Johannes Erm and Michelle Atherley (© Getty Images)
Michelle Atherley and Johannes Erm have been confirmed as the winners of the 2024 World Athletics Combined Events Tour, which rewards their season-long consistency in the heptathlon and decathlon, respectively.
The Combined Events Tour takes each athlete’s best three marks across the series and converts them into result scores (also used as the basis of the world rankings system). Winners of the Combined Events Tour, which features both indoor and outdoor meetings, receive a US$30,000 prize.
The top eight at the end of the season are:
Heptathlon
1 Michelle Atherley (USA) 3466
2 Taliyah Brooks (USA) 3421
3 Emma Oosterwegel (NED) 3421
4 Kate O'Connor (IRL) 3326
5 Vanessa Grimm (GER) 3320
6 Verena Mayr (AUT) 3303
7 Lovisa Karlsson (SWE) 3290
8 Tori West (AUS) 3289
Full standings
Decathlon
1 Johannes Erm (EST) 3661
2 Sander Skotheim (NOR) 3624
3 Heath Baldwin (USA) 3614
4 Sven Roosen (NED) 3599
5 Devon Williams (USA) 3477
6 Felix Wolter (GER) 3454
7 Tim Nowak (GER) 3450
8 Jente Hauttekeete (BEL) 3447
Full standings
Atherley’s highest single heptathlon score of the season came at the Hypomeeting in Gotzis in May, where the US athlete scored a PB of 6465 points to place third. Her results in Gotzis included a PB and meeting record of 12.71 in the 100m hurdles and a PB of 13.67m in the shot put.
She went on to finish fourth at the US Olympic Team Trials with 6391 points and her series also included a 6372-point win at the Mt. SAC Relays in April.
Her US compatriot Taliyah Brooks secured second place in the series. After retaining her title at the Multistars meeting in Brescia in April with a PB-equalling 6330 points, she improved to a PB of 6408 to finish third at the US Olympic Team Trials and then competed at the Olympic Games in Paris, where she was 11th with 6258.
After winning the Combined Events Tour last year, Dutch heptathlete Emma Oosterwegel was third this time but it was incredibly close. She ended the season on 3421 tour points – the same as Brooks – and finished third overall as Brooks had a higher single heptathlon score (6408 to 6386).
That 6386 performance for Tokyo bronze medallist Oosterwegel came on the biggest stage of them all, as she achieved the fifth-best score of her career to finish seventh at the Olympics in Paris. She also finished fourth in Gotzis with 6337 points and second at the season-ending Decastar in Talence on 6273 points.
In the decathlon, Estonia’s Erm had the season of his life. He won the European title in Rome in June, setting a PB of 8764 that put him third on the season top list. His series also included a score of 8462 to finish third at the Hypomeeting in Gotzis and he ended his year on a high, achieving 8589 points to win the Decastar in Talence, where his performance included a big PB of 5.37m in the pole vault.
Alongside those results, Erm also finished sixth at the Paris Olympics and claimed heptathlon bronze at the World Indoor Championships.
Norway’s Sander Skotheim secured a second consecutive runner-up spot in the Combined Events Tour, in a season that was topped by his PB of 8635 to finish second to Erm at the European Championships. He was also runner-up to Erm in Talence, scoring 8517, while his first scoring performance as part of the tour was in the heptathlon in February in Tallinn, where he won with 6281 points. He went on to secure world indoor heptathlon silver in Glasgow.
Claiming third place in the tour was Heath Baldwin, who scored a PB of 8625 to win at the US Olympic Team Trials and then finished 10th at the Paris Olympics with 8422 points. His series also featured a runner-up finish at the Mt. SAC Relays (8470).
World Athletics
