Combined eventer Mikk Pahapill smashes his long jump PB with a leap of 7.97m in the heptathlon at the 2009 European Indoor Championships (© Getty Images)
The recently crowned European Indoor champions for the Combined Events Mikk Pahapill from Estonia and Anna Bogdanova from Russia will start their outdoor season at the famous annual Combined Events meeting Hypo Meeting in Götzis on the weekend of 30 / 31 May, the Austrian leg of the 2009 IAAF Combined Events Challenge.
Pahapill has recently followed in the footsteps of his legendary compatriot Erki Nool, the Olympic Decathlon champion in Sydney 2000 with his impressive victory of the European Indoor Heptathlon title in Turin, Italy, where he scored 6362 points to take ninth place on the all-time list, just 12 points off the national record held by Nool who is seventh all-time.
Pahapill, eleventh in the Decathlon at the Olympic Games in Beijing with 8178 points, set PBs in six of the seven Heptathlon events at the European Indoor Championships in the Oval Lingotto in Turin with an outstanding 7.97m in the Long Jump his best individual result. He also sprinted 7.09sec in the 60 metres, released 15.45m in the Shot Put, cleared 2.12m in the High Jump, ran 8.03sec in the 60 metres Hurdles, vaulted 5.10m in the Pole Vault and ran 2:45.69 in the final 1000 metres.
The Estonian’s result in Turin is an indication that he can easily smash his 8178 points PB this May in Götzis’ famous Mösle Stadium. It was at this same meeting in 2006 that with a 12th place finish of 8002 points that he first broke the 8000 barrier.His progress was hampered in the following years by surgery on his right ankle.
The 25-year-old Pahapill hails from a sports family. His father was also a Decathlete with a PB of 7388 points PB set at the age of 19. Pahapill is coached by 1997 World Heptathlon bronze medallist Remigija Nazaroviene from Lithuania.
Pahapill will face again Turin silver medallist Oleksiy Kasyanov from the Ukraine who set the national Heptathlon record of 6205 points in the Italian venue.
Top-three from Turin Pentathlon too
The top three from Turin in the women’s Pentathlon Anna Bogdanova from Russia, Jolanda Keizer from the Netherlands and Antoinette Nana Djimou from France will also renew their battle in Götzis in the women’s Heptathlon.
Bogdanova, who was World Indoor Championships bronze medallist in Valencia 2008, will be looking to improve on her third place last year in Götzis. On that occasion she scored a lifetime best of 6452 points which she improved again at the Olympic Games in Beijing with 6465 points for sixth place.
Bogdanova scored the two best scores in the world of the 2009 indoor season with 4784 points at the Russian Championships and 4761 points in Turin.
Keizer and Djimou also produced their lifetime bests in Turin scoring respectively 4644 and 4618 points.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
