Germany's Michael Schrader celebrates his clearance in the Pole Vault (© Getty Images)
Germany’s Michael Schrader, the former national champion and 2008 Olympian, has put behind him several frustrating years of injury to recapture his best form, winning the International Combined Events Meeting in Ulm with a world-leading score of 8427.
After finishing 10th at the Beijing Olympics as a 21-year-old, Schrader smashed his PB to land a surprise victory at the 2009 Hypo Meeting in Gotzis with 8522. But injury prevented him from competing at that year’s IAAF World Championships in front of what would have been a home crowd.
Since then he has managed to complete just one Decathlon, scoring 8003 to win the 2010 German title at the end of the summer, having been forced to miss that year’s European Championships. He missed the entire 2011 season before returning to Gotzis in 2012, but only managed seven events before failing to finish.
This year, however, the 25-year-old appears to have turned a corner. In Ulm – his first competition for almost exactly a year – Schrader looked every bit as good as he did when he made his big breakthrough four years ago.
He started strongly, setting a PB of 10.52 (1.7m/s) in the 100m, producing his second-best ever leap in the Long Jump with 7.82m, and smashing his Shot PB with 14.74m. With a 1.90m clearance in the High Jump and a 49.84 clocking in the 400m, he finished the first day with a score of 4295, giving him a comfortable 164-point lead over Matthias Prey.
Despite less-than-ideal conditions, day two began with two more lifetime bests – 14.02 in the 110m Hurdles and 45.62m in the Discus. After a solid 4.80m clearance in the Pole Vault, he threw the Javelin 62.99m – the second-best mark of his career. Fittingly, he ended the competition with victory in the 1500m in 4:29.50 – one of seven events in which he recorded the best performance of the field.
His final score of 8427 bettered Andrei Krauchanka’s world-leading mark of 8390, set earlier this month in Florence. Easily his second-best ever score, Schrader’s mark was also well in excess of the ‘A’ standard for this year’s IAAF World Championships, putting him in the frame for selection – and perhaps even a medal.
Matthias Prey, the 2007 European junior champion, was a distant second with 7831, just 32 points shy of his wind-legal best of 7863 set when finishing third at this competition last year.
The Heptathlon was a much closer battle. Anna Maiwald led overnight with 3421 after setting PBs in the 100m Hurdles (13.77) and Shot (12.55m). But 2006 World junior silver medallist Ida Marcussen, whose best events are the final three in a Heptathlon, came back fighting on day two.
The Norwegian posted the best marks of the day in the Long Jump (5.99m), Javelin (49.64m) and 800m (2:14.99) to score exactly 300 points more than Maiwald in those three events, snatching the victory with 5728 to Maiwald’s 5704.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF
