A sensational Eunice Barber clocks 12.62w in the 100m of Arles' Heptathlon (© Lorenzo Sampaolo)
French star Eunice Barber, World champion in the Heptathlon in Seville 1999 and World silver medallist in Paris 2003, had a great comeback in day one of the Arles IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting.
Barber responded to Carolina Klüft’s 6824 score in Götzis last week leading with 3972 points after the first four events. Barber opened with an amazing wind-assisted 12.62 in the 100 metres Hurdles (+ 2.9 m/s) scoring 1182 points. Tailwind denied her a world seasonal best in the 100 metres hurdles but was omologated as a legal new world all-time best for this event in the Heptathlon.
Barber cleared 1.91m in the High Jump scoring 1119 points and totalled 2301 after the first two events. World Indoor silver medallist Natalya Dobrynska, who opened with 13.74 in the 100 Hurdles, climbed into second position in the overall ranking after clearing 1.85 in the High Jump (1041 points).
The first two positions did not change after the Shot Put, one of the weakest events for Barber who produced a release of 12.61m. Dobrynska kept the second spot after her 14.72m effort in the Shot Put.
The most remarkable result was produced by Vera Yepimashko from Belarus (seventh at the 2005 European Indoor Championships in Madrid in the Pentathlon) who set a new meeting record in the Shot Put with a notable 16.90m in her favourite event leaping from seventeenth to third place in the overall ranking.
Barber ran the third fastest time in the 200 metres with 24.12 to finish third in this event behind South Africa’s Janice Joseph (23.65 – 1015 points).
“After two years of injuries I am very happy with my performances today. I knew I was capable of this result. When I saw 12.62 on the scoreboard after the 100 Hurdles I was really excited. This year I am working on technique. I am ready to challenge Carolina Klüft this year. I will tackle both the Heptathlon and the Long Jump at the World Championships in Helsinki,” said Barber.
Rahnu leads Decathlon
Kristian Rahnu of Estonia took the overnight lead after the first five events in the Decathlon with a total of 4420 points leading over Finland’s Jaakko Ojaniemi (4358 points) and Hungary’s Attila Zsivoczky (4255 points).
Rahnu took the lead after running 10.52 in the 100 metres with a tailwind of + 2.2 m/s (970 points) beating Tunisia’s Hamdi Dhouibi who ran 10.62 (947 points). Jaakko Ojaniemi climbed to first place leaping to a wind-assisted 8.03m in the Long Jump (wind + 4.1 m/s) scoring 1068 points in this event and overhauled Rahnu who jumped 7.58m.
Rahnu scored the best result in the Shot Put with 15.51m (821 points) but this was not enough to recapture the lead because the Finn produced a solid 15.19m (801 points) which enabled him to defend his leading position after three events with 2791 points.
A new change in the leading positions occurred after the High Jump where Rahnu returned to first place after clearing 1.99m. Ojaniemi did not jump higher than 1.93m. Mikk Pahapill of Estonia cleared 2.11m and went into third position. Attila Zsivoczky, runner-up in Götzis with 8480 points behind Roman Sebrle just one week ago, made progress after a 2.11m clearance and climbed from seventh to fourth position before the 400 metres.
The Hungarian multi-eventer finished day one in third place thanks to 48.98 in the 400 metres (862 points). Rahnu kept the first spot over Ojaniemi with a solid 48.60 in the 400 metres (880 points).
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
