Roman Sebrle running in the 1000m in Birmingham (© Getty Images)
After being pursued, passed, and POLEverised by Aleksandr Pogorelov in the fifth and sixth events of the men’s Heptathlon, two-time defending champion Roman Sebrle confidently pounced back to make it three golds in a row with a 2:45.84 (810) run in the 1000m.
Sebrle who finished with a 6196 points total easily made up the 32 deficit by which he was adrift of the Russian at the start of the last event, carving out his own 69pts victory margin in the process.
Pogorelov, who was at the very back of the 1000m field - until Czech Josef Karas lost a shoe and limping took-up the final position instead - ended with 2:55.47 (709), which brought him a silver medal winning total of 6127.
Marvellous in third was Belarussian Andrei Krauchanka, 21, the junior World and European Decathlon ace, who can be delighted with a personal best of 6090 points (his previous best 5955) after a 2:41.85 run (853).
“It was really hard to win this competition for the third time,” said Sebrle. “It doesn’t get any easier.”
But then again it couldn’t have got any more exciting either.
Events five and six
The day had begun with Pogorelov of Russia hunting down Sebrle.
After holding the difference between himself and the Czech, who is the European record holder for the Heptathlon, to 19 points yesterday, Pogorelov in the 60m Hurdles began his counter-attack this morning. His 8.14 second series of flights down the 60m straight was the second quickest time and brought the Russian 947pts. Sebrle by contrast could manage only a 8.22 run (927).
Pogorelov’s performance was someway off his personal best of 7.93 (2006) or even his season’s quickest of 8.10 but Sebrle was much further adrift off his – 7.84 PB (2000) and 8.06 season’s best.
Suddenly the gap between the two was just one point but significantly Pogorelov was now in front, 4477 to 4476!
The fastest hurdler was the overnight third placer Andrei Krauchanka of Ukraine who sped to 8.04.
The Pole Vault showed both protagonists at the top of their game but once more it was the Russian who had the edge, matching his personal best with a 5.10m clearance. Sebrle should not be disappointed by missing his indoor PB by just 5cm but the damage was done. 941pts to his opponent in comparison with his 910 meant that Pogorelov now had a 32 point lead – 5418 to 5386.
The best of the event was Dennis Leyckes of Germany who cleared 5.20m
There was now just one event to go, the men’s 1000m, and with a personal best of some 15 seconds better than the Russian it always looked like the advantage would swing back to Sebrle, and so it turned out to be.
“I was confident going into the final event as I knew I could make up the points that I had lost in the High Jump and Pole Vault,” confirmed the winner. It was a confidence shared by most of the capacity crowd seated in the National Indoor Arena today.
Pogorelov who also took silver behind the Czech in 2005, summed up the situation – “Roman (Sebrle) is so good at the moment it is making it hard. Next time I will try harder.”
Chris Turner for the IAAF
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