U20 Championships.
Unsurprisingly, Japan and Italy have fielded strong teams in the race walks. Shotaro Shimoike and Riku Ooie will compete for Japan, both of whom have come close to breaking 41 minutes on the roads, while Italy will be represented by Nicola Lomuscio and Emiliano Brigante, whose track PBs are among the quickest in the field.
Colombia&rsquo;s Mateo Romero finished just two seconds behind Wanyonyi in Muscat earlier this year. The home crowd advantage could spur the 19-year-old to an even higher finish in Cali.
Algeria&rsquo;s Ismail Benhammouda, Ecuador&rsquo;s Terry Patricio Villacorte and Guatemala&rsquo;s Bryan Matias could all contest for medals too. 
<h2>Heptathlon</h2>
Saga Vanninen could become the first two-time world U20 heptathlon since Carolina Kluft achieved the feat 20 years ago.
The talented Finn was one of a handful of athletes last year to win gold at the World U20 Championships and European U20 Championships. She won the latter with a PB of 6271, a national U20 record.
She came close to that mark with 6193 in Oulu in late June, her second score in excess of 6000 points this year. She&rsquo;ll likely need a similar performance in Cali if she is to keep the strong German contingent at bay.
Sandrina Sprengel won the German U20 trials with a PB of 6015, but the competition was relatively close with Serina Riedel taking second place with 5894. Apart from the shot put, where Vanninen excels, these leading three entrants are relatively closely matched in most disciplines, so the competition should be a gripping one.
Estonia&rsquo;s Liisa-Maria Lusti should also be in medal contention. She has a PB of 5836 and will likely bank some big points in the jumping events. She is entered for the individual long jump and is a reserve for the high jump, an event in which she has a 1.86m PB. 
<h2>Decathlon</h2>
Jacob Thelander heads to Cali with a score that&rsquo;s 200 points better than any other decathlon entrant, but the Swedish all-rounder can&rsquo;t rest on his laurels as there are five other athletes with PBs in excess of 7500.
Thelander finished seventh at the European U20 Championships last year but has built on that experience and improved to 7823 this year, helped by strong performances in the jumps. Expect him to bank some big points in the high jump in particular, especially if he can match his 2.10m PB from earlier this year.
If, however, that event doesn&rsquo;t go to plan for him, the likes of Spain&rsquo;s Pol Ferrer, Yoram Vriezen of the Netherlands or French duo Pierre Blaecke and Sacha Rifflart could capitalise.
Ferrer recently improved by more than 400 points to win the Spanish U20 title with 7623. And while he set some big PBs within that series, he was some way off his best in the 400m, the javelin and the 1500m, which suggests there&rsquo;s potentially even more to come from him.
Vriezen, Blaecke and Rifflart have all improved significantly this year and will be keen to ride that wave through the battle for medals.
Norway&rsquo;s Abraham Sandvin Vogelsang is also worth keeping an eye on. While his season&rsquo;s best is 7385, he scored 7535 at the European U20 Championships last year and finished ahead of Thelander.
Others with medal potential include Germany&rsquo;s Roman Jocher, Czech Republic&rsquo;s Petr Svoboda and Gabriel Emmanuel of the Netherlands.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

World Athletics U20 Championships

A look at the men's and women's combined events and race walks.

WU20 Cali 22 preview: combined events and race walks

On a day when the focus was on putting women in the spotlight, three of the all-time greats of female athletics turned in truly stirring performances to light up Hayward Field at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 on Monday (18).
Venezuela&rsquo;s Yulimar Rojas, Kenya&rsquo;s Faith Kipyegon and Belgium&rsquo;s Nafi Thiam all maintained their global dominance with golden performances, while in the men&rsquo;s high jump final Mutaz Essa Barshim won his third straight world title by soaring over a world lead of 2.37m.
There was no bigger favourite at these championships than Rojas, but if the Olympic champion and world record-holder felt the pressure of defending her world title in Eugene, she sure didn&rsquo;t show it. Rousing the crowd in her typical effervescent style, Rojas set off down the runway for her second attempt and hopped, skipped and jumped her way to gold with a 15.47m effort, the second longest in World Championships history. Rojas knew at that point gold was assured, but the 26-year-old still had bigger ambitions.
On the final attempt she jumped 15.39m &ndash; officially &ndash; though her expression on exiting the pit told the story about how much distance she&rsquo;d given away on the board. Not that it mattered, with Rojas jumping to her feet and saluting the crowd, dancing as she went to retrieve her nation&rsquo;s flag &ndash; something she&rsquo;ll likely be doing many more times in the years ahead. 
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 &ldquo;I wanted a longer jump, but I am happy to return to this beautiful stadium, to see the crowd,&rdquo; said Rojas. &ldquo;I came with the goal to get closer to my world record. The wind affected my run-up, I tried to adjust, but the most important thing was to win the medal and stay consistent over 15 metres.&rdquo;
Jamaica&rsquo;s Shanieka Ricketts took silver with 14.89m while USA&rsquo;s Tori Franklin claimed bronze with 14.72m.
There was an equally peerless performance in the women&rsquo;s 1500m, where Kipyegon cemented her place as the greatest 1500m runner of all time &ndash; winning her fourth global 1500m title and setting a high bar for future generations to follow.
But she was made to work for it, with a breathless, lung-bursting pace churned out from the gun by chief rival Gudaf Tsegay, the Ethiopian blasting the opening lap in 58.82, and hitting 800m in 2:03.18.
If her rivals wanted to stay with Tsegay, then they&rsquo;d have to go to a dark place. In addition to Kipyegon, only Britain&rsquo;s Laura Muir and Ethiopia&rsquo;s Hirut Meshesha were willing to gamble and stick with it. For Muir it paid off. For Meshesha it didn&rsquo;t, and the Ethiopian fell to pieces on the final lap, finishing 13th.
With a lap to run up front it was down to three, and down the back straight Kipyegon could wait no longer. She powered to the lead and kicked away, hitting the line in 3:52.96 ahead of Tsegay (3:54.52) and Muir (3:55.28). It was the 10th fastest time in history and the second fastest ever in the US, behind the 3:52.59 she ran on the same track in May.
&ldquo;The Ethiopians controlled the race and I knew they were planning something special but for me, I was well prepared,&rdquo; said Kipyegon, who said she is targeting a PB at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco next month. &ldquo;Everybody was expecting something special from me. Everybody was like, &lsquo;Faith, we believe in Faith,&rsquo; so it was a real pressure. But I managed it.&rdquo;
Thiam&rsquo;s victory in the heptathlon went down to the wire, and that was due to an inspired effort by Dutch rival Anouk Vetter. Thiam had come into the day with a 61-point advantage over Vetter, which she extended with a 6.59m long jump (to Vetter&rsquo;s 6.52m), but the Dutchwoman claimed the lead in the javelin with a 58.29m throw to Thiam&rsquo;s 53.01m. Given there were two seconds&rsquo; differences between their 800m PBs &ndash; the gap between them equating to 1.3 seconds over 800m &ndash; the stage was set for a thrilling finale. 
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 Vetter tried to keep Thiam in her sights through the opening lap but the Belgian put broad daylight between them down the back straight, with Thiam producing an inspired kick through the final 200m to hit the line in 2:13.00, a two-second PB. That left her on 6947 points, with Vetter taking second with 6867 and USA&rsquo;s Anna Hall &ndash; who raised the roof by leading the 800m home in 2:06.67 &ndash; taking bronze with 6755. Poland&rsquo;s Adrianna Sulek was fourth with a national record of 6672.
In the men&rsquo;s high jump, Barshim once again showed his capacity for timing his best performances when it matters most, the Qatari recording a perfect series up to 2.37m to heap pressure on his competitors. It was a level no one else could match, with South Korea&rsquo;s Sanghyeok Woo taking silver with a national record of 2.35m and Ukraine&rsquo;s Andriy Protsenko &ndash; who fled his native country in March with his family, training in Spain and Portugal since &ndash; winning bronze with 2.33m.
&ldquo;Three world golds in a row is something that has never have been done before. I came here to secure that,&rdquo; said Barshim. &ldquo;Defending my Doha title and being recovered after injury are the most amazing things that could happened to me. Sometimes it&rsquo;s difficult to show jumps and technique that people like and expect to see from me. It takes so much work, dedication and passion.&rdquo;
Morocco&rsquo;s Soufiane El Bakkali maintained his supremacy in the men&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase, which could best be summed up as a 400m steeplechase. The first kilometre was a complete dawdle, covered in 2:58.01, with the second kilometre not much quicker at 2:54.43.
At the bell there were still 11 men in contention in the leading pack, with reigning world champion Conseslus Kipruto of Kenya tracking Eritrea&rsquo;s Yemane Haileselassie and Ethiopia&rsquo;s Getnet Wale. Down the back straight, El Bakkali powered along the outside of the pack, the Olympic champion sweeping to the lead around the turn and showing the vast range of gears that has won him so many big races in recent years &ndash; and which has now won him a first world title.
He hit the line in 8:25.13 ahead of Ethiopia&rsquo;s Lamecha Girma (8:26.01) and Kipruto (8:27.92). &ldquo;I am very strong in the 400m and it worked out for me,&rdquo; said El Bakkali, who covered his last lap &ndash; over five barriers &ndash; in 57.35 seconds.
Earlier in the day, Gotytom Gebreslase made it a double victory for Ethiopia in the marathons, following in the footsteps of Tamirat Tola 24 hours earlier by taking a convincing win in the women&rsquo;s in 2:18:11. Race favourite Ruth Chepngetich, the 2019 champion, led the lead group past the 18km mark but then dropped out due to stomach problems. 
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pcBUGyLQfVE" width="100%" height="475" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
 That carved close to three minutes off the championship record set by Paula Radcliffe in 2005, but the fate of the gold medal remained in doubt until the closing two kilometres, with the 27-year-old Ethiopian then breaking clear of Kenya&rsquo;s Judith Korir, who set a PB of 2:18:20 in second.
&ldquo;The Kenyan runner asked me to pass her, but I stayed patient,&rdquo; said Gebreslase. &ldquo;Towards 40km, I felt strong and decided to leave.&rdquo;
Israel&rsquo;s Lonah Salpeter claimed bronze in 2:20:18. Eritrea&rsquo;s Nazret Weldu was next with a national record of 2:20:29 while USA&rsquo;s Sara Hall was fifth with 2:22:10. In a race of impressive depth, athletes one to nine set the best times for their respective places in the championships&rsquo; history.
In the men&rsquo;s 200m heats, world champion Noah Lyles took a relaxed attitude to his 200m heat, waving his hand at competitors halfway down the home straight, and given those antics his time of 19.98 (-0.3m/s) was all the more impressive. It was the first ever wind-legal sub-20 in the heats of a global championships.
Chief rival Erriyon Knighton looked to be running well within himself when coasting to victory in 20.01 (2.1m/s), while Alexander Ogando of Dominican Republic broke new ground with a national record of 20.01 (0.5m/s) to win his heat.
Aminatou Seyni of Niger was quickest in the women&rsquo;s 200m heats with a national record of 21.98 (1.1m/s), beating 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (22.26). World leader Shericka Jackson ran a composed 22.33 (2.5m/s) while US champion Abby Steiner clocked 22.26 (0.9m/s).
In the women&rsquo;s discus qualification, gold medal favourite Valarie Allman had some nervous moments after fouling her first two attempts but the world leader put the crowd&rsquo;s worries to rest after launching a 68.36m effort to advance. Jorinde van Klinken of the Netherlands was next best with 65.66m.
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

World Athletics Championships, Oregon 2022

On a day when the focus was on putting women in the spotlight, three of the all-time greats of female athletics turned in truly stirring performances

Rojas, Kipyegon and Thiam add to their legendary status in Oregon

Nafissatou Thiam, already a two-time Olympic gold medallist in the heptathlon, now has two world titles in her collection following her victory here at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
The Belgian star, competing in her first combined events competition of the year, was put under pressure by Dutch heptathlete Anouk Vetter and went into the final discipline with a 19-point deficit. But Thiam smashed her 800m PB by two seconds to reclaim the lead with a final score of 6947, the second-best mark of her career.
Vetter held on to take silver with 6867, smashing the Dutch record she set when earning a medal of the same colour at the Tokyo Olympics last year. USA&rsquo;s Anna Hall, meanwhile, capped a remarkable breakthrough year to take bronze with a PB of 6755, the 21-year-old moving to third on the US all-time list.
Thiam kicked off her campaign with a lifetime best of 13.21 in the 100m hurdles and followed it with a 1.95m leap in the high jump. With no one else jumping 1.90m or higher, Thiam&rsquo;s clearance was enough to move her into the overall lead.
World indoor silver medallist Adrianna Sulek of Poland also started well, clocking 13.28 in the 100m hurdles and clearing 1.89m in the high jump to move into second place, just ahead of Hall.
Vetter, as expected, excelled in the shot put. Following a 1.80m clearance in the high jump, she threw a lifetime best of 16.25m &ndash; more than a metre farther than second-place Thiam (15.03m) &ndash; to move from seventh to second overall. World indoor champion Noor Vidts threw a PB of 14.43m to consolidate her fourth-place standing and Sulek managed 14.13m to stay in contention.
Hall was the quickest in the final discipline of the day, winning her 200m heat in a PB of 23.08. Vetter was second-fastest overall with 23.73, her best ever clocking at a major championships, while Thiam ended her day with 24.39, her fastest 200m run within a heptathlon.
Thiam held on to her overall lead with 4071 &ndash; her best ever day-one score at a major championships. Vetter was close behind with her tally of 4010, her best ever day-one score. Hall (3991), Sulek (3982) and Vidts (3921) were all close behind in the medal hunt.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the defending champion, ended the first day in sixth, one place ahead of Olympic bronze medallist Emma Oosterwegel of the Netherlands.
Thiam started the second day by extending her lead, thanks to a 6.59m leap in the long jump. But Vetter continued to apply the pressure, sailing out to a lifetime best of 6.52m. Switzerland&rsquo;s Annik Kalin also performed well in this discipline, leaping 6.56m. Sulek (6.43m) and Hall (6.39m) meanwhile switched positions in the overall standings after this event, moving to third and fourth respectively.
Just as she had done with the first day&rsquo;s throwing event, Vetter impressed in the javelin. With her second throw of the competition, she sent her spear out to 58.29m &ndash; just 12 centimetres shy of her own championship best performance from 2017.
Thiam responded with a solid 53.01m, but Vetter emerged from that discipline with a 19-point lead with both women surpassing 6000 points with one discipline still to go.
Hall set a PB of 45.75m, extending her margin over Sulek in fourth. And with the 800m &ndash; arguably Hall&rsquo;s best event &ndash; still to come, the rising US star had pretty much guaranteed her place among the medals.
Thiam went into the 800m knowing that she had to finish 1.36 seconds ahead of Vetter to take the title. The Belgian all-rounder was confident of doing that too, having frequently finished a few seconds ahead of her Dutch rival in their 800m clashes over the years.
Holding back from the swift early pace set by Hall, Thiam ran a smart race and stayed comfortably ahead of Vetter throughout. While Hall held off an inspired challenge from Sulek and Vidts in the final 200 metres &ndash; much to the delight of the home crowd &ndash; Thiam crossed the line a few seconds later in 2:13.00, a PB by two seconds.
Vetter finished in 2:20.09, giving her a final score of 6867 &ndash; a 174-point improvement on her own national record and the highest ever score for a silver medal at the World Championships.
But the most remarkable improvement of the competition came from Hall, who added almost 300 points to her PB to take bronze with 6755 &ndash; also the highest ever score needed for a bronze medal at the World Championships.
Sulek finished fourth with 6672 &ndash; a mark which would have been more than enough for a medal at any of the past 17 editions of the World Championships. But she could find some consolation in the fact that she broke the long-standing Polish record of 6616 set back in 1985 by Malgorzata Nowak.
With Vidts (6559), Kalin (6464, Swiss record) and Oosterwegel (6440) taking the next three places, it was the best depth competition ever at the World Championships. Johnson-Thompson finished eighth with a season&rsquo;s best of 6222.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid; height: 110px;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center; height: 22px;" colspan="3">HEPTATHLON MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center; height: 22px;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968; height: 22px;">Nafissatou Thiam 🇧🇪 BEL</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968; height: 22px;">6947 SB</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center; height: 22px;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9; height: 22px;">Anouk Vetter 🇳🇱 NED</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9; height: 22px;">6867 NR</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center; height: 22px;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e; height: 22px;">Anna Hall 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e; height: 22px;">6755 PB</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left; height: 22px;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/oregon22/results/women/heptathlon/800-metres/points" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;

Double Olympic champion is now a two-time world champion

Thiam regains world heptathlon title in Oregon

<h2>Women's heptathlon</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/oregon22/timetable/bydiscipline/women/heptathlon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/heptathlon/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2022-06-26&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/combined-events/heptathlon/outdoor/women/senior/2022?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/combined-events/heptathlon/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2022-07-06" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/combined-events/heptathlon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Last year she won her second Olympic gold medal, and now Belgium&rsquo;s Nafi Thiam will be aiming to win world title No.2 at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
Ever since winning Olympic gold in 2016, the 27-year-old has established herself as the leading heptathlete of her generation, winning the world title in 2017, European gold in 2018 and scoring a lifetime best of 7013.
Each time she has won a major title, her winning score has been in the region of 6800 points. The only slight blemish on her record &ndash; if you can even refer to a silver medal in such a way &ndash; is her runner-up finish at the 2019 World Championships, where Katarina Johnson-Thompson triumphed with 6981 &ndash; the best score at a World Championships since 2007.
Of the two global champions, Thiam has shown the best form this year. She hasn&rsquo;t contested a heptathlon, but she won the long jump at the Belgian Championships with 6.63m and placed second in the 100m hurdles in 13.50. She has also equalled her 200m PB of 24.37.
While her high jump season&rsquo;s best of 1.92m is some way short of her world heptathlon best of 2.02m, she may not need to rely on that discipline to bank extra points should all go to plan in the other events.
Throws have been a minor concern for Thiam in recent years as she has tried to manage a niggling elbow injury, so she tends not to contest throwing events outside of heptathlons. Even so, she is usually capable of throwing about 15 metres in the shot and beyond 50 metres in the javelin, which are marks few other heptathletes are able to match.
Johnson-Thompson, meanwhile, has had an up-and-down year. She made a last-minute decision to compete at the World Indoor Championships but withdrew before the final discipline. She went on to compete at the Hypo Meeting in G&ouml;tzis, where she finished seventh with 6174. Following that, she changed her coaching set-up and moved from the US back to the UK.
If anyone has shown the kind of form needed to challenge Thiam this year, it&rsquo;s Anouk Vetter. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/604de001465d71048d8137a8.jpg" alt="Anouk Vetter in the heptathlon 100m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019" />
Anouk Vetter in the heptathlon 100m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 (&copy; Gladys Chai von der Laage)
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The Olympic silver medallist won at the Hypo Meeting in G&ouml;tzis with a world-leading Dutch record of 6693. Her series included a 59.81m PB in the javelin &ndash; the longest ever throw within a 6000pt+ heptathlon.
Vetter and Thiam are evenly matched in the throws and 800m. Vetter is slightly quicker in the sprints and hurdles, while Thiam is better in the jumps.
The host nation&rsquo;s hopes rest with Anna Hall and Kendell Williams. Hall, still only 21, is undefeated in combined events competitions this year, though has competed exclusively in the US and mainly just on the collegiate circuit. She set a pentathlon PB of 4618 indoors, then scored heptathlon PBs of 6412 and 6458 outdoors, the latter when winning the US title. She followed that with victory at the NCAA Championships.
A solid all-rounder, Hall fares best in running events, so look out for her to finish with a flourish with the 200m on day one and the 800m on day two.
Williams, meanwhile, claimed her first senior global medal earlier this year when taking bronze at the World Indoor Championships. Fifth at last year&rsquo;s Olympics and at the 2019 World Championships, Williams will be keen to fare better at Hayward Field &ndash; a place that holds fond memories for the 27-year-old as it&rsquo;s where she claimed world U20 gold in the 100m hurdles back in 2014, as well as her three NCAA heptathlon titles in 2014, 2016 and 2017.
Noor Vidts and Adrianna Sulek claimed the top two places at the World Indoor Championships in an enthralling duel that went down to the wire. Vidts, who hasn&rsquo;t completed a heptathlon outdoors this year, had some mixed results earlier in the season but the Belgian showed glimmers of promise with a 13.33 clocking in the 100m hurdles earlier this month.
Sulek, meanwhile, is showing the kind of form that suggests she could be a medal contender. The 23-year-old Pole won in Bydgoszcz with 6290, then finished second in G&ouml;tzis with a PB of 6429. She came within six points of that mark to win the Polish title last month. Throughout the season, she has set PBs in five of the individual seven heptathlon disciplines.
Several other women will also be in contention at various points throughout the two days of competition, so look out for Olympic bronze medallist Emma Oosterwegel of the Netherlands, Austria&rsquo;s 2018 world indoor silver medallist Ivona Dadic, Hungary&rsquo;s 2021 G&ouml;tzis winner Xenia Krizsan, Multistars winner and Swiss record-holder Annik Kalin, and Ratingen winner Sophie Weissenberg of Germany.
&nbsp;
<h2>Men's decathlon</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/oregon22/timetable/bydiscipline/men/decathlon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/decathlon/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2022-06-26&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/combined-events/decathlon/outdoor/men/senior/2022?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/combined-events/decathlon/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2022-07-06" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/combined-events/decathlon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
This time last year, Damian Warner was the journeyman of the decathlon.
The Canadian all-rounder had stood on the podium at the World Championships, Olympic Games and World Indoor Championships, but a global title had eluded him.
A lot can happen in 12 months, though. Fast forward to 2022 and Warner is now an Olympic gold medallist, a world indoor champion, and a member of the 9000-point club. Nine years after winning his first global medal, the 32-year-old is hitting peak form &ndash; and he shows no signs of slowing down.
He won the world indoor title earlier this year with a Canadian record of 6489, moving him to second on the world indoor all-time list. Outdoors, he won the decathlon at the Hypo Meeting in G&ouml;tzis for a record seventh time with 8797, the third-best score of his career.
What makes Warner such a formidable opponent is his dependability and consistency in an event where any number of things could go wrong. He often performs near or at his best in every discipline and rarely suffers a mid-competition disaster.
In fact, the last time he was beaten in a combined events competition was at the 2019 World Championships where illness meant he wasn&rsquo;t at his best, but despite that rare off-day he still held on to take bronze behind surprise winner Niklas Kaul of Germany.
Kaul will defend his world title in Eugene, though he&rsquo;s not quite in the same form that carried the then 21-year-old to an 8691 victory in Doha. He has, however, proven himself to be a strong championship performer so far in his burgeoning career, and as a strong day-two performer, he&rsquo;ll have the benefit of flying under the radar for the first day.
If anyone has the talent and ability to stop Warner and prevent Kaul from retaining his title, it&rsquo;s Kevin Mayer. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/514a7c12-1a04-4405-bb85-2d802879525d.jpg" alt="Kevin Mayer after throwing a lifetime decathlon best in the shot put at the IAAF World Championships Doha 2019" />
Kevin Mayer after throwing a lifetime decathlon best in the shot put at the World Championships Doha 2019 (&copy; Getty Images)
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The world record-holder, who preceded Kaul as world champion, took silver behind Warner at the Olympics last year. Unlike Warner, Mayer&rsquo;s combined events record is littered with many DNFs; some of them are competitions where he had no intention of finishing anyway, while others were on a grander stage, such as the 2019 World Championships and 2018 European Championships.
When he is fit and focused, though, Mayer is a medal threat. Not counting those blips in 2019 and 2018, he has made it on to the podium at all the major championships he has contested from 2014 onwards. And although he hasn&rsquo;t completed a combined events competition this year, he has showed solid form in individual disciplines.
But beyond these three winners of global titles, there are many more medal contenders heading to Oregon.
Australia&rsquo;s Ashley Moloney took a surprise bronze at the Olympics last year, setting an Oceanian record of 8649. He hasn&rsquo;t competed at all outdoors this year, but lack of competition didn&rsquo;t seem to affect him at this year&rsquo;s World Indoor Championships where &ndash; despite having never competed indoors before &ndash; he took bronze with an area record of 6344.
USA&rsquo;s Kyle Garland is even younger than Moloney and Kaul, but already has a superior PB. The 22-year-old added more than 500 points to his PB at the US Championships earlier this year with 8720 in a series that showed few weaknesses. A strong jumper, thrower and hurdler, Garland will also benefit from home crowd support.
He was beaten, however, at the NCAA Championships, where Puerto Rico&rsquo;s Ayden Owens-Delerme triumphed with 8457, having set a national record of 8528 earlier in the season. Owens-Delerme, who was born on the exact same day as Garland, will likely bank most of his points in the running events, given his range includes a 10.27 PB for 100m, a 46.10 PB for 400m and a 4:13.17 best for 1500m.
Canada&rsquo;s Pierce LePage, fifth at last year&rsquo;s Olympics and at the 2019 World Championships, withdrew from the Hypo Meeting in May after two disciplines, but was back in action at the recent Canadian Championships, showing strong form in the 110m hurdles and discus.
Estonia always fields a strong line-up in the decathlon and this year is no different. World silver medallist Maicel Uibo features on their team for Oregon, though Janek Oiglane is the nation&rsquo;s top scorer this year, having set a PB of 8405. He was sixth in Doha and fourth at the 2017 World Championships, so will be keen to make it on to the podium this time. Johannes Erm, the 2019 NCAA champion, rounds out the Estonian team.
USA&rsquo;s Zach Ziemek, Australia&rsquo;s Cedric Dubler, Grenada&rsquo;s Lindon Victor and Germany&rsquo;s Kai Kazmirek are all experienced championship performers and likely will feature high up on the leader board at various stages throughout the two days of competition on 23 and 24 July.
And in homage to two-time Olympic champion and former world record-holder Ashton Eaton, who studied at the University of Oregon and spent many years training at Eugene&rsquo;s Hayward Field, the men&rsquo;s decathlon 1500m will be the final individual track event of the championships.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the heptathlon and decathlon

WCH Oregon22 preview: combined events

USA's Chari Hawkins and Sweden's Marcus Nilsson captured respective victories at the Meeting Internacional Arona Pruebas Combinadas Tenerife, the Spanish leg of the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold, held this weekend (4-5 June).
Hawkins&rsquo; overnight lead became even more significant after her close rival Naimh Emerson withdrew following the long jump, and she went on to win with a PB of 6243. Nilsson, meanwhile, cemented his win after an expected strong second day, scoring 8115.
The heptathlon kicked off with a clash in the 100m hurdles between Solene Ndama of France and USA's Hawkins, with the former prevailing &ndash; 13.24 to 13.30. Hawkins' compatriot Ashtin Zamzow-Mahler finished a distant third in 13.52.
Still rounding into form, Emerson managed a season's best of 14.23 for sixth but the 23-year-old proved to be the strongest in one of her favourite events, the high jump, sailing over 1.85m after a perfect card from 1.73m to 1.82m.
Hawkins, after a scare at 1.76m that saw her clear the bar at the third time of asking, managed a 1.85m PB to move into the overall lead ahead of Emerson and Claudia Conte of Spain.
The 2018 world U20 champion Emerson also took the shot put, opening with a 13.38m effort before improving her lifetime best by 17 centimetres to 13.82m. Hawkins was a close third courtesy of a 13.67m heave to comfortably maintain her lead, with Marijke Esselink of the Netherlands sandwiched between them (13.72m).
Hawkins strengthened her lead with a victory in the closing 200m, recording 24.69 clearly ahead of Emerson's 25.06, although Esselink took the previous heat in 24.79. At the end of day one Hawkins was a comfortable leader, 158 points ahead of Emerson, herself four points clear of Esselink.
In Sunday's first event, Conte overcame a foul and a botched attempt to land at 6.18m in the last round of the long jump. Hawkins and Emerson had to be satisfied with respective leaps of 5.98m and 5.93m, the Briton being narrowly surpassed by the Dutch Esserlink and threatened by Conte in the overall rankings.
A flare-up of a hamstring problem meant that Emerson withdrew from the competition before the javelin. Hawkins managed 42.88m, which was enough to maintain a comfortable 142-point lead over Conte, who threw 44.70m. Uzbekistan&rsquo;s Ekaterina Voronina moved up the standings thank to her 50.45m release.
Conte went out hard in the 800m, passing through the first lap in 1:02.70, but faded to second in 2:11.58. Hawkins was further back in 2:16.66, ending the competition with a winning score of 6243.
Conte finished second with 6174, while Esselink (6087) and Voronina (6072) were third and fourth respectively.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve loved it,&rdquo; Hawkins told DecathletesOfEurope. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s something special about the weather, the environment, the music, the people &ndash; it was really electric. I came in so focused and I was really glad I was able to do what I needed to do today.&rdquo;
<h2>Nilsson bounces back</h2>
In the decathlon, Brazil&rsquo;s Felipe Dos Santos confirmed his role as the strongest athlete in the opening events with victories in the 100m (10.64) and the long jump (7.33m).
Germany's Jannis Wolf took the runner-up place in the 100m (10.83), while Italy's Dario Dester came third in 10.93. Nilsson, meanwhile, was further down the standings in 13th overall with 11.43.
Dester climbed into second place overall after long jumping 7.29m, but Nilsson dropped further with a best of just 6.83m, almost half a metre down on his PB.
A 15.37m heave in the shot put from Nilsson put the Swede back in the frame, moving him up to ninth overall. He was still almost 200 points shy of leader Dos Santos, though, who managed 13.60m. Dester held on to second place after throwing 13.58m.
Dos Santos maintained the lead after clearing 1.98m in the high jump. Venezuela&rsquo;s Gerson Izaguirre matched that height and overtook Dester to move into second. Nilsson, meanwhile, also cleared 1.98m and climbed up to sixth place overall.
Dos Santos finally surrendered his lead in the final discipline of the day as Dester cruised to a lifetime best of 47.70 in the 400m, elevating the Italian up to first place overall with 4144 points at the half-way stage. Dos Santos and Izaguirre also surpassed 4000 points at the end of day one, while Nilsson held on to sixth place with 3931.
Izaguirre achieved his first individual discipline win in the opening event of the second day. The Venezuelan topped the 110m hurdles in 14.21, just 0.01 ahead of Dos Santos with Dester in third (14.43), just enough to hold on to the lead. Nilsson was further back in 14.73.
The Swede, just as he had done in the shot put on day one, clawed back even more points in the discus with his 47.61m heave being almost four metres farther than the next-best athlete in that event. Dos Santos reclaimed the lead after throwing 40.33m, but Dester, Izaguirre and Nilsson were all within 100 points of the Brazilian.
Nilsson, very much a &lsquo;second day&rsquo; performer, excelled in the pole vault and equalled his PB of 5.10m, taking the overall lead from Dos Santos, who managed 4.70m. Dester (4.80m) and Izaguirre (4.90m) also remained in contention with just 41 points separating the quartet going into the last two disciplines.
Confirming his status as the strongest all-round thrower in the field, Nilsson took the javelin with 59.28m to extend his lead. Dester (56.61m) and Dos Santos (56.02m) were relatively close behind, while Izaguirre managed 53.65m.
By this point, Nilsson &ndash; the 2010 world U20 bronze medallist &ndash; knew he had a good chance of winning as he was the strongest 1500m runner of the field. His target became improving on his PB of 8120, for which he would need a 4:19.32 clocking in the 1500m.
He went out hard and fell agonisingly short, but his 4:19.83 run was still enough to win with a score of 8115.
Dester finished in 4:39.70, giving him a score of 7903 for second place, while Izaguirre took third place with 7812.
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics

Chari Hawkins takes heptathlon with 6243, Marcus Nilsson wins decathlon with 8115

Hawkins and Nilsson triumph in Arona

Olympic decathlon champion Damian Warner achieved a record seventh victory at the Hypo Meeting in G&ouml;tzis while Olympic silver medallist Anouk Vetter became the first Dutch winner at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting on Sunday (29).
Warner trailed rising Swiss star Simon Ehammer on the first day as the world indoor silver medallist sailed out to a world decathlon best of 8.45m in the long jump. But Warner regained the lead at the start of day two and held on to the end, winning with 8797.
Vetter also only moved into the lead on Sunday as she chased world indoor silver medallist Adrianna Sulek for most of the two-day competition. But a meeting record of 59.81m in the javelin gave Vetter an unassailable lead ahead of the final discipline and she eventually won with 6693.
On the hunt for yet another G&ouml;tzis victory, Warner got his campaign off to a strong start with a 10.14 run, missing his 100m PB and own world decathlon best set in the same town in 2019 by 0.02. Ehammer also showed he meant business with a 10.46 PB, while Canada&rsquo;s Pierce LePage ran 10.35.
Next up was the long jump &ndash; Ehammer&rsquo;s time to shine. Just three weeks earlier, the 22-year-old had jumped 8.30m in Ratingen, improving the 8.28m world decathlon best that Warner set en route to his victory in G&ouml;tzis last year. It also broke the Swiss long jump record that had stood for almost 20 years and helped him on his way to a 8354-point national decathlon record.
Adding 15 centimetres to that mark, Ehammer achieved the best long jump in the world so far this season in the very first round and his delight was clear as he jumped out of the pit and started celebrating. That result launched him into the lead after two events and it was an advantage he wouldn&rsquo;t relinquish on day one.
Warner achieved the next best long jump mark of 7.93m and Estonia&rsquo;s Hans-Christian Hausenberg leapt 7.85m. LePage managed 7.49m but took no further part in the competition. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/629272f983337e439b66a048.jpg" alt="Simon Ehammer celebrates his 8.45m long jump in G&ouml;tzis" />
Simon Ehammer celebrates his 8.45m long jump in G&ouml;tzis (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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 Victor was strongest in the shot and wasn&rsquo;t too far off his PB with 16.28m as the only athlete to surpass 16 metres. Warner closed the gap on the leader with a 14.92m put to Ehammer&rsquo;s 14.42m.
USA&rsquo;s Hunter Price, making his G&ouml;tzis debut, cleared 2.09m to top the high jump results ahead of Estonia&rsquo;s world silver medallist Maicel Uibo (2.06m), as Warner and Ehammer both managed 2.03m.
Netherlands&rsquo; Rik Taam then stormed to a 400m PB of 47.28 and Warner powered to a time of 47.92. Ehammer&rsquo;s 48.44 saw him hold on to top spot overnight, but only just.
Warner finally regained his lead in the first event of the second day, though the gap between him and Ehammer in the 110m hurdles wasn&rsquo;t too significant, 13.48 to 13.75. Ehammer&rsquo;s Swiss teammate Finley Gaio was close behind with 13.86, enough to move up to third overall.
Warner extended his leading margin in the discus as his 48.24m effort was more than 10 metres farther than Ehammer&rsquo;s best (36.98m). But the big story in this event was Lindon Victor&rsquo;s monster heave of 54.85m &ndash; just 30 centimetres shy of the long-standing meeting record &ndash; which moved the Grenadian up to third overall. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/629390aac4732703b35c4275.jpg" alt="Damian Warner in the decathlon discus in Gotzis" />
Damian Warner in the decathlon discus in Gotzis (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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 Somewhat surprisingly for a decathlon pole vault competition, the positions of the top six athletes remained the same after the eighth discipline, though the margins changed slightly.
Warner and Ehammer equalled their respective PBs of 4.90m and 5.10m to remain in first and second place. Victor&rsquo;s 4.70m was enough to hold on to third, while Kazmirek &ndash; showing his best form for quite some time &ndash; scaled 5.00m to consolidate his fourth place position ahead of Gaio and Rik Taam. A 5.30m vault from world silver medallist Maicel Uibo, meanwhile, elevated the Estonian from 11th to seventh overall.
Heavy rain and hail started to fall before the javelin, but the conditions didn&rsquo;t seem to affect the performances. World champion Niklas Kaul topped the event with a season&rsquo;s best of 69.29m, moving him into the top five overall for the first time in the competition.
Warner held on to his comfortable lead thanks to a throw of 58.62m, giving him an overall tally of 8108 and a leading margin of 243 points with one discipline still to go. Ehammer set a PB of 55.98m, just enough to hold on to second place overall from Lindon Victor, whose 63.93m throw put him just seven points adrift of Ehammer overall.
Kaul, determined to put in a strong showing after aborting his past three decathlons, took on the leading duties in the 1500m and got progressively quicker en route to a 4:16.31 clocking. Further back, Warner cruised around in 4:38.65 to end the competition with a winning score of 8797, the third-best mark of his career.
At the back of the pack, Victor and Ehammer were locked in their own battle for second place. Victor held on for a 4:55.00 run while a struggling Ehammer finished in 5:08.51. It meant Victor took second place overall with 8447 and Ehammer placed third with a Swiss record of 8377.
Kaul&rsquo;s heroic run in the 1500m moved the German up to fourth overall with 8303, his best score since winning the world title in 2019. Kazmirek was close behind with 8272, also his best mark since 2019. Taam, meanwhile, added more than 100 points to his PB to place sixth with 8246.
<h2>Vetter betters Dutch record</h2>
World indoor bronze medallist Kendell Williams blasted to an early lead in the heptathlon, clocking 13.13 in the 100m hurdles as Vetter ran 13.28 and Sulek 13.61.
Sulek has improved her high jump PB indoors and out this year and she went higher still in G&ouml;tzis, clearing 1.92m on her third attempt after seven first-time clearances from 1.71m to 1.89m to get to that point. That performance took her into the lead overall, followed by Williams who was among three athletes to achieve a 1.80m clearance. Estonia&rsquo;s Liisa-Maria Lusti got closest to Sulek with a 1.86m PB. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62927319c51932482ad50522.jpg" alt="Adrianna Sulek in action in G&ouml;tzis" />
Adrianna Sulek in action in G&ouml;tzis (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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 Benin&rsquo;s Odile Ahouanwanou launched the shot 15.27m to top that event, while Germany&rsquo;s Vanessa Grimm recorded 14.96m, Vetter 14.88m and Finland&rsquo;s world U20 champion Saga Vanninen 14.58m. Sulek improved her PB to 13.79m and held on to her overall lead, with Vetter in second and Ahouanwanou moving up into third.
Another PB followed for Sulek as she ran 23.86 in the 200m to end the day with 3940 points. Britain&rsquo;s two-time G&ouml;tzis winner Katarina Johnson-Thompson, looking to complete her first full heptathlon since her World Championships victory in Doha in 2019, clocked the fastest time of 23.51, while Germany&rsquo;s Sophie Weissenberg recorded a PB of 23.67.
Vetter&rsquo;s 23.76 and Williams&rsquo; 23.77 secured them second and third place respectively overnight.
Vetter and Williams started the second day strongly, both leaping seasons bests of 6.47m in the long jump to close the gap on Sulek, who managed 6.28m.
But the tables turned in the javelin. Vetter opened with 47.14m, which would have been sufficient to overtake Sulek, whose opening throw of 38.66m remained her best of the day. But the Dutch all-rounder improved to 51.39m in round two and then a sensational 59.81m in round three, breaking Nafi Thiam&rsquo;s meeting record by almost half a metre. It&rsquo;s also the best ever throw within a 6000-point heptathlon.
Latvia&rsquo;s Laura Ikauniece (53.93m) and Emma Oosterwegel (52.53m) were the only other athletes to throw beyond 50 metres.
It meant that Vetter went into the 800m with a 372-point lead, essentially meaning the title was hers to lose. Competing in heavy rain and hail, Sulek won the fourth and final heat of the 800m in 2:13.80, but Vetter&rsquo;s 2:21.56 clocking sealed the crown with a score of 6693, adding four points to the Dutch record she set in Tokyo last year. Sulek was rewarded with a PB of 6429.
Grimm continued to put in a consistent series throughout the second day and emerged in third place with a PB of 6323, 22 points ahead of Multistars winner Annik Kalin. Johnson-Thompson finished down in seventh place with 6174, behind Oosterwegel (6265) and Britain&rsquo;s Holly Mills (6260).
<h3>Leading results</h3>
Heptathlon 1 Anouk Vetter (NED) 6693 2 Adrianna Sulek (POL) 6429 3 Vanessa Grimm (GER) 6323 4 Annik Kalin (SUI) 6301 5 Emma Oosterwegel (NED) 6265 6 Holly Mills (GBR) 6260 7 Katarina Johnson-Thompson (GBR) 6174 8 Odile Ahouanwanou (BEN) 6173
Decathlon 1 Damian Warner (CAN) 8797 2 Lindon Victor (GRN) 8447 3 Simon Ehammer (SUI) 8377 4 Niklas Kaul (GER) 8303 5 Kai Kazmirek (GER) 8272 6 Rik Taam (NED) 8246 7 Maicel Uibo (EST) 8067 8 Hunter Price (USA) 7996

Warner scores 8797, Vetter breaks Dutch record with 6693

Warner wins again, Vetter victorious in Götzis

Damian Warner may have earned the biggest accolade in the sport with his Olympic decathlon title last year, but his reign as king of combined events began long before that with his historic streak of victories at the Hypo Meeting in G&ouml;tzis.
The Canadian all-rounder will return to the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting this weekend (28-29) in pursuit of a record-extending seventh victory. He&rsquo;ll take on a strong field that includes world champion Niklas Kaul and rising Swiss star Simon Ehammer, who pushed Warner all the way at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 earlier this year.
World champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson, meanwhile, leads the heptathlon field. The Briton faces Olympic silver medallist Anouk Vetter, world indoor bronze medallist Kendell Williams and the returning Laura Ikauniece, among others.
Warner will be contesting his first decathlon of the year, but the vastly experienced 32-year-old rarely shows any sign of early season rust. He went into the World Indoor Championships off the back of just one low-key hurdles race, yet emerged from Belgrade with the gold medal and a national record of 6489, elevating him to No.2 on the world indoor all-time list.
He opened his outdoor season last month with a 49.07m throw in the discus, one of the best marks of his career, and a wind-assisted 20.63 run over 200m, which suggests his form is as good as it has been in the past 12 months &ndash; the same form that carried him to a 8995 victory in G&ouml;tzis last year and a 9018 triumph at the Olympics, making him just the fourth man in history to surpass 9000 points in the decathlon.
There may not be anyone else in the field who can match that overall score, but there are several athletes who&rsquo;ll push Warner in each individual discipline. Ehammer, for example, broke Warner&rsquo;s world decathlon best in the long jump earlier this month, soaring out to 8.30m en route to his triumph in Ratingen. The 22-year-old is also a strong sprint hurdler, so will likely be close to Warner in that discipline too. And the strong line-up in G&ouml;tzis could be just what Ehammer needs to improve on his recent Swiss decathlon record of 8354.
Kaul hasn&rsquo;t quite regained the form he showed when winning the world title in 2019 with 8691, but the 24-year-old has come relatively close to his PBs in the 110m hurdles, pole vault and long jump so far this year. Given the strength of the field, this is about as good a test as he&rsquo;ll get ahead of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
His German compatriots Arthur Abele and Kai Kazmirek are very much in the same boat when it comes to trying to recapture their best form. Abele, the European champion, last completed a decathlon back in September 2018. Kazmirek didn&rsquo;t finish in Ratingen earlier this month or at the World Indoor Championships, but he was seventh in G&ouml;tzis last year and went on to place 14th at the Olympics.
Warner&rsquo;s strongest opposition this weekend could come from his fellow Canadian Pierce LePage. The 26-year-old placed fifth at the 2019 World Championships and at last year&rsquo;s Olympics, scoring a PB of 8604. LePage, who finished second to Warner in G&ouml;tzis last year, set a discus PB of 51.38m last month and an indoor shot put PB of 15.81m earlier in the year, so appears to be in top form.
World silver medallist Maicel Uibo of Estonia and Lindon Victor of Grenada, both vastly experienced and formidable competitors, should also be in the mix this weekend. Meanwhile, world U20 champion Frantisek Doubek of the Czech Republic will contest his first decathlon since becoming a senior athlete.
A lot has happened since Johnson-Thompson won her second Hypo-Meeting title in 2019.
The Briton won the world title a few months later, battled injuries for much of 2020 and 2021 but made it to the startline of the Olympic heptathlon in Tokyo and was competitive in the first three events, only for another injury to strike at the mid-way point of the competition, forcing her to withdraw. Since then, she has also relocated to the US to join a new training group.
She accepted a wildcard invitation to compete at the World Indoor Championships but ultimately wasn&rsquo;t quite at a point where she was competitive and so withdrew before the 800m. Her early season results outdoors have been a bit more promising, including a wind-assisted 6.41m leap at the recent Wanda Diamond League meeting in Birmingham.
This weekend the 29-year-old hopes to achieve her first completed heptathlon since her World Championships victory almost three years ago, and she&rsquo;ll face a strong field.
Dutch duo Anouk Vetter and Emma Oosterwegel will be formidable opponents. Vetter, the Olympic silver medallist, has shown strong form in individual disciplines already this year, including wind-assisted marks of 13.16 in the 100m hurdles and 6.58m in the long jump, plus a 15.24m throw in the shot put.
Olympic bronze medallist Oosterwegel, meanwhile, ran a wind-assisted 13.44 in the 100m hurdles and threw well beyond 50 metres in the javelin last weekend. No Dutch athlete has ever won in G&ouml;tzis, but there&rsquo;s a chance that drought could end this weekend.
Ikauniece will also be one to watch. The 2015 world bronze medallist finished second to Johnson-Thompson in G&ouml;tzis in 2019 but was then forced to withdraw from the World Championships due to injury. She hasn&rsquo;t started a heptathlon since June 2019, but she returned to competition this year and recently threw 13.90m in the shot and 52.14m in the javelin, suggesting she&rsquo;s in good form ahead of this weekend.
Cuba&rsquo;s Yorgelis Rodriguez, like Johnson-Thompson, also crashed out of the Olympic Games last year, but she&rsquo;s usually a strong opponent in any heptathlon.
Poland&rsquo;s Adrianna Sulek and USA&rsquo;s Kendell Williams, the world indoor silver and bronze medallists respectively, will also be in action this weekend. Sulek recently won in Bydgoszcz with 6290 but she hopes to get closer to &ndash; or even beyond &ndash; the World Championships qualifying standard of 6420 this weekend. Williams, as the winner of the 2021 Combined Events Tour, has already got a wildcard entry for the World Championships.
Others to look out for include recent Multistars winner Annik Kalin of Switzerland, world U20 champion Saga Vanninen of Finland, Ireland&rsquo;s Kate O&rsquo;Connor and Britain&rsquo;s Holly Mills.
<h3>Leading entries</h3>
Women Katarina Johnson-Thompson (GBR) 6981 Laura Ikauniece (LAT) 6815 Yorgelis Rodriguez (CUB) 6742 Anouk Vetter (NED) 6689 Kendell Williams (USA) 6683 Emma Oosterwegel (NED) 6590 Annik Kalin (SUI) 6398 Ekaterina Voronina (UZB) 6346 Vanessa Grimm (GER) 6316 Adrianna Sulek (POL) 6315 Kate O&rsquo;Connor (IRL) 6297 Sophie Weissenberg (GER) 6293 Odile Ahouanwanou (BEN) 6274 Saga Vanninen (FIN) 6271
Men Damian Warner (CAN) 9018 Niklas Kaul (GER) 8691 Arthur Abele (GER) 8605 Pierce LePage (CAN) 8604 Maicel Uibo (EST) 8604 Kai Kazmirek (GER) 8580 Lindon Victor (GRN) 8539 Simon Ehammer (SUI) 8354 Pawel Wiesiolek (POL) 8333 Tim Nowak (GER) 8229 Niels Pittomvils (BEL) 8222 Joseph Delgado (USA) 8161 Risto Lillemets (EST) 8156 Rik Taam (NED) 8107

Olympic decathlon champion Damian Warner and world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson lead the competitive fields

Warner seeks seventh victory, while Johnson-Thompson returns to Götzis

World indoor silver medallist Adrianna Sulek led the Wiesław Czapiewski Memorial heptathlon from start to finish while Czech decathlon champion Ondrej Kopecky broke the 8000-point barrier for the first time at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting in Bydgoszcz on Sunday (15).
Sulek&rsquo;s winning score of 6290 was just 25 points shy of her lifetime best. Kopecky, meanwhile, gave himself an early birthday present &ndash; he turned 24 the day after the competition &ndash; and added more than 400 points to his PB with his 8041 tally.
Sulek was the only heptathlete to dip inside 14 seconds in the 100m hurdles, opening her account with 13.70. An outdoor PB of 1.87m in the high jump increased her lead over Dorota Skrivanova of the Czech Republic.
The Pole came within one centimetre of her PB in the shot put (13.20m) and rounded out her first day with a 24.34 clocking in the 200m, giving her a leading score of 3777, more than 250 points ahead of Skrivanova, who was just ahead of Sulek in the 200m (24.32).
Skrivanova &ndash; who finished fifth at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade &ndash; topped the long jump with a leap of 6.24m, while Sulek managed 6.14m. But Sulek increased her lead in the javelin, throwing 40.37m to Skrivanova&rsquo;s 32.91m.
Poland&rsquo;s Edyta Bielska dominated the 800m and ran 2:07.48, with Skrivanova (2:10.29) and Sulek (2:11.25) relatively close behind. Sulek&rsquo;s clocking brought her winning tally to 6290, while Skrivanova was rewarded with a PB of 5926.
&ldquo;Were it not for the fact that this was the Wieslaw Czapiewski Memorial, I would have run the 800m in about 2:15, just enough to hold on to victory, but since this competition is in memorial of my former coach, there was no room for poor results,&rdquo; said Sulek, who was coached by Czapiewski up until his death in 2019. &ldquo;I decided to run my lungs out and fight in the 800m. My score may have been just short of my PB, but I know that I gave 100% today. And in the near future I&rsquo;ll be faster and stronger.&rdquo;
Kopecky got off to a strong start in the decathlon, winning the 100m in 11.06 and the long jump with a PB of 7.47m. Poland&rsquo;s Pawel Wiesiolek (14.85m) and Lithuania&rsquo;s Edgaras Benkunskas (14.64m) applied pressure in the shot put, but Kopecky&rsquo;s 13.46m heave was enough for the Czech all-rounder to maintain his lead.
Wiesiolek took no further part in the competition, but Benkunskas took the lead after clearing 2.04m in the high jump. Kopecky managed 1.89m but rebounded in the 400m with a big PB of 48.54, giving him a first-day score of 4057, 66 points ahead of Benkunskas.
The lead duo were close in the first event of the second day, Benkunskas winning the 110m hurdles from Kopecky, 14.32 to 14.35. But Kopecky pulled ahead in the discus (44.06m) and pole vault (5.10m).
Benkunskas gained a bit of ground in the javelin, throwing 61.11m to Kopecky&rsquo;s 57.86m, but the Czech leader had a comfortable lead going into the 1500m and duly won that event in 4:43.42, gaining the overall victory with 8041. Benkunskas finished second with 7689.

Sulek scores 6290, Kopecky sets big PB of 8041