Roman Sebrle celebrating his Decathlon title defence in Gothenburg (© Getty Images)
Czech Decathlon legend Roman Serble, the reigning Olympic and European champion, is the headliner of the Decastar meeting in Talence (France), which caps the 2006 IAAF Combined Events Challenge on 16 / 17 September 2006.
Sebrle, who won his second consecutive European crown in the Decathlon in Gothenburg, will take part in his fourth competition in the ten-event discipline this summer. His campaign started in the Hypo meeting in Götzis where he was forced to pull out after the Shot Put due to a minor hamstring injury which he picked up during a spring training stint in Spain.
He bounced back successfully one week later in windy Arles where he scored a wind-assisted 8333 points.
Sebrle, the first man in history to break the 9000 points barrier in 2001 when he scored 9026 points, successfully defended the European title in Gothenburg where he battled with difficult weather conditions. In the Ullevi Stadium Sebrle totalled a season best of 8526 points.
“This was not the weather for 8800 points, so I am totally satisfied. We had lots of interruptions because of the rain which made it a tough competition,” Sebrle said in Gothenburg.
The Czech star is looking to notch up a third consecutive win in Talence.
The other star in the big French meeting is Dimitry Karpov of Kazakhstan, the bronze medallist at the 2003 World Championships and the 2004 Olympic Games. The Asian record holder (8725 points set in the Athens Olympic Games) has come back from a 2005 season hampered by injury problems by finishing runner-up in Götzis with 8293 points. One month later Karpov won the Ratingen IAAF Combined Events meeting with 8414 points.
The Talence meeting has attracted six of the first eight finishers of last month’s European Championships. Aleksey Drozdov of Russia, the European bronze medallist with 8350 points in the Swedish town and European under 23 champion in Erfurt 2005 and his compatriot Alexandr Pogorolov, fourth in Gothenburg.
Also in the line-up are two young Germans Stephan Drews and Pascal Berhenburg who emerged in Ratingen finishing respectively in fourth and fifth positions with 8233 and 8199 points. Later in the season they confirmed these good results finishing in the top-eight in Gothenburg (Berenbruch was fifth with 8209 points ahead of Drews, seventh with 8105 points.)
The French hopes are set on Romain Barras, winner of the European Cup of Combined Events in Arles with a wind-assisted score of 8416. Barras, currently third in the World Combined Challenge Standings, finished seventh at the Word Championships in Helsinki and eighth in Gothenburg. In the course of a successful 2005 the Frenchman broke the 8000 points six times.
Three-time World champion and former World record holder Tomas Dvorak of the Czech Republic will make his final appearance in Talence in his farewell season.
The US challenge is led by Ryan Harlan, recent winner of the NACAC Combined Events Championships in Puerto Rico with 7966 points, and this year’s Desenzano IAAF Challenge meeting winner Chris Boyles who was third in Puerto Rico.
Women’s Heptathlon
Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine, the Pentathlon World Indoor champion this winter in Moscow and Great Britain’s Kelly Sotherton, Olympic bronze medallist in Athens start as favourites of the women’s heptathlon.
Blonska is currently second in the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge Standings behind Carolina Klüft after a runner-up place in Götzis with a new career best (6448 points) backed up by a solid win in Ratingen (6427 points) and a fifth place at the European Championships (6357 points).
The Ukrainian will be challenged by this year’s Commonwealth champion and 2004 Decastar winner Kelly Sotherton who ended up in seventh place at the European Championships.
The line-up also features Ukraine’s Natalya Dobrynska, silver at the 2004 World Indoor Championships in Budapest.
Among the other specialists emerged during this season’s Combined Events Challenge announced in Talence there are Canadian Jessica Zelinka, winner in Arles and fourth in Götzis, polish Karolina Tyminska, winner in Desenzano and second in the European Cup in Arles behind Carolina Klüft, Germany’s Jennifer Oeser, fourth at both the Ratingen meeting and the European Championships in Gothenburg (PB 6376 points) and Argiro Strataki from Greece, national record holder in Götzis with 6235 points.
The US team is represented by Hyleas Fountain (third in Götzis 2005 with 6502 points) and 2006 NACAC champion Virginia Johnson.
Local focus will be drawn on Marie Collonville, who set the previous women’s Decathlon World best with 8150 points in Talence 2004, and 2003 World Youth champion Marisa De Aniceto.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
Women's Standings
