Roman Sebrle vaults at the TNT-Fortuna meeting in Kladno (© c)
The first year of a new Combined Events fixture, the TNT-Fortuna meeting in Kladno (19 / 20) brought with it currently the world’s best performance of this season in the Decathlon by World record holder Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic, with a score of 8697 points.
This was the 2004 Olympic champion's best Decathlon score since the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
The first day of competition went wonderfully for Sebrle, with a 7.84m Long Jump, a personal best in the Shot Put of 16.47m and a great 2.12m High Jump, which propelled him to a 4551 first day score.
Sebrle wasn’t happy about his second day 110m Hurdles and Pole Vault results, but still managed to put together a score of 8697, which tops the world list ahead of Andrei Krauchanko of Belarus, who scored 8617 points in Götzis.
”After the first day I had my eyes set on 8800 points, but I ran a hurdled and pole vaulted poorly. The crowd was wonderful here, though, and helped me score my highest score since the Olympics,” Sebrle said after the competition.
Dmitrij Karpov of Kazakhstan was second in the competition with a score of 8553 points. With this score he moved himself into third on the world list. Karpov actually led the competition after the Pole Vault, but the Javelin Throw moved Sebrle back into the lead and ultimately the win.
Romain Barras of France finished third overall with a personal best score of 8298.
The exuberant crowd also happily helped Czech decathletes Tomas Dvorak and Josef Karas to qualifying scores for the World Championships in Osaka, Japan. Dvorak’s 8020 was his 35th decathlon over 8000 points. Karas scored a new personal best of 7922 points with a quality Discus Throw of 50.05m and finished fifth overall. Andrei Krauchanko had some injury problems during the High Jump and didn’t finish the 400m. On the second day, Krauchanko still managed to run a great hurdle race of 14.07 but then proceeded to definitely end the competition.
Heptathlon - Blonska confirms her role as the favourite
The women’s competition had a definite favourite in Ludmila Blonska of the Ukraine. The 2006 World Indoor Heptathlon champion took the lead from the very first event and smoothly dominated both days of the Heptathlon. She was most satisfied with a 6.57m Long Jump and a 48.01m Javelin Throw. With a total score of 6354 points she won the two day Heptathlon competition, 255 points ahead of Karolina Tyminska of Poland.
”It was a wonderful competition and a great crowd. The atmosphere here in Kladno was one I have not yet experienced,” Blonska stated afterwards.
Tyminska was second with a score of 6199, just a mere point behind her season’s best from last weeks Polish championships. Also of the Ukraine, Ludmila Yosympenko ended up third with a final tally of 5875 points.
The TNT-Fortuna meeting was a great success, not only because of the athletes, but also because of the excited crowd of 5000, which created an astonishing atmosphere.
Zdenek Lubenský for the IAAF
Results
Decathlon - Men
1 ŠEBRLE Roman Czech Republic 8697
2 KARPOV Dmitriy Kazakhstan 8553
3 BARRAS Romain France 8298
4 DVORÁK Tomáš Czech Republic 8020
5 KARAS Josef Czech Republic 7922
6 KARLIVANS Janis Latvia 7649
7 MCCARTHY Kyle Australia 7392
8 BARRAS Guillaume France 7231
Heptathlon - Women
1 BLONSKA Ludmila Ukraine 6354
2 TYMINSKA Karolina Poland 6199
3 YOSYPENKO Ludmila Ukraine 5875
4 BUREŠOVÁ Marie Czech Republic 5303
5 KONVALINKOVÁ Katerina Czech Republic 5300
6 PRINCOVÁ Alexandra Czech Republic 4994
