Hypo Meeting Götzis: Damian Warner aims record sixth win

Three-time world medallist, Damian Warner will be aiming to become the first six-time winner in the history of the Hypo Meeting at the famous Moesle Stadium in Goetzis, the second leg of the World Athletics Combined Events Challenge, on 29-30 May.

See  Hypo Meeting live stream, start lists, schedule and results.

All the three medallists of the 2019 World Championships (Nicklas Kaul, Maicel Uibo and Damian Warner) and fifth placer Pierce LePage will compete in the Moesle Stadium. Twenty athletes with a PB over the 8000 points barrier are in the line-up. 

Warner won his first Goetzis title in 2013 and went on to claim four consecutive editions of the famous Austrian meeting between 2016 and 2019. With his triumph two years ago the Canadian decathlon star equaled the record of five wins at the Austrian meeting held by Roman Sebrle and Carolina Kluft. 

The Canadian decathlon star set the national record of 8795 points in Goetzis 2018 and won world silver in Beijing 2015 and bronze in Moscow 2013 and Doha 2019, world indoor silver in Birmingham 2018 and Olympic bronze in 2016. 

Warner will line up against Doha 2019 world outdoor champion Nicklas Kaul from Germany, who will make his third appearance at the Hypo Meeting after finishing sixth in 2018 with 8205 and fourth in 2019 with 8336. The German decathlete contested his last decathlon at the 2019 World Championships in Doha when he won the gold medal with 8691 points at the age of 21. Last year he underwent elbow surgery. He won the European Under 20 gold medal in Grosseto 2017 setting the world under 20 record of 8435 and the European Under 23 title in Gavle with 8572. 

Another German star Kai Kazmirek will return to Goetzis, where he won the 2015 edition with 8462. Kazmirek won the world bronze medal in London 2017 with 8488 and finished fourth at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro 2016 with his PB of 8580 and at the 2018 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham in the heptathlon. 

Maicel Uibo will also return to Goetzis, where he finished third in 2019 with 8353. A few months later Uibo went on to win the silver medal at the World Championships with 8604. The Estonian decathlon specialist also finished third at the 2018 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham in the heptathlon with 6265 and won two consecutive NCAA titles in 2014 and 2015. 

Pierce LePage will make his second appearance in Goetzis. The Canadian decathlete will be looking to improve his PB of 8453 set in Talence in 2019. Le Page won the silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, the bronze medal at the Panamerican Games and finished fifth at the World Championships in Doha in 2019 with 8445. 

The line-up features four of the top-six finishers of this year's European Indoor Championships in Torun: bronze medallist Pawel Wiesolek from Poland, Rik Taam and Riisto Lillemets from Estonia, who finished fourth and fifth, and Andreas Bechmann (sixth). 

Swiss rising star Simon Ehammer could produce a major breakthrough this year. Ehammer won the 2019 European Under 20 gold medal in Boras 2019 with 7851. He improved his decathlon PB to 8231 in Langenthal and his lifetime best in the long jump with 8.15m. 

The field is completed by 2017 European Under 23 silver medallist Fredrick Samuelson, who improved his PB to 8172 in Goetzis 2017 and will compete at the Moesle Stadium for the fifth time, Markus Rooth from Norway, who moved to second place on the world under 20 decathlon all-time list with 8238, and 2016 European outdoor champion Thomas Van Der Plaetzen. 

Rodriguez, Krizsan, Bougard, Williams and Vetter lead a strong heptathlon line-up

The former world under 20 champion Yorgelis Rodriguez from Cuba leads the field in the women’s heptathlon. The 26-year-old Cuban specialist finished fourth in the heptathlon at the 2017 World Championship with 6594, seventh at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro with 6481 and won the 2018 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham in the pentathlon with 4637. Rodriguez set the national record of 6742 when she finished second in Goetzis in 2018. 

Xenia Krizsan from Hungary will compete in her first heptathlon competition since she won the European Indoor bronze medal in the pentathlon in Torun last March with 4644. Kriszan won the world under 20 silver medal to Yorgelis Rodriguez in Barcelona 2012, the European Under 23 gold medal in Tallin 2015 and finished fourth at the 2016 European Championships in Amsterdam 2016. 

The entry list also features a strong US contingent that includes Erica Bougard, who finished first at the Multistars in Florence and third in Goetzis with her PB of 6725 in 2018, Kendell Williams, who won the world under 20 title in the 100m hurdles in Eugene 2014 with 12.89 and finished fifth in the heptathlon at the 2019 World Championships in Doha 2019 with 6415, Annie Kunz, who won the Multistars in Lana and finished fourth at the US Nationals in Des Moines and second at the Panamerican Games in Lima in 2019, and Taliyah Brooks, who improved her PB to 6252 at the Texas Relays. Kendall Williams recently set a lifetime best of 7.00m in the long jump in Athens (Georgia) and backed up this result with 6.94m and 6.77m. 

The strong Dutch contingent is represented by Anouk Vetter, European champion in Amsterdam 2016 with 6626 and world bronze medallist in London 2017 with 6636, and Nadine Broersen, who won the world indoor gold medal in Sopot 2014. 

Marthe Koala from Burkina Faso will compete in her second heptathlon competition this year after finishing third with a national record of 6238 at the Multistars in Lana.