Roman Sebrle jumps in Munich (© allsport)
The Czech Republic's decathlon king, Roman Sebrle, will line up a clear favourite against some of the world's leading combined eventers tomorrow in the 26th edition of the Decastar competition in Talence, France.
The Czech world record holder for the decathlon has dominated all three of the competitions that he has contested so far this year and is a clear leader of the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge, with an average of 8767 points from his performances in Goetzis (2 June 8800 points), Ratingen (16 June 8701 pts) and the European Championships in Munich where he added another 8800 points performance to his season.
Although Sebrle will be looking to score yet another victory, and maybe better his points average still more, he is currently well clear of the number two in the Challenge, Jon Arnar Magnusson from Iceland, who tallies an average of 8244 points from the the same three meetings.
In past years, Sebrle would have expected stiffer competition in the Challenge from his countryman Tomas Dvorak and the couple's great Estonian rival the flamboyant Erki Nool, but this year Dvorak has only completed one competition so far - in Ratingen (8226 points) - and Nool has just 8438 points to his credit from the European Championships in Munich.
With Sebrle on the top of his game, he looks invincible this weekend, though the local supporters will be cheering on Frenchman Laurent Hernu and there will be opposition, too, from the Ukraine's Oleksandr Yurkov, who has an average of 8509 points from two meetings and the USA's Tom Pappas with 8583 also from two meetings.
In the women's competition, it had loooked as though there would be a fine battle between neo European champion and this year's World Junior champion (and World Junior record holder) Carolina Kluft and US veteran Shelia Burrell. But Kluft, who the organisers had hoped would compete in Talence had her main focus this year on the World Junior Championships in July and after taking on the European Championships in August as just an "encore" - never considered the invitation as she needed to rest after her three all-out heptathlon efforts within six weeks, leaving the field open for Burrell.
The American currently has an average of 6331 points from competitions in Goetzis and Berkeley and will be looking to go one better in Talence and improve on the performance of Germany's Sabine Braun, who currently totals 18987 points from 3 competitions - an average of 6329 points.
Lining up against the American are Austra Skujyte from Lithuania, with a season's best of 6275 points probably the strongest challenger, Lyudmila Kovalyova (SB 6039) from the Ukaine and Magdalena Szczepanska from Poland (SB 6051). This trio from Eastern Europe will be trying to ensure that Burrell does not have it all her own way and are likely to push her to some good performances, weather permitting.
