News22 Apr 2019


Past winners Warner and Johnson-Thompson set for Götzis return

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Damian Warner on the way to another Canadian decathlon record in Gotzis (© Jean Pierre Durand)

Defending Hypomeeting decathlon champion Damian Warner and 2014 heptathlon winner Katarina Johnson-Thompson will return to the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting in Götzis on 25-26 May.

Warner will be competing in the Austrian town for the seventh time and is targeting a fifth victory, which would put him level with Roman Sebrle and Carolina Kluft in terms of Hypomeeting wins.

The Olympic bronze medallist and 2015 world silver medallist won the decathlon in Götzis last year, breaking his own Canadian record with 8795.

Johnson-Thompson will be making her fourth appearance in Götzis. She won there in 2014 with a PB of 6682 and bettered that mark during her 2017 appearance in Götzis with 6691. The world indoor and two-time European indoor champion set a heptathlon PB of 6759 when taking the European silver medal last year.

Fellow Briton Niamh Emerson will make her Hypomeeting debut. Last year Emerson won the world U20 heptathlon title with a PB of 6253, and more recently she took the pentathlon silver medal behind Johnson-Thompson at the European Indoor Championships with a score of 4731.

Hosts Austria will be well represented thanks to Sarah Lagger and Verena Preiner. Lagger preceded Emerson as the world U20 champion and took the silver medal behind the Briton in Tampere last year. Preiner is the World University Games champion and has a PB of 6337.

Fellow Austrian Dominik Distelberger will also return to Götzis. After struggling with injury last year, he hopes to challenge his personal best of 8175 next month.

For many of the athletes from more than 20 nations, the Hypomeeting offers another qualification opportunity for the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 later in the year as well as for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Organisers for the IAAF

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