Dmitry Karpov (Kazakistan) long jumping in Desenzano del Garda (© Lorenzo Sampaolo)
The IAAF World Combined Events Challenge continues this weekend (13-14 May) in Desenzano del Garda, Italy. The Italian meeting returns to Desenzano for its 19th edition this year after being hosted by Salò in 2005 due to the refurbishment of the Desenzano track.
The Desenzano Multistars, the Italian leg of the Combined Events Challenge, has always been a springboard meeting for future multi-event stars. A notable example in the recent editions of the Italian meeting near Lake Garda was Kazakhstan’s Dimitry Karpov who notched a win in Desenzano in 2003 before winning bronze medals in the 2003 World Championships in Paris St. Denis and the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
This year Desenzano may live up to its reputation as a meeting for future Olympic, World or European champions. Looking at the starting lists of this weekend’s meeting there are no clear favourites and the battle for top honours is wide open.
Heptathlon – Burgeoning talent in wide open field
In the women’s Heptathlon the most interesting names come from the USA. Two of the best US specialists making the trip to Northern Italy are Lela Nelson who scored her lifetime best of 5878 points en route to her NCAA title in Sacramento last year, and US Championships third placer Fiona Asigbee, who achieved 5944 points in Carson.
Two experienced multi-event specialists are 2002 Asian Championships winner Svetlana Kazanina (PB 6228) and 2003 World University Games bronze medallist and European championships seventh placer Michaela Hejnova from the Czech Republic (PB 6065).
Representing Switzerland will be Simone Oberer, silver medallist at the World University Games in Izmir in August 2005. Oberer has a PB of 6052 points set in Götzis in 2004.
Another athlete able to break the 6000 points barrier is Poland’s Karolina Tyminska (PB 6026 points) who finished eighth at the 2005 European Indoor Championships in Madrid with 4374 points.
India’s Soma Biswas (PB 6186 points) comes to the Italian meeting with an Asian championships title in the bag won last year in Incheon. A surprise could come from Céline Laporte from the Seychelles, who reached to the podium in March at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in the long jump leaping to a PB of 6.57. She was also the bronze medallist at the 2004 African Championships in Brazzaville in the Heptathlon. Also in the line-up is Yana Panteleyeva, a very young athlete from Russia who won the World Youth Championships silver medal in Marrakesh last year.
The Italian challenge is led by reigning national champion Elisa Trevisan who scored her lifetime best with 5844 points in Desenzano in 2004 and Cecilia Ricali, who finished ninth at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Grosseto with 5459 points and tenth in the 2005 European Under 23 Championships in Erfurt with a PB 5610 points.
Decathlon – French, Finns and Americans the favourites
A similar picture emerges in the men’s Decathlon where there are not clear pre-event favourites on the eve of the meeting.
A familiar name in Desenzano is Chris Boyles from the USA who took the overnight lead in last year’s edition of the Multistars after clearing an outstanding 2.18 in the High Jump improving the event meeting record. In day two Boyles did not finish the competition after failing three attempts at his opening height in the pole vault. Also making the overseas trip from the USA to Italy is Ryan Olkowski, who set a lifetime best of 7895 points in State College 2004.
The strongest French specialist in the Italian meeting is Nadir El Fassi, who is a former World Junior silver medallist in Kingston 2002 and bronze medallist at 2005 World University Games in Izmir where he achieved his lifetime best with 7724.
Two more former junior medallists in the field are Aki Heikkinen from Finland (World Junior champion in Annecy 1998 and a 8188 performer in 2000) and Nicklas Wiberg from Sweden (european junior champion in Tampere 2003 with 7604 points).
Madis Kallas (fourth at the World University Games in Izmir 2005) and reigning national champion Andreas Raja will be looking to continuing the proud tradition of Estonia in this discipline. Also in the field is 2003 Asian champion Vitaly Smirnov from Uzbekistan who has a PB of 8021 points.
William Frullani carries the major Italian hopes. Frullani became the first Italian in history to go to the podium in a major international championship winning the bronze at the European Under 23 Champs in Amsterdam 2001. After scoring 7984 points in Götzis 2002 and finishing ninth in the European Championships in Munich later that year, his progress was hampered by serious achilles tendon injuries. Frullani is a strong first day competitor able to run the 100 metres in 10.57, leap 7.65 in the Long Jump and clear 2.15 in the High Jump.
Other leading Italians are 2004 and 2005 Italian champion Paolo Mottadelli (eighth at the World University Games in Izmir 2005), Marzio Viti (PB 7861) and Luca Ceglie (PB 7861).
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
