Yekaterina Bolshova of Russia (© Getty Images)
At the Russian Indoor Combined Events Championships, held in Volgograd on February 7-8, Ekaterina Bolshova successfully defended her Pentathlon title with a world-leading score of 4852.
It was at this same competition last year where Bolshova burst on to the world stage with a superb 4896 – a score which ranked her fifth on the world indoor all-time list at the time.
But despite setting PBs in the Long Jump and 800m in this year’s contest, the 25-year-old fell just score of her lifetime best. She clocked 8.50 in the 60m Hurdles, cleared 1.89m in the High Jump and threw 13.40m in the Shot. She rounded off her competition with PBs of 6.57m in the Long Jump and 2:10.52 in the 800m.
Her score had the potential to be even higher, as she only took one attempt in the Long Jump. In second place Aleksandra Butvina came within six points of the PB she set earlier in the year, scoring 4609 (8.75, 1.83m, 14.79m, 6.17m, 2:15.88). 22-year-old Ulyana Aleksandrova was third with a PB of 4402 (8.76, 1.86m, 12.60m, 6.25m, 2:24.89).
In the men’s Heptathlon, Olympic eight-place finisher Sergei Sviridov took an expected early lead. He set PBs in the Long Jump (7.55m) and Shot (14.87m) and equalled his lifetime bests in the 60m (6.98) and High Jump (2.00m).
But the 22-year-old didn’t feel completely comfortable, and as he intends to compete at the European Indoor Championships his coaches decided to avoid any risks and he called it a day.
It left World indoor bronze medallist Artem Lukyanenko to take the victory with 6008 points (7.04, 7.23m, 15.23m, 2.00m, 8.04m, 4.90m, 2:45.62), boosted by a PB in the Shot. European bronze medallist Ilya Shkurenyov finished second with 5890 (7.12, 7.24m, 13.14m, 2.00m, 8.19, 5.00m, 2:41.65) ahead of Mikhail Logvinenko’s 5888 (7.22, 7.20m, 14.74m, 2.00m, 8.29m, 4.90m, 2:41.84).
Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF
