European heptathlon champion Sander Skotheim in Apeldoorn (© Getty Images)
Sander Skotheim improved his European record to 6558 to move to third on the world indoor heptathlon all-time list and get gold at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn on Saturday (8).
The Norwegian 22-year-old added 74 points to his previous best achieved in Tallinn last month to win his first major title by 52 points ahead of world indoor champion Simon Ehammer of Switzerland. Germany’s Till Steinforth clinched the bronze with 6388 points, just eight points ahead of Estonia’s Johannes Erm.
Skotheim, who received the International Fair Play Award at last year’s World Athletics Awards, set two PBs and two championship heptathlon bests on his way to his record score.
He opened his campaign by running a 60m PB of 6.93 before leaping 7.95m in the long jump and throwing 14.39m in the shot put, and then ended the first day with an equal championship heptathlon best of 2.19m in the high jump.
He started day two by clocking 8.04 in the 60m hurdles before soaring 5.10m in the pole vault. With the European record in his sights with one event to go, he smashed it by running a championship heptathlon best in the 1000m, his PB of 2:32.72 taking him to his record tally of 6558 points.
Ehammer also had the 1000m run of his life, clocking a PB of 2:41.76 to take him to a Swiss record of 6506 points, a score that also surpasses Skotheim’s previous European record and moves him to fifth on the world all-time list. Ehammer’s campaign included a championship heptathlon best of 8.20m in the long jump, the discipline in which he won individual world bronze in 2022.
Italy’s Andy Diaz Hernandez and Ukraine’s Oleh Doroshchuk both achieved world-leading marks to win their respective disciplines in Apeldoorn - Diaz Hernandez leaping 17.71m to take the triple jump title and Doroshchuk clearing 2.34m to claim the high jump crown.
Diaz Hernandez, the Olympic bronze medallist, achieved the second-best mark of his career with that fifth-round jump and he won ahead of Germany’s Max Hess who gained his fifth successive European indoor triple jump medal with 17.43m. Doroshchuk had a perfect scorecard in the high jump, clearing all his heights up to and including 2.34m on his first attempts.
Olympic and world relay gold medallist Lieke Klaver ensured the session ended on a high for the host nation as she won the final event, the 400m, in a European lead of 50.38.
The Dutch 26-year-old held off Norway’s Henriette Jaeger by 0.07 and Paula Sevilla equalled the Spanish record with 50.99 for bronze.
A world-leading mark was set in the men’s 60m, Great Britain’s Jeremiah Azu going under 6.50 for the first time with 6.49 to earn gold. He dipped to deny Sweden’s Henrik Larsson, who secured silver in a national record of 6.52, while Andrew Robertson joined his compatriot Azu on the podium by running 6.55 for bronze, holding off home favourite Elvis Afrifa by thousandths of a second, his 6.55 a national record.
Hungary’s Attila Molnar went off fast in the men’s 400m, passing halfway in 21.27, and he held on to win the title in 45.25. Maksymilian Szwed was second in a European U23 and Polish indoor record of 45.31.
Switzerland's Angelica Moser cleared 4.80m to regain the pole vault title, clearing that height on her first try to take gold ahead of Slovenia’s Tina Sutej with 4.75m.
Italy’s Larissa Iapichino leapt 6.94m to add indoor long jump gold to her European outdoor silver, going 3cm farther than her mother Fiona May when May won the European indoor title in 1998.
Iapichino won a close contest ahead of Switzerland’s Annik Kalin, who jumped a national indoor record of 6.90m, and Germany’s two-time world champion Malaika Mihambo, who secured a medal with her final jump of the competition – 6.88m.
