Nafissatou Thiam (Photo by Erik van Leeuwen)
Sander Skotheim came from third overnight to win a closely fought Decastar decathlon in Talence yesterday, while Nafissatou Thiam marked her first completed heptathlon since the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with victory at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting.
Skotheim scored 8630, his best total of the year, to beat overnight leader Hakim McMorris by just 31 points. The US athlete was rewarded with a PB of 8599, while France’s Makenson Gletty held on to third by the narrowest of margins, scoring 8381 to finish one point ahead of Harrison Williams.
Three-time Olympic champion Thiam, meanwhile, overturned a 14-point overnight deficit to win the heptathlon with 6482. Germany’s Anna-Elisabeth Ehlers produced a breakthrough PB of 6374 for second, with first-day leader Noor Vidts third on 6329.
McMorris had led the decathlon after a strong opening day ahead of Gletty and Skotheim. He had clocked a wind-assisted 10.55 in the 100m, leapt 7.72m and cleared 2.00m before ending the day with 46.77, the second-fastest 400m of the competition behind Williams’ 46.62.
Gletty’s first day included a 15.86m shot put and PB of 2.06m in the high jump, while Skotheim produced the best long jump of the competition with 7.89m.
The margins became even tighter when competition resumed on Saturday. Gletty opened with 13.90, the fastest 110m hurdles performance of the day, to move to within a single point of McMorris, with Skotheim third overall.
McMorris then strengthened his position in the discus. His 46.55m throw was bettered by several athletes in the field, headed by Olympic champion Markus Rooth’s 49.80m, but it was enough to increase his overall advantage. After seven events McMorris led from Skotheim and Gletty.
The pole vault altered the complexion of the contest. Skotheim cleared 5.31m, comfortably the best mark of the field and just four centimetres shy of his PB. McMorris responded with 5.01m, the second-best height of the competition, but his advantage had been slashed to just five points.
Skotheim then moved ahead for the first time after throwing 60.45m in the javelin. McMorris improved to 57.55m, but Skotheim carried a 39-point lead into the 1500m.
That kept the outcome in doubt until the final event. McMorris ran 4:26.08, with Skotheim just behind in 4:27.27. The US athlete gained eight points, but it was not enough to overhaul the Norwegian, who secured victory with 8630 to McMorris’s 8599.
There was another battle behind them. Gletty entered the 1500m third overall and clocked 4:27.80 to finish on 8381, while Williams ran 4:20.08 to close rapidly but ultimately fell just one point short on 8380.
Jeff Tesselaar produced the fastest 1500m of the competition, 4:13.30, to move up to fifth with 8355, just two points ahead of Sven Roosen. Devon Williams was seventh on 8288 and 2021 Olympic champion Damian Warner eighth with 8238.
Rooth, contesting his first decathlon since winning the Olympic title in Paris two years ago, climbed from 14th overnight to finish ninth with 8209. The Norwegian showed encouraging form on the second day, leading the discus with 49.80m and producing 64.01m in the javelin, second only to Karel Tilga’s 65.00m.
The heptathlon followed a similarly changeable course. Two-time world indoor champion Noor Vidts had held a slender overnight lead ahead of Thiam. Ehlers was another 63 points back in third, having produced PBs of 1.91m in the high jump and 24.30 in the 200m during an impressive first day.
Ehlers then surged into the lead in the long jump. Her 6.48m was the best mark of the competition and improved her legal PB by five centimetres. Thiam jumped 6.05m to move one point ahead of Vidts after the Belgian recorded 6.00m.
But the javelin, traditionally one of Thiam’s strongest disciplines, proved decisive. Her 51.51m was the best throw of the heptathlon and moved her into a 134-point lead over Ehlers with one event remaining. Ehlers threw 40.78m and Vidts 42.91m.
Ehlers reduced the deficit by running 2:11.82 in the 800m, ahead of Vidts’ 2:12.69 and Thiam’s 2:13.66, but the Olympic champion had enough in hand to secure victory with 6482.
Ehlers’ 6374 represented a 158-point improvement on her previous heptathlon best of 6216, while Vidts completed the podium with 6329. Vanessa Grimm was fourth with 6256 and Beatričė Juškevičiūtė fifth on 6223.
