Austra Skujyte of Lithuania in the Heptathlon (© Getty Images)
Lithuania's reigning Olympic silver medallist Austra Skujyte was the runaway winner in the Heptathlon at the European Cup Second League multi-events competition in Maribor, Slovenia over the weekend (8-9).
The 27-year-old tallied a season’s best 6337 points to win handily over Belgium's Sara Aerts (5950) and Hungary's Zita Ovari (5652).
Opening the competition with a 14.22 in the 100m Hurdles, Skujyte won the High Jump with a 1.84 leap and the Shot Put (16.25) before ending the first day with a 25.37 clocking in the 200m. On day two, the Lithuanian produced the competition’s best results in both the Long Jump (61.7) and Javelin Throw (48.13) before sealing her win with a 2:19.01 in the 800m.
Her performance bettered her 6277 tally from Gotzis in May, where she finished fifth. Skujyte, whose career best of 6435 was set at the 2004 Olympics, is the World record holder in the women’s Decathlon, after her 8366 tally in Columbia, USA in 2005.
Hans Olav Uldal of Norway was an easy winner in the Decathlon, scoring 7963 points, 225 ahead of runner-up Josef Karas (7708) of the Czech Republic. It was a personal best for the 24-year-old Norwegian, who also has a 8018 wind-assisted Decathlon to his credit from 2006.
Uldal's effort lifted Norway to the team title with a 22,280 point total, ahead of the Czech Republic (21,945) and Switzerland (21,363).
Hungary won the women's team competition with 16,056 points, ahead of Lithunia (14,984) and host Slovenia (14,566).
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
