Jessica Ennis on her way to victory in the 37th edition of the Hypo Meeting in Götzis (© Lorenzo Sampaolo)
World seasonal best scores by reigning IAAF World Champions Trey Hardee and Jessica Ennis highlighted the 37th edition of the Hypo Meeting in Götzis, the second individual permit meeting leg of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge.
Hardee, second in Götzis 2009, added his name to the prestigious list of winners of the famous Austrian meeting by taking the honours with 8689 points to beat Cuban World silver medallist Leonel Suarez (8440 points) and Mikk Pahapill from Estonia (8398 points).
Jessica Ennis won the Hypo Meeting in Götzis for the second time in her career with the new world seasonal best of 6790 points beating Tatyana Chernova (6539 points) and European Indoor champion Antoinette Nana Djimou (6409 points).
Men – Decathlon
Trey Hardee picked up where he left off at the end of the first day with a fast 13.73, another strong performance in the 110 metres Hurdles which opened the second day of competitions in the Mosle Stadium in Götzis. The reigning World champion from Berlin 2009 increased his gap on Ukrainian Oleksiy Kasyanov (14.26 in the 110 metres hurdles) to 332 points (5563 to 5231 points). Rico Freimuth produced the major upset by climbing from fifth into third overall place with 5132 points after clocking 14.05. Yordanis Garcia, who led the world seasonal list with 8397 points set in Havana this spring, moved up into fourth place 50 points behind Freimuth.
The Discus Throw did not see any changes to the top-three in the overall ranking. Kasyanov (46.94m) slightly reduced his gap on Hardee to 296 points (6334 to 6038 points). Freimuth threw the discus to 46.25 m. and kept the third overall place with 5926 points. Estonia’s former European Indoor champion Mikk Pahapill won the event with 48.79 m (845 points) and climbed into fourth place with 5903 points overtaking Cubans Leonel Suarez (5823 points) and Yordanis Garcia (5818 points).
In the Pole Vault, Hardee needed two attempts to clear 4.76m (his opening height) and 4.96 before clearing 5.06 at the third time of asking and increased his lead over Kasyanov to 388 points (7263 to 6875 points). Eelco Sintnicolaas, who was eleventh after the Discus, predictably won the Pole Vault with 5.36 (1023 points) and went into fourth place with 6778 points, 55 points off Pahapill who kept the third place with 6832 points after his 5.06.
World silver medallist Leonel Suarez was in the spotlight in the javelin throw where he set an impressive meeting record of 75.49 m. (973 points) to take overall third place with 7664 points, 50 points behind Pahapill. Germany's 2008 World Junior champion Jan Felix Knobel also produced a remarkable performance by producing a massive PB of 72.99 (935 points) to take fourth place with 7629 points. Hardee threw the Javelin to 63.33m. to lead with 8051 points ahead of Pahapill who improved his PB to 69.53 m (882 points) to move up into second place with 7714 points, 337 points behind Hardee.
With a such gap over the second placer Hardee’s win was never under threat and for the US decathlon star the final time of 4:46.88 in the 1500 metres was enough to cap a nearly perfect week-end with 8689 points.
Suarez completed his catch-up race by clocking 4:25.33 to finish runner-up with 8440 points. Mikk Pahapill (4:39.41 in the 1500 metres) scored his new PB with 8398 points to hold off Sintnicolaas whose strong 4:22.29 earned him the fourth place with 8304 points. In a competition where eleven men went over the 8000 points barrier, Jan Felix Knobel from Germany came to the fore as a potential star of the future finishing fifth with a new PB of 8288 points ahead of Oleksiy Kasyanov (8251 points) and German Rico Freimuth (8158 points).
“It was my first Decathlon in almost two years and my first test before Daegu. I am going fast but technically I need more work. Today was not perfect but overall I achieved a good score. Conditions were great and the crowd were fantastic”, said Hardee.
Women – Heptathlon
The Heptathlon’s Long Jump was highlighted by a superb leap to 6.82m. in the third attempt by Russian Olympic bronze medallist Tatyana Chernova who climbed into overall second place with 4820 points behind World champion and overnight leader who kept a solid gap of 242 points following her second place in the Long Jump with 6.37 in the second attempt. Ennis led with a total of 5062 points to Chernova’s 4820 points. European Indoor champion Antoinette Nana Djimou took third place in the overall ranking with 4690 points after her best leap to 6.29 m to overhaul overnight second placer Jessica Zelinka (4674 points)- German World silver medallist Jennifer Oeser (4662 points) and overnight third placer Dafne Schippers from Netherlands (4657 points) completed the top six.
Chernova reduced the distance between her and Ennis to 180 points by throwing 47.07m in the Javelin. Ennis produced a best release to 43.83 m and totalled 5803 points with only the 800 metres to be run. The Javelin win went to Antoinette Nana Djimou, who set a new event PB throwing 51.11 to beat German Lilli Schwarzkopf (50.24), and increased her margin over Oeser to 104 points.
In the final 800 metres, Jessica Ennis was pushed hard by Jessica Zelinka who led for most of the race. Only in the final straight Ennis edged Zelinka to cross the finish-line first in a new PB of 2:08:46. Zelinka finished second in 2:08:51.
Ennis clinched her second win in Götzis with 6790 points, the second best performance in her career. Only at the Barcelona European Championships has the Briton done better when she scored 6823 points missing the British record held by Denise Lewis by eight points. In the Mosle Stadium Ennis won three events (100 metres hurdles in 13.03, the high jump with 1.91 and the 800 metres in 2:08:46) and set her PB in the 200 metres with 23.11.
“I feel relieved and really surprised”, said a smiling Ennis. “I needed six weeks to get in top shape because of the ankle injury and to be ready. The Javelin was disappointing but overall I am pleased.” Ennis’s next race is scheduled on 11th June in the New York Diamond League meeting where she will run the 100 metres Hurdles.
Behind Ennis the Götzis Heptathlon produced the usual depth of results with twelve specialists over the 6000 points barrier. Tatyana Chernova finished the first day well with 23.51 in the 200 metres and enjoyed a strong second day highlighted by 6.82 in the long jump, 47.07 in the Javelin and 2:13.36 in the 800 metres and bounced back to move into second place with 6539 points. Antoinette Nana Djimou set her PB with 6409 points to take third place ahead Jennifer Oeser (6359 points), Jessica Zelinka (6353 points) and Olympic champion Natalya Dobrynska (6332 points). World Junior champion Dafne Schippers, who finished the first day in third place, scored her PB of 6172 points.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
