Poland's Adrianna Sulek (© AFP / Getty Images)
Hans-Christian Hausenberg led an Estonian heptathlon top three on home soil, while Poland’s Adrianna Sulek improved her pentathlon world lead at the Indoor Combined Events meeting – a World Athletics Combined Events Tour Silver event – in Tallinn this weekend (5-6).
Continuing Estonia’s strength in the combined events, Hausenberg – the 2015 world U18 decathlon bronze medallist – had the heptathlon competition of his life to score 6143 points, breaking the 6000-point barrier for the first time. Risto Lillemets also beat 6000 points, scoring 6006 for second place, while Taavi Tsernjavski was third with 5840 points.
Their compatriot Maicel Uibo, the 2019 world decathlon silver and 2018 world indoor heptathlon bronze medallist, was also among those in action – his results including a 2.19m high jump clearance – but his competition came to an end when he was unable to record a mark in the pole vault.
Just a single point separated the top two in the pentathlon, with Sulek improving her world-leading score with a PB of 4598 points for a narrow win ahead of Britain’s Holly Mills, who also achieved a personal best with her 4597 tally. That score adds 29 points to the previous world lead Sulek had set at the X-Athletics meeting in Aubiere the weekend before. Ukaraine’s Yuliya Loban was third in Tallinn with 4482 points.
Hausenberg opened his campaign with a 60m win in 6.85, close to his PB of 6.82 from 2019, and maintained his lead with an outright long jump personal best of 7.92m. After 14.04m in the shot put – an event in which Vitaliy Zhuk of Belarus threw 16.46m – Hausenberg cleared 1.98m in a high jump topped by Uibos’s 2.19m. At the end of day one, Hausenberg led with 3492 points ahead of Uibo’s 3409.
Hausenberg started day two with a 60m hurdles PB of 7.96 and then cleared 5.22m in the pole vault before clocking 2:58.45 in the 1000m for his 6143-point PB score which places him fourth on this season’s top list.
Portugal's Abdel Kader Larrinaga was fourth with 5810 points and Poland's Rafal Horbowicz fifth with 5556.
In the pentathlon, it was Mills who got off to the strongest start as she clocked an 8.17 PB, while Sulek ran 8.41. Sulek was ahead after the high jump thanks to her PB 1.87m clearance, while Mills managed 1.72m after feeling some discomfort in her knee.
Loban led the shot put with a 14.75m throw, with Mills managing 13.10m and Sulek 12.53m. Mills then leapt 6.37m in the long jump and Finland's Maria Huntington led after four events following her leap of 6.26m, with Sulek – who recorded 6.15m – sitting third behind Loban and Mills in fourth. Mills then went quickest in the 800m with 2:12.54, while Sulek clocked 2:14.32 to win the competition by one point.
Huntington was fourth with 4476 points and Poland's Paulina Ligarska fifth with 4301.
World Athletics
