Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam and Canada’s Pierce LePage took the top prizes at the Decastar meeting in Talence on Sunday (23), but the fourth leg of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge was a weekend of ups and downs for Thiam and fellow world champion Kevin Mayer.

Nafissatou Thiam produced a strong opening day in the heptathlon at the Decastar in Talence, France, as Kevin Mayer, who returned to the scene of his decathlon world record, stopped the fourth leg of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting after the third event.

Pierce Lepage and Nicole Oudenaarden produced the first Canadian double on home soil in the fifth edition of the Pan American Combined Events Cup, part of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge, held at Ottawa’s Terry Fox Athletics Facility on 4-5 July.

Canada’s Pierce Lepage and USA’s Sami Spenner are the overnight leaders at the Pan American Combined Events Cup, part of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge, being held this week in Ottawa.

The decathlon at last weekend’s Decastar meeting in Talence, the final competition of the 2016 IAAF Combined Events Challenge, featured athletes who have stood on Olympic podiums and medallists from world and continental championships. Yet for nine of the 10 events, none of them could hold a candle to 20-year-old newcomer Pierce LePage.

Canadian Pierce LePage and Cuba’s Yorgelis Rodriguez lead after day one of the Decastar combined-event meeting in Talence, the final competition of the 2016 IAAF Combined Events Challenge.