Last weekend saw the various divisions of the European Cup Combined Events take place across the continent (Sat 2 & Sun 3), competitions which form part of the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge 2005.
Super League, Bydgoszcz, Poland – MEN
Thanks to a great personal display by Mikk Pahapill, Estonia grabbed the win in the European Cup Super League in Combined Events in Bydgoszcz, Poland, on Sunday. In the competition where individual results were very moderate, Pahapill’s performance was the real highlight of the meeting. The Estonian finished with a total of 8149 points bettering his earlier personal best of 7226 in 2004 by an absolutely huge margin of 923 points!
Pahapill had already scored a total of 7214 in Arles where he got no result at all in the Pole Vault, so his performance was really no surprise here. Nikolay Tishchenko (RUS) finished in second place in the indivudual competition with a total of 7767 points, 382 points behind Pahapill.
The 21-year-old Estonian had already progressed with big strides indoors this season. He scored 5703 points in Tallinn in February, almost 400 points more than his earlier indoor Heptathlon personal best. In Bydgoszcz his best events were the High Jump, where he recorded a personal best of 2.13m and Pole Vault in which another personal best of 4.80m, was witnessed with no traces of the problems in this event in Arles. He also set a PB in Javelin with a 63.83m throw.
Estonia won the men’s event with a total of 23139 points before Russia scoring 22711p for the second place. Spain was third with 22482 points and a total shock was suffered by the German team who finished only in seventh place and will be relegated to First League next season with Austria, who could not even compete due to multiple injuries in the team.
Super League, Bydgoszcz, Poland – WOMEN
36-year-old Tatyana Alisevich scored a surprising personal best of 6173 points to help Belarus win a tight competition with a total of 17626 ahead of Ukraine in second place with 17506. Russia was also very close behind finishing third with 17487.
Alisevich bettered her five-year-old personal best of 6146, set in the European Cup First League competition in Ibach, Switzerland, in 2000. Alisevich has progressed especially in the Javelin, producing a personal best of 53.64m in this competition to add the final touch to her Heptathlon PB. Yvonne Wisse (NED), who had been leading after five events, took the second place with 6026 with Diana Koritskaya (RUS) third with a total of 5981.
It was another sad day for Great Britain during this season, their women’s team could only place seventh and will be dropped to the First League for the next season, the Netherlands will join them after finishing in eighth place well behind the Britons.
First League, Jyväskylä, Finland – MEN
Some big names were competing in the First League competition in Jyväskylä, Finland, including former and reigning World Champions. In the men’s competition Hungary won comfortably with 22879 points with hosts Finland (22771) joining them for the Super League next season. The Finns were able to overtake Czech Republic (22624) in the last two events.
In the individual competition, it was as tight as a Decathlon can be. Former World record holder Tomas Dvorak (CZE), who also won three successive World Championships in 1997-2001, and Attila Zsivoczky (HUN) both ended up with a total of 8105 points.
The events won between these two were even at 5-5, but Dvorak was finally announced winner because he scored the highest score in one event, 903 points in the 110m Hurdles where the Hungarian’s best was 896 points in the High Jump. With only the seven points in between them in the highest event score, this might well be the most even fight for an elite Decathlon competition ever.
For Dvorak this was a big step towards better times as he had earlier scored a season’s best of 7720 points in the IAAF Combined Events Challenge in Salo, Italy, and had not finished his next two competitions in Götzis and Stara Boleslav. For Zsivoczky this was a low score as he already scored SB of 8480 points in Götzis in May followed by 8320p in Arles a week later.
First League, Jyväskylä, Finland – WOMEN
In the women’s competition Estonia won with 17070 points with Sweden taking the second place with 16988 and joining them for the Super League in 2005.
Reigning World and Olympic champion Carolina Klüft (SWE), was naturally the most followed athlete in Jyväskylä, but her quest for the world leading mark was already in jeopardy during the day one as she fell well behind her own Götzis series before day two. Although clearly trying her best, something was not right as she was a little below her usual standards in all events scoring a total of 6688 points in the end.
The biggest problem for Klüft seems to be in the throwing events at the moment. In 2003 she threw 50.24m Javelin, but has been unable to come close to that during this season and after recording a personal best of 14.77m in the Athens Olympics Heptathlon Shot Put, something has happened as she threw only 13.29m in the European Indoor Championships Pentathlon and then 13.33m in Götzis.
Although she now bettered to 13.84m with her last throw in Jyväskylä, the Shot Put seems to be a difficult event right now.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF