Rosenberg and Vidts the overnight leaders in Arona

Estonia’s Kristjan Rosenberg and Belgium’s Noor Vidts are the overnight leaders at the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting in Arona after a string of solid performances on Saturday (8).

The 25-year-old Estonian started with a 11.20 100m effort which put him third overall behind Spain’s Pol Vila (11.11) and Norway’s Martin Roe (11.13). The Norwegian moved into the lead after clearing 7.38m in the long jump. USA’s Curtis Beach managed the best mark in that event with 7.46m, moving him up to second place overall.

Rosenberg long jumped 7.22m and was more than a metre down on his PB in the shot, managing 13.54m. Roe, meanwhile, maintained his overall lead thanks to a 14.88m heave in the shot put. Cuba’s Abdel Kader Larrinaga moved into second place, just ahead of Rosenberg.

The positions were shaken up again in the afternoon session as a 2.11m third-time clearance by Rosenberg to equal his career best propelled him into the lead, 30 points ahead of Roe who could go no higher than 1.93m. Larrinaga cleared 2.04m to maintain a top-three standing.

Boosted by his overall pole position, Rosenberg also came out on top in the 400m (49.12). Roe ran a solid 49.90 to hold on to second place, finishing well ahead of Larrinaga (51.14). At the end of day one Rosenberg leads with 4145, holding a 67-point margin over Roe, himself another 64 clear of the Cuban.

Estonia’s Risto Lillements (3988) and Pablo Tréscoli of Spain (3950) rank fourth and fifth respectively and still have podium chances.

Vidts leads from Preiner

The women’s contest has so far been more clear-cut than the men’s as the top three athletes held the same positions throughout the first four events.

Belgium’s Noor Vidts topped all of the individual disciplines. In the 100m hurdles the 23-year-old managed a PB of 13.64 to prevail over Austria’s European U23 silver medallist Verena Preiner, who clocked 13.66. No one else finished inside 14.00.

The Belgian increased her lead after clearing 1.81m in the high jump to equal her outdoor PB. Preiner jumped 1.75m to maintain her overall second spot.

Preiner dominated the first two rounds of the shot put but Vidts unleashed a PB of 14.08m with her third and final toss to better Preiner’s opening 14.00m. It was a similar story in the 200m, where Vidts held off Preiner’s challenge to win, 24.11 to 24.21.

Vidts, the World University Games bronze medallist, currently leads with 3790, 92 points ahead of Preiner. While Vidts is a slightly better long jumper, Preiner is a far superior javelin thrower and so could make up the deficit tomorrow.

Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF