Simon Ehammer in Gotzis (© Laszlo Zsigmond)
Simon Ehammer and Annik Kälin became the first-ever Swiss winners of the Hypomeeting in Götzis, setting world leads and national records during the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting on Saturday and Sunday (30-31 May).
Ehammer scored 8778 to win the decathlon ahead of Leo Neugebauer, while Kälin clinched the heptathlon crown with 6726, just 21 points ahead of Emma Oosterwegel.
Saturday saw Ehammer produce the best first-day score in decathlon history – 4762 – after a superb series that included a world decathlon best and Swiss record of 8.51m in the long jump.
The world indoor champion started strongly, clocking 10.41 in the 100m – the second-fastest time of his career and bettered in the field only by Canada’s Damian Warner, who ran 10.28.
Ehammer then moved on to one of his specialist events, the long jump. After fouling his opening attempt, he sailed out to 8.51m (1.0m/s) with his second-round effort. The mark added six centimetres to his own world decathlon best and Swiss record, which he set in Götzis in 2022.
Germany’s world champion Neugebauer also made a strong start, helped by a 7.97m leap in the long jump, just three centimetres shy of his lifetime best, while eight-time Götzis winner Warner jumped 7.73m.
Neugebauer made up ground in the shot put, throwing 16.71m, and Ehammer kept his momentum going with a season’s best of 15.15m, just 16 centimetres shy of his PB and one centimetre farther than Warner’s 15.14m.
Both Ehammer and Neugebauer then came close to their lifetime bests in the high jump, clearing 2.03m and 2.06m respectively. Warner remained in contention with 2.00m, the same height cleared by Germany’s Niklas Kaul, while USA’s Hakim McMorris was the only athlete in the field to set a PB, clearing 2.03m to move into fourth place.
Neugebauer’s high jump brought him to within 100 points of Ehammer, but the Swiss athlete responded in the 400m, clocking 47.33 – again close to his lifetime best. US duo Harrison Williams and McMorris were the only athletes to run faster, recording 46.82 and 47.09 respectively, while Warner ran 47.77 and Neugebauer 47.99.
That meant Ehammer ended the day on 4762, improving on the previous best day-one score in history of 4747 set by Dan O’Brien during the 1991 US Championships. Neugebauer sat second with 4632, while Warner was third with 4541.
Ehammer started day two by clocking 13.48 – a tenth of a second off his PB – to top the performances in the 110m hurdles. But there was disappointment for McMorris who fell in that same heat and did not finish.
The Swiss leader threw 41.09m in a discus contest topped by Neugebauer’s 50.77m and then shared the lead in the pole vault with Amadeus Gräber as they both cleared 5.20m. Neugebauer cleared 5.00m, while Kaul managed 4.90m.
Kaul launched a meeting decathlon best of 78.21m in the javelin, as Neugebauer threw 58.46m and Ehammer managed 54.38m. But Ehammer closed with 4:43.22 in the 1500m and that was more than enough to secure top spot and improve his own Swiss record from 8575 – set when finishing third in Götzis last year – to 8778.
Neugebauer finished second on 8730, while Kaul was third (8528) and Warner fourth (8497).
A strong second day for Olympic fourth-place finisher Annik Kälin saw her win in her first heptatlon since Götzis last year, when she placed fifth.
It was world indoor champion Sofie Dokter who led the closely contested contest at the end of the first day as she set three significant PBs. But the next four women were separated by just 12 points, with Kälin in second ahead of USA’s world bronze medallist Taliyah Brooks, Germany’s Vanessa Grimm and the Netherlands’ Emma Oosterwegel.
Brooks made the strongest start, winning the 100m hurdles in 12.87, finishing 0.04 ahead of Kälin. Dokter also made an early statement, reducing her PB to 13.27.
Dokter followed that with a 1.80m clearance in the high jump, while Brooks cleared 1.77m and Kälin managed 1.74m.
The Dutch all-rounder then set another big PB in the shot put, throwing 14.70m to improve her previous best by 47 centimetres. Brooks produced a season’s best of 14.17m and Kälin threw 13.67m.
Dokter completed her day with a third PB, clocking 23.13 in the 200m, improving on her previous best of 23.46. There were also PBs for Germany’s Sophie Weissenberg, who ran 23.25, Kälin with 23.33 and Oosterwegel with 23.65.
Brooks clocked 24.23 but did not return for the long jump, javelin and 800m on the second day.
On what proved to be a superb weekend for Swiss athletes in the long jump, Kälin – who won world indoor long jump silver last year – soared into the lead at the start of day two, leaping a wind-assisted 6.96m (2.2m/s) after a wind-legal 6.81m (1.1m/s) in the first round. That put her 52 points ahead of Dokter, who jumped 6.47m (0.2m/s).
Oosterwegel launched herself into second place between Kälin and Dokter by throwing 52.50m in the javelin – a performance only bettered by Germany’s Marie Dehning with a PB of 56.33m. Kälin retained top spot with 45.25m, while Dokter had a best of 44.00m to sit in third place with just one event remaining.
While Oosterwegel finished strongly with 2:09.19 to top the 800m, it wasn’t enough to beat Kälin who clocked 2:11.72 to take her winning tally to 6726 – just 25 points ahead of Oosterwegel.
There were PBs or national records for the top six, Oosterwegel securing her best ever finish in Götzis with 6705 and Dokter securing third with 6627, followed by Weissenberg (6449), Sveva Gerevini with an Italian record of 6413 and Grimm (6381).
Results
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