Athletes will have Olympic qualification in mind when they head to the Meeting Internacional Arona in Tenerife on 12-13 June.
The Canary Islands competition made its debut as part of the World Athletics Challenge &ndash; Combined Events in 2019 and this 10th edition also gives athletes the opportunity to achieve standards for the Games in Tokyo ahead of the qualification period for combined events ending on 29 June.
<h3>Nana Djimou and Zheng in heptathlon</h3>
Among those seeking the 6420-point heptathlon standard for Tokyo will be France&rsquo;s Antoinette Nana Djimou and China&rsquo;s Zheng Ninali.
Three-time Olympian Nana Djimou finished fourth at the London 2012 Olympics and also has three top eight places at the World Athletics Championships &ndash; in 2009, 2011 and 2013 &ndash; to her name. She will be looking to get close to her PB of 6576 points achieved at the 2012 Games to secure her spot at another global competition.
Competing as Nina Schultz, Zheng secured silver for Canada at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and now representing China will be looking to build on the 6153 PB score she set in Xi'an in April.
Joining them in Arona will be Switzerland&rsquo;s 2019 European U23 champion Geraldine Ruckstuhl and Spain&rsquo;s 2017 world U18 champion Maria Vicente, who scored 6304 points to win at the Multistars event in Lana in April, plus Britain&rsquo;s Holly Mills, Switzerland&rsquo;s Caroline Agnou and Austria&rsquo;s Sarah Lagger.
<h3>Sintnicolaas seeks decathlon standard</h3>
The decathlon qualifying mark for Tokyo is 8350 points and among the athletes aiming for that will be two-time world fifth-placer Eelco Sintnicolaas of the Netherlands. Having originally planned to return to decathlon action in April, Sintnicolaas decided to push that back a couple of months and will now hope to rediscover the sort of form which saw him achieve his 8539-point Dutch record in G&ouml;tzis in 2017.
Norway&rsquo;s Martin Roe returns as the 2019 champion, his national record of 8228 points having been set in Florence in 2018, while the entry list also features Venezuela&rsquo;s 2019 South American Championships winner Georni Jaramillo and Spain&rsquo;s Jorge Urena, who won European indoor heptathlon gold in 2019 and silver earlier this year, plus Czech Republic&rsquo;s Adam Helcelet and Japan&rsquo;s Keisuke Ushiro.&nbsp;
The meeting will also feature U20 and U18 competition.
World Athletics

Athletes will have Olympic qualification in mind when they head to the Meeting Internacional Arona in Tenerife on 12-13 June.

Tokyo marks the target for athletes in Arona

Double European sprint champion Dafne Schippers, whose participation at the 2015 Hypo-Meeting had already been announced, is one of eight leading Dutch athletes who will be at the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting in Gotzis on 30-31 May.Schippers&rsquo; goal in Gotzis is to improve on her past two appearances in the Austrian city, having finished third in 2013 and 2014, the latter with a national record of 6545.After competing in Gotzis, Schippers will decide whether to focus on the sprints or heptathlon at this year&rsquo;s IAAF World Championships.World indoor champion Nadine Broersen will also be in Gotzis. The European silver medallist finished second at the Hypo-Meeting two years ago and fourth last year.Two emerging Dutch heptathletes will also be in the field. Anouk Vetter added almost 500 points to her heptathlon PB in Gotzis last year, scoring 6316. Nadine Visser, who also set a PB in Gotzis last year, took the bronze medals in the heptathlon and 100m hurdles at last year&rsquo;s World Junior Championships.Eelco Sintnicolaas, the 2013 European indoor champion, will be contesting the decathlon in Gotzis for the sixth time. His best result at the Hypo-Meeting came in 2012 when he finished second with a personal best of 8506.A further trio of Dutch decathletes will be returning to the scene of their respective PBs. Ingmar Vos scored his best of 8224 when finishing sixth in 2012. Pelle Rietveld finished fifth in Gotzis last year with a PB of 8204, a few places ahead of national junior record-holder Pieter Braun, who scored a best of 7892 in Gotzis last year.Organisers for the IAAF

Double European sprint champion Dafne Schippers, whose participation at the 2015 Hypo-Meeting had already been announced, is one of eight leading Dutch athletes who will be at the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting in Gotzis on 30-31 May.

Sintnicolaas and Schippers lead loaded Dutch contingent for Gotzis

It may not be the last fixture of the 2014 IAAF Combined Events Challenge, but the Decastar meeting in Talence on 20-21 September will be the last opportunity to score points for those in contention of finishing in the top three in the series.As such, all eyes will be on European silver medallist Kevin Mayer. Not just because he will be competing on home soil, but because if he scores 8138 or higher, he could win the Combined Events Challenge and bag an extra US $30,000 in the process.At the end of the season, with the Asian Games being the last fixture in the series, the top eight athletes in the standings will be awarded prize money.Other athletes in Talence who could move up the standings into a top-eight position include Cuba’s former world junior silver medallist Yordani Garcia, Ukraine’s 2012 world indoor silver medallist Oleksiy Kasyanov and 2008 world junior silver medallist Eduard Mikhan of Belarus.Mayer has competed in Talence just once before, finishing fifth in 2012. But this year he leads the entries in the decathlon after posting a personal best of 8521 at the European Championships.He won’t have it all his own way, though. Aside from Garcia, Kasyanov and Mikhan, the field also includes European indoor champion Eelco Sintnicolaas of the Netherlands and two-time Decastar winner Hans van Alphen of Belgium.If Sintnicolaas scores more than 8343 points and finishes 205 points ahead of Mayer, then he too could take the overall challenge title. He will be highly motivated too, after finishing just 20 points shy of a medal position at last month’s European Championships.Van Alphen will be contesting his first decathlon since winning here two years ago. Since then, the Belgian record-holder has been out of action through injury but is keen to recapture the kind of form that took him to fourth place at the London 2012 Olympics.Another interesting entrant is European triple jump champion Benjamin Compaore. The Continental Cup winner competed in Talence two years ago, scoring 6704 to finish 10th, so improving on that will be his primary target this weekend.Nana Djimou looks to regain heptathlon titleOnly once before have both contests in Talence been won by French athletes, and that was way back in 1977. But Mayer and compatriot Antoinette Nana Djimou could achieve that feat this weekend.Nana Djimou will be looking to regain the Decastar heptathlon title she won in 2012, having returned to top form when successfully defending her European title in Zurich with 6551, the second-best score of her career.World indoor champion Nadine Broersen won’t be in Talence and the Dutch all-rounder already has a near-unassailable lead in the Combined Events Challenge. But a second-place finish in the standings is a realistic goal for Nana Djimou, who would need to score 6210 or more to achieve that.Germany’s Carolin Schafer could also make an impact in the final standings if she performs as well in Talence as she has been all season. World champion Hanna Melnychenko will be defending the Decastar title she won last year, although the Ukrainian hasn’t been at her best this year and is yet to score higher than 6000 points.Others in the field include Cuba’s former world junior champion Yorgelis Rodriguez, 2012 world junior silver medallist Xenia Krizsan of Hungary, European indoor silver medallist Yana Maksimava of Belarus and Poland’s Karolina Tyminska.Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

It may not be the last fixture of the 2014 IAAF Combined Events Challenge, but the Decastar meeting in Talence on 20-21 September will be the last opportunity to score points for those in contention of finishing in the top three in the series.

Valuable IAAF Combined Events Challenge points at stake in Talence

European heptathlon champion Antoinette Nana Djimou and European decathlon silver medallist Kevin Mayer will head to the Decastar meeting in Talence, France, with high hopes of securing the host nation’s first double win since 1977 at the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting on 20-21 September.More importantly, it will be one of the last opportunities for athletes to bag points in the IAAF Combined Events Challenge, and if Mayer scores 8138 or higher, then he will take the overall victory in the series.Mayer has competed in Talence just once before, finishing fifth in 2012. But this year he leads the entries in the decathlon after posting a personal best of 8521 at the European Championships.He will be up against European indoor champion Eelco Sintnicolaas, Cuba’s Yordani Garcia, two-time Decastar winner Hans van Alphen, former world indoor silver medallist Oleksiy Kasyanov and 2012 European champion Pascal Behrenbruch.Nana Djimou will be looking to regain the Decastar title she won in 2012, having returned to top form when successfully defending her European title in Zurich with 6551, the second-best score of her career.But the two-time European indoor champion won’t have it easy as she will be up against the likes of world champion Hanna Melnychenko, in-form German Carolin Schafer, 2012 European silver medallist Laura Ikauniece, former world junior champion Yorgelis Rodriguez, 2012 world junior silver medallist Xenia Krizsan and Poland’s Karolina Tyminska.Jon Mulkeen and organisers for the IAAF

European heptathlon champion Antoinette Nana Djimou and European decathlon silver medallist Kevin Mayer will head to the Decastar meeting in Talence, France, with high hopes of securing the host nation’s first double win since 1977 at the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting on 20-21 September.

Home stars Mayer and Nana Djimou lead entries for Talence

Russia may have won the overall title at the European Cup Combined Events Super League in the Polish city of Torun, but the individual victories in the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting went to Dutch pair Nadine Broersen and Eelco Sintnicolaas on Saturday and Sunday (6-7).World indoor champion Broersen added three points to the PB she set earlier this year in Gotzis to win the heptathlon with 6539, while European indoor champion Sintnicolaas won the decathlon with 8156, just five points shy of the season&rsquo;s best he set when winning at the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting in Florence earlier this year.Broersen opened with 13.57 in the 100m hurdles and then hopped to the top of the overall standings after clearing 1.87m in the high jump. European indoor bronze medallist Yana Maksimava excelled in that event, as she often does, clearing 1.90m to move into second place overall.European champion Antoinette Nana Djimou, competing in her first heptathlon of the year, was some way below her best in the 100m hurdles (13.59) and high jump (1.75m) but jumped into contention after the shot, in which she managed 14.65m, her best ever mark in a heptathlon.But Broersen held on to her lead after hurling the shot 13.89m, while Russia&rsquo;s Aleksandra Butvina also moved up the rankings after her 15.13m effort.Running into a -1.6m/s headwind, Djimou again finished ahead of Broersen in the 200m, 24.69 to 25.09, but Broersen still held a comfortable 68-point lead overnight with a score of 3773.Broersen flew out to 6.31m in the long jump, the first event of the second day, to distance herself from the rest of the field, and her margin only got bigger in the javelin.The 24-year-old threw her spear 51.96m, more than three metres farther than Maksimava. Djimou, a 57-metre thrower at best, was some 10 metres short of her best form and had to settle for 47.31m.By the time of the 800m, Broersen had a 273-point lead over Djimou. But of all people, Broersen &ndash; who was disqualified from the pentathlon 800m at the 2013 European Indoor Championships and then fell in the heptathlon 100m hurdles at the 2013 IAAF World Championships &ndash; knows not to take anything for granted in the combined events.Fortunately for her, everything went to plan in the final event and she covered two laps of the track in 2:12.94, bringing her tally to a PB of 6539, just six points shy of the national record set earlier this year by compatriot Dafne Schippers.Djimou held on to second place after covering the 800m in 2:16.80, scoring 6212. Maksimava, who had ended the first day in fifth place, continued to climb up the standings and eventually finished third with a score of 6173. Estonia&rsquo;s Grit Sadeiko was fourth with 6128.Russian duo Anna Blank and Butvina both finished in the top six with respective marks of 5990 and 5887; points that would prove to be valuable in the overall team scoring.Sintnicolaas streaks ahead on day twoIn contrast to the women&rsquo;s competition, in which Broersen led from the second event all the way until the end, eventual winner Eelco Sintnicolaas only took the lead in the decathlon after eight events.Russia&rsquo;s Sergey Sviridov was the early leader. After running 11.24 in the 100m, he jumped a wind-assisted 7.53m (3.0m/s) to move into the overall lead, 20 points ahead of Ingmar Vos of the Netherlands.Sviridov extended his lead in the shot put, recording 14.42m, but Vos, Sintnicolaas, France&rsquo;s Jeremy Lelievre and Belarusian Eduard Mikhan were all close behind.A clearance of 2.07m in the high jump gave Vos the overall lead, 127 points ahead of the rest of the field, while Romain Martin moved up into second place after a 2.04m leap.Sintnicolaas, who had dropped to eighth after the high jump, clocked 48.77 in the 400m to make up valuable ground and he ended the first day in fifth place overall, less than 100 points behind Vos, who ran 50.64 in the 400m. Mikhan covered a lap of the track in 48.81 to maintain his second-place position.Vos maintained his lead after the first two events of the second day, clocking 14.36 in the 110m hurdles and throwing 42.52m in the discus. Sintnicolaas temporarily moved into second place after running 14.00, the fastest time of the day, in the 110m hurdles, but he dropped back down to fourth after throwing 39.28m in the discus.Then came Sinicolaas&rsquo;s favourite event, the pole vault. A clearance of 5.30m saw the 27-year-old shoot into the lead, 27 points ahead of Mikhan, who cleared 4.90m.Vos, who vaulted 4.40m, slipped down to fourth, but then moved into second after throwing 62.73m in the javelin. Sintnicolaas added another 50 points to his lead, thanks to a 58.36m effort in the javelin, before rounding off the competition in style by winning the 1500m in 4:24.62.His score of 8156 gave him a 152-point winning margin over Mikhan. Vos finished third with 7959, while Sviridov took fourth place with a score of 7952.With three of the top-six finishers in the decathlon and two in the top six in the heptathlon, Russia won the overall team title with 41,159, just 111 points ahead of the Netherlands. France finished third.Host nation Poland will be relegated to the first league after finishing eighth and last with 36,879, their prospects badly dented by the withdrawal of Karolina Tyminska.Czech Republic take first-league victoryThe first and second leagues of the European Cup Combined Events were held in Ribeira Brava in Portugal. The Czech Republic earned promotion to the super league, totalling 40,384 points overall thanks to the individual victories from decathlete Adam Helcelet (7955) and heptathlete Eliska Klucinova (6191).World champion Hanna Melnychenko opened her season, but was beaten by two of her Ukrainian team-mates and had to settle for fourth place with 5937 behind world indoor bronze medallist Alina Fodorova (6090) and European under-23 bronze medallist Anastasiya Mokhnyuk (5982).Competing in his first decathlon with senior implements, 19-year-old Jiri Sykora took second place with a score of 7927, adding almost 200 points to the Czech junior record that had stood since 1991 to three-time world champion Tomas Dvorak. Sykora will be one of the big favourites at this month&rsquo;s IAAF World Junior Championships in Eugene.The victors in the second league were Belgium&rsquo;s Niels Pittomvils, scoring a decathlon PB of 8000, and Greece&rsquo;s Sofia Ifantidou (5806).Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

Russia may have won the overall title at the European Cup Combined Events Super League in the Polish city of Torun, but the individual victories in the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting went to Dutch pair Nadine Broersen and Eelco Sintnicolaas on Saturday and Sunday (6-7).

Double Dutch win for Broersen and Sintnicolaas in Torun

Two-time world champion Trey Hardee and world indoor champion Nadine Broersen have been added to the line-up for this year’s Hypo-Meeting, the 40th edition of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting in Gotzis, which this year will be held between 31 May and 1 June.It will be Hardee’s fourth appearance in Gotzis. The 30-year-old finished second in the Austrian city in 2009, just three months before winning his first world title. After failing to finish in Gotzis in 2010, he returned in 2011 to win with 8689, the second-best score of his life.But since taking the silver medal at the Olympics two years ago, Hardee has been hampered with niggling injury problems and failed to finish his two decathlons last year, at the US Championships and the IAAF World Championships.With no major championships to seek qualification for this season, and with the worst of his injuries now behind him, Hardee can focus on trying to win the overall title in the IAAF Combined Events Challenge.Another former Gotzis winner, Belgium’s Hans van Alphen, is also set to compete. The 32-year-old set a national record of 8519 when winning in Gotzis in 2012 and then went on to finish fourth at the Olympic Games later that year.With defending champion Damian Warner also in the field, it means the past three winners of the decathlon at the Hypo-Meeting will clash in Gotzis.Van Alphen’s team-mate Thomas Van der Plaetsen will also be in Gotzis. The 23-year-old is the World University Games champion and recently took the bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships with a national record of 6259.European indoor champion Eelco Sintnicolaas, who went to the top of the 2014 IAAF Combined Events Challenge standings with his 8161 victory in Florence last weekend, will also be in Gotzis, along with team-mates Pieter Braun, who smashed his PB in Florence with 7773, and Ingmar Vos.Nadine Broersen surprised many with her world-leading national record score of 4830 to win the world indoor title earlier this year. The 24-year-old, who finished second in Gotzis last year with a PB of 6345, will now look to translate her stunning indoor form to a big score in the heptathlon this summer.Her compatriot and namesake, Nadine Visser, will be making her Hypo-Meeting debut. The 19-year-old impressed during the indoor season with a 4268 score in the pentathlon, indicating that her 5774 heptathlon PB could be in for revision as she builds towards this year’s IAAF World Junior Championships in Eugene.Another Dutchwoman, Anouk Vetter, will also be in the field. The 21-year-old was the surprise winner of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting in Florence last year, scoring a PB of 5872.Like fellow 19-year-old Visser, European junior champion Nafissatou Thiam will also be competing in Gotzis for the first time. The Belgian teenager set a senior record of 6298 last year while still a junior and looks set to improve on that mark this summer, having set indoor PBs this year in the 60m hurdles, high jump, long jump and shot.Thiam’s team-mate Marjolein Lindemans, who took the European junior bronze medal behind Thiam last year, is also on the start-list, along with USA’s Kiani Profit, winner of the 2013 Thorpe Cup with a PB of 6133.Jon Mulkeen and organisers for the IAAF

Two-time world champion Trey Hardee and world indoor champion Nadine Broersen have been added to the line-up for this year’s Hypo-Meeting, the 40th edition of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting in Gotzis, which this year will be held between 31 May and 1 June.

Hardee and Broersen among latest additions to Gotzis field

Eelco Sintnicolaas and Morgan Lake were the winners at the 27th edition of Multistars, part of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge, at the Stadio Luigi Ridolfi in Florence. Sintnicolaas, the European indoor champion, won the decathlon with 8161, while 16-year-old Lake smashed the British youth best with an impressive score of 5896.After a rainy and cool morning, weather improved with a bit of sun in the afternoon, although the temperature remained chilly.Overnight leader Sintnicolaas picked up where he left off by winning the 110m hurdles in 14.31 on a wet track ahead of Brazil&rsquo;s Carlos Chinin, who clocked 14.46, and Great Britain&rsquo;s Richard Reeks (14.57).After six events, Sintnicolaas increased his gap in the overall rankings to 97 points over Reeks and South American record-holder Chinin, who were in joint second place. Ashley Bryant, fourth at last year&rsquo;s European Under-23 Championships and runner-up at the past two editions of Multistars, was dropped to fourth overall after clocking 15.06 in the sprint hurdles.Despite a heavy downpour, Sintnicolaas set a discus PB of 43.38m to maintain his lead after seven events with 5697, more than 100 points ahead of Chinin who threw 42.00m. Sintnicolaas&rsquo;s compatriot Pieter Braun, aged 21, set another personal best with 42.53m to move into third place overall, just eight points ahead of Bryant, who produced a best throw of 41.81m.Sintnicolaas won his strongest event, the pole vault, with 5.25m to increase his leading margin to 373 points over Bryant, who cleared 4.55m. Brown vaulted 4.45m to consolidate his third place ahead of Reeks.The positions remained the same after the javelin, one of Bryant&rsquo;s best events, with the Briton throwing 63.00m. Sintnicolaas was close behind through with 61.82m, while Braun set another PB with 60.48m.With Sintnicolaas leading by 355 points going into the final event, victory was guaranteed for the Dutch record-holder. As it happened, the 1500m didn&rsquo;t affect the overall rankings whatsoever for the 10 athletes who finished the full decathlon.Braun won the 1500m in 4:31.09 to finish third with 7773, adding more than 200 points to his PB, while Bryant clocked 4:35.72 to bring his tally to 7802, finishing second at Multistars for the third successive year. But there was no catching Sintnicolaas, who clocked 4:35.23 to win comfortably overall with 8161. In a competition heavily affected by rain for three quarters of the competition, Sintnicolaas was the only athlete to score more than 8000 points.&ldquo;Today I&rsquo;m glad with my 5.25m in the pole vault and my 61.82m in the javelin,&rdquo; said Sintnicolaas, who twisted his ankle in the shot put on the first day. &ldquo;It was a good confidence booster. I&rsquo;m also happy with my result in the discus because it was hard competing with a lot of rain. In the 400m the conditions were very hard because the track was slippery.&ldquo;I have had a good start to my season. I had surgery five weeks before Sopot but I managed to finish fourth there. I will have four weeks to recover before my next competition in Gotzis.&rdquo;Second-place finisher Bryant is now looking ahead to two championship decathlons within the space of three weeks this summer. &ldquo;The decathlon is about consistency, so I am happy, especially with the pole vault and the long jump,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I also had a good discus. My goal is to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, provided that I am selected. I missed the Olympic Games in London, so it will be a special event in front of home fans. I will also compete at the European Championships in Zurich.&rdquo;Rising star Lake becomes youngest ever Multistars winnerMorgan Lake started the second day on a high note, producing the best long jump performance of the day with 6.16m, just three centimetres off her personal best. Two-time world long jump champion Fiona May &ndash; who was born in Britain but has been living in Florence for many years &ndash; was an interested spectator in the stands.Lake&rsquo;s performance moved her 191 points ahead of overnight leader Jessica Zelinka, who managed only 5.52m in the heavy rain. Belarusian Katsiaryna Netsviatayeva maintained her third-place position after jumping 5.45m.Zelinka reduced her gap on Lake to 137 points the javelin throw. The Canadian record-holder threw 39.40m to the young Briton&rsquo;s 36.62m. Meanwhile, Netsvintayeva closed in on Zelinka with 41.76m, but the best mark of the day came from Norway&rsquo;s Ida Marcussen with 48.61m.To win, Lake had to finish within 10 seconds of Zelinka in the 800m. Zelinka, whose PB of 2:07.95 dates back to 2008, tried her best to claw her way back by putting pressure on Lake, but it was not enough.Zelinka ran 2:15.79, while Lake smashed her PB with 2:22.72, bringing her winning total to 5896, smashing Katarina Johnson-Thompson&rsquo;s British youth best in what was her first ever heptathlon with senior implements. The last time a 16-year-old scored higher was back in 1997, the year in which Lake was born.&ldquo;I did not expect to win the heptathlon; I just came here to focus on each event,&rdquo; said Lake, who became the youngest ever winner at Multistars. &ldquo;I set three PBs &ndash; in the 100m hurdles, the 200m and the 800m. The other highlight was the long jump, where I came close to my PB, and the high jump.&ldquo;In two weeks I have another heptathlon in Bedford,&rdquo; added Lake, who will turn 17 on 12 May. &ldquo;I am still undecided between the World Junior Championships in Eugene and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.&rdquo;Zelinka, who eventually slipped to third overall behind Netsviatayeva, 5868 to 5853, was delighted with her first combined events competition since the London Olympic Games.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t come here with big expectations,&rdquo; said Zelinka. &ldquo;I was just happy to return to compete in a heptathlon. I&rsquo;m very positive and encouraged after this competition. I didn&rsquo;t have any stand-out performances, but there were no disasters. It&rsquo;s a good starting point before the Commonwealth Games.&rdquo;Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

Eelco Sintnicolaas and Morgan Lake were the winners at the 27th edition of Multistars, part of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge, at the Stadio Luigi Ridolfi in Florence. Sintnicolaas, the European indoor champion, won the decathlon with 8161, while 16-year-old Lake smashed the British youth best with an impressive score of 5896.

Sintnicolaas and teenager Lake triumph in Florence

Pre-event favourites Eelco Sintnicolas and Jessica Zelinka are the overnight leaders in rainy and chilly Florence at the 27th edition of the Multistars, part of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge.Dutch record-holder Sintnicolaas ended the first day with 4028 points, 36 points ahead of Great Britain&rsquo;s Ashley Bryant (3994) and 38 points ahead of his fellow Dutchman Peter Braun (3992) in a close decathlon.The heptathlon is even closer at the top with Canadian record-holder Zelinka leading by just two points over 16-year-old British rising star Morgan Lake, 3609 to 3607.Sintnicolaas overcomes twisted ankle to lead decathlonYoung Brazilian Felipe Dos Santos clocked the fastest 100m time of the day with 10.74, scoring 919 points to beat European indoor champion Sintnicolaas who also dipped below 11 seconds with 10.94. But Dos Santos unfortunately pulled up injured at the end of the race and was forced to pull out of the competition before the long jump.Great Britain&rsquo;s Ashley Bryant followed up his 11.08 100m performance with a solid 7.42m to win the long jump and take the early lead with 1758, just six points ahead of Sintnicolaas who long jumped 7.27m. Braun improved his long jump PB to 7.40m to move into third with 1731.Under a heavy downpour Sintnicolaas took the overall lead with 2479 points after his 13.98m in the shot put, moving 23 points ahead of Bryant, who managed 13.51m. Braun, the Dutch junior record-holder, maintained his overall third-place position after setting an outdoor shot put PB of 13.55m.South American record-holder Carlos Chinin from Brazil got off to a slow start in the first two events, recording 11.19 in the 100m and 7.00m in the long jump, but he recovered well with 14.37m in the shot put to move up to overall fourth place.The high jump produced a major shake-up to the overall ranking as Ukrainian champion Vasyl Ivanytskyi leapt 2.04m on a wet track to move from seventh to first overall with 3194 points , moving 33 points ahead of Bryant who cleared 1.89m.Sintnicolaas lost valuable points after only clearing 1.86m and dropped to third place. But he recaptured the overall lead by winning the 400m in 48.81 to end the first day with 4028 points.Bryant, who has finished second at Multistars for the past two years, clocked 49.60 in the 400m to finish the first day in runner-up place with 3994, his best ever day-one score at Multistars. Braun ended the day with another personal best, clocking 49.14 in the 400m to move back into third place overall.In a close contest, just 78 points separates the top six athletes at the end of the first day. France&rsquo;s Kevin Mayer, who was expected to be a contender, did not start for the 400m but hadn&rsquo;t been a significant factor earlier in the competition, placing ninth after the first four events.&ldquo;It was a hard competition in rainy and cold conditions and the track was slippery,&rdquo; said Sintnicolaas. &ldquo;I twisted my ankle during the shot put and I jumped 1.86m in the high jump where my PB is 2.08m.&rdquo;Zelinka on course for winning returnJessica Zelinka, who is contesting her first combined events competition since her sixth-place finish in the heptathlon at the 2012 Olympics, clocked the fastest 100m hurdles time with 13.26. Her early lead was no surprise, as she made the Olympic final in this event and has a PB of 12.65.Jessica Tappin from Great Britain finished second in 13.57 and 16-year-old team-mate Morgan Lake started her first senior heptathlon with a solid 14.25 clocking.Lake recovered from a failure at her opening height of 1.72m to go on to clear 1.87m in the high jump, easily the best of the day and made all the more impressive by the rainy weather conditions. It moved her into the overall lead with 2010 points, almost 100 points ahead of Tappin, who cleared 1.72m. Zelinka, competing in her weakest event, cleared 1.66m to drop to third place overall.Lake opened the shot put with a huge foul that looked close to 14 metres, but had to settle for a valid mark of 12.80m in the third round to maintain her lead.Belarusian Katsiaryna Netsviatayeva, fourth after 13.92 in the 100m hurdles and 1.72m in the high jump, moved up to second place after winning the shot put with 14.02m. Zelinka recorded 13.49m to keep her third place overall.The positions changed once again after the 200m, which Zelinka won in 24.25 to finish the first day in the lead with 3609 points. Lake set her second PB of the day, clocking 25.04 to end the first day just two points behind Zelinka. Netsviatayeva finished the first day in third place with 3544 points after running the 200m in 25.07.&ldquo;I set two personal best in the 100m hurdles and the 200m,&rdquo; said Lake. &ldquo;I also performed well in the shot put and in the high jump. Apart from the rain, I enjoyed my day in Florence in my first senior competition.&rdquo;The leading trio is closely matched in the long jump, the first event of day two. But Zelinka and Netsviatayeva are superior javelin throwers and 800m runners to Lake and are expected to battle it out for the victory tomorrow.Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

Pre-event favourites Eelco Sintnicolas and Jessica Zelinka are the overnight leaders in rainy and chilly Florence at the 27th edition of the Multistars, part of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge.

Sintnicolaas and Zelinka lead overnight in Florence

The Multistars Trofeo Zerneri Acciai, the second leg of the 2014 IAAF Combined Events Challenge, will be held for the second consecutive year at the Stadio Luigi Ridolfi in Florence on 2-3 May 2014.In what will be the 27th edition of the traditional Italian meeting which moved last year from Desenzano del Garrda to Florence, European indoor champion Eelco Sintnicolaas and European indoor silver medallist Kevin Mayer are the stand-out names in a high-quality decathlon field which also features South American record-holder Carlos Chinin from Brazil.In Gothenburg last year Sintnicolaas broke the Dutch indoor heptathlon record with 6372, ranking him ninth on the world indoor all-time list. Sintnicolaas also holds the Dutch decathlon record with 8506 and has finished fifth in the past two editions of the IAAF World Championships.He won the European silver medal in Barcelona 2010 when he improved his PB to 8436, setting six individual PBs in the process, including the outstanding 5.45m in the pole vault, his best event.At the World Championships last year, Sintnicolaas finished one place behind Kevin Mayer, his top rival this weekend. The French all-rounder is an outstanding talent who won the world youth gold medal in 2009, the world junior title in 2010 and the European junior title in 2011.In Gothenburg last year he set indoor personal bests in six of the seven events and improved his heptathlon PB by more than 300 points to take the silver medal. Later that year he crowned his impressive 2013 season by improving his decathlon personal best to 8446 to finish fourth at the World Championships in Moscow, setting four individual PBs along the way.Chinin also enjoyed a solid 2013 season, finishing sixth in Moscow with 8388 to narrowly miss his South American record of 8393 set a few weeks earlier in Sao Paulo. The Brazilian also finished runner-up in rainy conditions in Gotzis last year with 8182 behind Canada&rsquo;s Damian Warner.Britain&rsquo;s Ashley Bryant is a well-known name at Multistars, having finished runner-up at last year&rsquo;s meeting with a PB of 7985. He then went on to improve that mark with 8070 at the European Under-23 Championships.Brazil will be also represented by 2011 world youth Octathlon bronze medallist Felipe Dos Santos, while Bryant will be joined by fellow Briton Martin Brockman, the Commonwealth bronze medallist.Last year&rsquo;s Multistars third-place finisher Pawel Wiesolek from Poland will return to Florence where he scored his 7727 personal best.Another decathlete with a 8000+ PB score is Frenchman Gael Querin who finished fifth at the European Championships in Helsinki with 8098 pointsZelinka returns to combined eventsCanadian record-holder Jessica Zelinka, sixth in the heptathlon and seventh in the 100m hurdles at the Olympic Games in London, leads the heptathlon field in Florence.Zelinka, who finished fifth at the 2008 Olympic Games, hasn&rsquo;t contested a heptathlon since the London 2012 Olympic Games. That season she split her efforts between the heptathlon and sprint hurdles and then focused exclusively on the latter in the 2013.The 32-year-old is now concentrating on combined events again, with one eye on the Commonwealth Games later this year, where she will try to win the title that narrowly eluded her in 2010.Zelinka will take on 2011 European indoor bronze medallist Remona Fransen of the Netherlands, who, like Zelinka, will be contesting her first heptathlon since 2012.Other athletes in the field with a PB higher than 6000 points are US Olympian Chantae McMillan, who has a PB of 6188, Greece&rsquo;s Sofia Ifadidou, who won the Multistars title in 2012 with a PB of 6109, and Norwegian record-holder Ida Marcussen.The Multistars meeting has always had a strong tradition in revealing rising stars and this year the focus will be on Britain&rsquo;s Morgan Lake. Widely tipped to follow in the footsteps of Denise Lewis, Jessica Ennis and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Lake sensationally broke the long-standing British under-17 high jump record in the heptathlon at the 2013 World Youth Championships in Donetsk by clearing 1.90m; a height that would have been enough to win the individual title.During the 2014 indoor season, Lake broke Carolina Kluft&rsquo;s world youth indoor pentathlon best with 4284. In Florence this weekend she could have in her sights Johnson-Thompson&rsquo;s UK age-16 best of 5481.Another young athlete to watch out for is Brazil&rsquo;s world junior bronze medallist Tamara De Souza.Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

The Multistars Trofeo Zerneri Acciai, the second leg of the 2014 IAAF Combined Events Challenge, will be held for the second consecutive year at the Stadio Luigi Ridolfi in Florence on 2-3 May 2014.

Mayer faces Sintnicolaas in Florence as Zelinka makes heptathlon return

Ashton Eaton leads the heptathlon with 5699 after six
events, the highest score ever at this stage.The US all-rounder looked promising in the early heights of
the pole vault and easily went over 5.00m. He then passed 5.10m, going straight
to 5.20m, but the first two attempts were not very good; a third failure would
have meant no world indoor heptathlon record.But the 26-year-old flew over the bar to clear 5.20m,
exactly the same height he cleared in Istanbul during his 6645 world indoor
record series. Eaton now needs to run 2:33.54 in the 1000m to break his fourth
world indoor record in four straight competitions.Andrei Krauchanka had another successful event, clearing
5.00m with his first try and has collected 5450 points after six events. The
Belarusian has a great chance of winning another World Indoor Championships
silver, six years after his first.The 28-year-old also has a good chance of breaking his own
national indoor record of 6282, which he set when winning the 2011 European
Indoor title. He needs 2:43.72 in the 1000m for the record, which is four
seconds slower than his PB.As anticipated, Thomas Van Der Plaetsen passed two athletes after
the pole vault and is now firmly in third place with 5391. The Belgian
record-holder’s 5.20m clearance in the pole vault has given him an excellent chance
to win bronze.Eelco Sintnicolaas is now in fourth place after topping the
pole vault with 5.40m, bringing his score to 5313. Van Der Plaetsen, who has a
1000m best of 2:42.80 from 2011, would have to beat Krauchanka by at least 5.3
seconds in the last event to steal the silver. He has to run 2:46.97 to beat
his own national indoor record 6188 from this season.Sintnicolaas, who has a 1000m PB of 2:37.42, is 7.3 seconds
from the Belgian and a medal and has run 2:42.21. He is a bit better than Van
Der Plaetsen in the last event and still has a slight chance to win the bronze
here.Oleksiy Kasyanov did not match the performances of the other
favourites and dropped back to fifth place with 5296 after managing just 4.50m
in the pole vault. The Ukrainian is theoretically only 1.6 seconds behind
Sintnicolaas, but the 8.9 seconds to the bronze is just too much.Kai Kazmirek, who is only two points behind Kasyanov in
sixth place, will surely look to overtake him. The German added 20 centimetres
to his indoor pole vault PB with 5.20m, bringing it level with his outdoor
best. &nbsp;He is only 0.25 seconds off
Kasyanov and has run his personal best 2:43.12 in February this year.One of the pre-competition medal favourites, Damian Warner,
is in seventh place with 5233. A 4.60m clearance in the pole vault has dropped
him back too far and despite being a decent 1500m runner (has never run the 1000m),
he will not catch Kazmirek in front of him.Pascal Behrenbruch is still in eighth place with 4983 points
after a 4.80m pole vault performance.Mirko Jalava for the
IAAF

Ashton Eaton leads the heptathlon with 5699 after six events, the highest score ever at this stage.

Report: men’s heptathlon pole vault – Sopot 2014

Ashton Eaton completed a perfect start for ‘The Eatons’,
equalling his personal best of 6.66 with a stylish win in the 60m, the first
event of the heptathlon.He also equalled the determination showed by Brianne
Theisen-Eaton in the women’s pentathlon and is now already 49 points ahead of
his world record 6645 set in Istanbul at the IAAF World Indoor Championships
two years ago.On that occasion, he was then timed at 6.79 and the fate of
the possible fourth straight world indoor record lies very much with the next
event, the long jump, where Eaton achieved the strongest result of his 2012
series, 8.16m.As expected, Damian Warner is in second place having run a
season’s best of 6.75 in the 60m, just 0.01 seconds off his 2010 PB. The 2013 world
bronze medallist has never competed in an indoor heptathlon before, but is clearly
looking for a medal here.Oleksiy Kasyanov, always strong in the first events, was
third with an equal season’s best 6.88 and world leading athlete Eelco
Sintnicolaas also had a successful start in 7.01, a season’s best as well. The
Dutch athlete won the 2013 European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg and is
fighting for a medal here too.German Kai Kazmirek set a 7.02 personal best for fifth place
and Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus ran a 7.12 season’s best for sixth place.
Belgian Thomas Van Der Plaetsen clocked a 7.13 personal best and is trying to
push himself into the top three together with Krauchanka here.Pascal Behrenbruch of Germany, the 2012 European decathlon
champion, was eighth in 7.23.Mirko Jalava for the
IAAF

Ashton Eaton completed a perfect start for ‘The Eatons’, equalling his personal best of 6.66 with a stylish win in the 60m, the first event of the heptathlon.

Report: men’s heptathlon 60m – Sopot 2014

Damian Warner and Hanna Melnychenko emerged as the winners of the 37th Decastar meeting in the French town of Talence on Sunday (15), and for the latter there was double joy as she also took first place in the 2013 IAAF Combined Events Challenge.Warner won the Decathlon with 8161, just coming out on top against South Africa’s first day leader Willem Coertzen, who was second with 8118 after a tight battle in all five events on the second day.The first three men went over 8000 points and The Netherlands’ Eelco Sintnicolaas was third with 8018. Ukraine’s World champion Melnychenko finished her seven events with 6308 points, 20 more than Poland’s Karolina Tyminska, while Canada’s Moscow silver medallist Brianne Theisen Eaton was third with 6252.In the men’s IAAF Combined Events Challenge, Andrei Krauchanka held pole position in the Challenge standings before the start of the Decastar meeting and despite not being at the final event in Talence, the Belarusian combined-events exponent hung on to first place and the first prize of USD$30,000, with 25,084 points from his three scoring events. The Moscow bronze medallist Warner, who has twice scored higher than 8300 points this year, couldn’t quite reach those height this time and had to settle for second place with 24,980 points.By contrast, Melnychenko was already leading the Challenge standings ahead of Talence, her fifth heptathlon of the year, but her win increased her overall tally by 48 points and she ended the series with 19,310 points. Theisen Eaton was second with 19,158 points.Strong second day brings Warner victory Coertzen, the overnight leader in the Decathlon, started his day well when he won the second heat of the 110m Hurdles in 14.38, but Warner was a clear winner in the third and last race in 13.91, his second-best time of the year, and he closed the gap on his rival to nine points.Russia’s Vasiliy Kharlamov was the best in the Discus with 49.19m, but in the struggle for the Decathlon victory, Warner again gained valuable points against Coertzen throwing 44.92m against 43.05m and this moved him into first place after seven events, 29 points ahead of the South African.Meanwhile, the crowd in the stadium had grown to 10,000 people and with the Pole Vault pit in front of the main stand and the crowd sitting on the track, a special atmosphere was created, primarily because of the presence of Renaud Lavillenie. World and Olympic champion Ashton Eaton, who was in the stadium supporting his wife, said: “I have never experienced such a great atmosphere at a Decathlon or Heptathlon competition."Lavillenie came into the competition at 5.27m and there were two other men still vaulting and all three cleared.France’s London 2012 Olympic Games champion went over at his first attempt but it was clear that the seven events he had done earlier had taken its toll. After clearing 5.47m, he could not get over 5.67m. Coertzen cleared only 4.27m so, after eight events, Sintnicolaas went into second place with 6567 points after vaulting 5.27m and Warner had extended his lead to 152 points with 6719.However, Coertzen took the third individual victory of the weekend with a Javelin throw of 66.04m. It moved him back into second position after nine events while Warner reached 61.07m to retain the lead with a 101-points advantage over Coertzen after nine events. The gap between Sintnicolaas and Behrenbruch, in third and fourth place, was only 18 points.In the 1500m, France’s Jeremy Lelievre took the victory in 4:27.97 and Coertzen followed him home in 4:29.85 but Warner crossed the line in 4:38.85 to the confirm his win. “The atmosphere was great, but I can say just one word: I am tired,” said Warner after his debut in Talence.Melnychenko makes it lucky six By contrast, Melnychenko was making her sixth appearance in Talence and she had never previously placed better than fourth, but the overnight leader and 2013 World champion showed in the very first event on the second day that she was determined to do much better this time. Melnychenko started with a foul in the Long Jump, while Theisen Eaton produced a leap of 6.20m, but with her second attempt Melnychenko responded with 6.43m while Theisen Eaton had two fouls with her remaining jumps. As a result, the Ukrainian extended her lead to 98 points. Germany’s Claudia Rath, fourth at the World Championships last month, produced the best jump of the day with 6.50m.The first athlete to throw the Javelin was Norway’s Ida Marcussen, who sent her implement to 50.16m and nobody else came close to this.Melnychenko started this event with a modest 32.36m, followed by a foul but she improved to 39.78m with her last attempt. Theisen Eaton could only claw back 47 points despite a throw of 42.24m. In the last event of the weekend, Melnychenko tracked Theisen Eaton for most of the two laps of the track and in the last few metres she overtook her Canadian rival to finish in 2:13.94. At the front of the race, Tyminska won in 2:08.61 and that was enough to propel her into second place, ahead of Theisen Eaton and she finished only 20 points adrift of Melnychenko.No less than seven women scored more than 6000 points.Hans van Kuijen for the IAAF

Canada's Warner and Ukraine's Melnychenko win in Talence - IAAF Combined Events Challenge