Warner Targets Eighth Victory at Hypo Meeting in Gotzis
The 49th edition of the Hypo Meeting in Goetzis will be highlighted by two medallists of the men’s decathlon podium of the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
Damian Warner from Canada, Olympic champion in Tokyo, world silver medallist in Budapest will go head to-head against Grenada’s Lindon Victor, 2023 world bronze medallist, will go head-to-head at the Moesle Stadium in Goetzis in the build-up to the Olympic Games in Paris.
Warner will compete for the 11th time in his career in Goetzis. The Canadian star will aim to score his eighth win at this meeting. He became the first decathlete to win the Hypo Meeting six times in 2021, setting his then-PB of 8995 points. His performance was highlighted by his PBs of 10.14 in the 100m and 8.28m in the long jump, which was a decathlon best at the time. Warner went on to win his first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo with a Canadian record of 9018 points. He won the world indoor gold medal in the heptathlon in Belgrade 2022 with 6489 points, setting a national record and the second best performance on the all-time list. In May 2022 he claimed his seventh overall win in Goetzis, and sixth consecutive with 8797 points. Warner finished second at the World Championships in Budapest with 8604 points collecting the fourth medal of his career at this event following silver in Beijing in 2015 and two third places in Moscow 2013 and Doha 2019.
Lindon Victor placed second at the Hypo Meeting with 8447 points in 2022 before finishing fifth at the World Championships in Eugene with 8474 points. He went on to win the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and claimed first place at the Decastar in Talence with a then-national record of 8550 points. He claimed the overall title in the 2022 World Athletics Combined Events Tour. Victor improved his javelin throw PB to 71.56m en route to finishing seventh at the Olympic Games in Tokyo with 8414 points. During the 2023 season the Grenadan athlete finished seventh in Gotzis with 8293 points and won the bronze medal at the World Championships in Budapest with 8756 points. In the Hungarian capital Victor improved two individual PBs in the 400 metres with 48.05 and in the 1500m with 4:39.67.
Simon Ehammer from Switzerland, who hails from neighbouring Appenzell, will compete in Goetzis for the fourth time in his career.
Ehammer won the world indoor gold medal in Glasgow 2024 in the heptathlon with 6418 points. During the indoor season he also won the X-Athletics indoor meeting with 6242 points.
Ehammer broke Warner’s world decathlon long jump best with 8.30m in Ratingen in 2022 and improved his mark to 8.45m in the 2022 edition of the Hypo meeting en route to his third place with 8377 points. During his career Ehammer also won the world indoor silver medal in Belgrade 2022 with 6363 points, the world bronze medal in the long jump with 8.16m in Eugene 2022, the European silver medal in the decathlon in Munich 2022 with a national record of 8468 points and the Diamond League title in the long jump in Eugene 2023 with 8.22m.
The Swiss contingent also features Finley Gayo, who finished fifth in the 110 metres hurdles at the European Championships in Munich 2022 and improved his PB to 8022 points in Goetzis last year, and Andrin Huber, European under 20 bronze medallist in Jerusalem 2023 and training partner of Ehammer.
Ashley Moloney from Australia will make his return to Goetzis where he finished 13th with 8038 points in 2019 on his debut and received the “rookie of the meeting” award. Moloney won the world under 20 title in Tampere 2018 and two bronze medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 with an Oceanian record of 8649 points and at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade 2022 with another area record of 6344 points in the heptathlon.
The strong Estonian contingent will be formed by Maicel Uibo, world silver medallist in Doha 2019 with 8604 points and world indoor bronze medallist in Birmingham 2018 in the heptathlon with 6265 points, Johannes Erm, world indoor bronze medallist in Glasgow 2024 with 6340 points and ninth placer at the World Championships in Budapest with 8424 points, and Risto Lillemets, European indoor bronze medallist in the heptathlon in Istanbul 2023 with 6079 points and second in this year’s edition of the Multistars in Brescia with 7971 points.
Bahamas will be represented by Ken Mullings and Kendrick Thompson. Mullings finished fourth at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in the heptathlon with 6242 points and holds a PB of 8050 points in the decathlon. Thompson set the national record in the decathlon with 8182 points at last year’s edition of the Hypo Meeting in Goetzis.
The line-up also features USA’s Devon Williams, NCAA indoor champion in the heptathlon with 6177 points in 2017 and US champion in 2019 with 8238 points, Tim Nowak from Germany, seventh in the heptathlon at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul 2023, Felix Wolter, first at the Thorpe Cup in Marburg with 8299 points and fifth in Ratingen with 8118 points in 2023, José Ferreira Santana from Brazil, South American champion in 2023 with 8058 points and fourth at this year’s edition of the Multistars in Brescia with 7937 points, Niels Pittomvils from Belgium, who improved his PB to 8022 points in Goetzis in 2022 and Ondrey Kopecky from Czech Republic, sixth at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul 2023.
Women’s heptathlon
Anouk Vetter from the Netherlands is aiming to win the heptathlon in Goetzis for the second time in her career. Vetter became the first Dutch heptathlon winner in Goetzis with a score of 6693 in 2022. She added four points to the national record she set at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where she claimed the silver medal. Vetter broke Nafissatou Thiam’s meeting record in the javelin throw with a mark of 59.81m in Goetzis in 2022 and went on to win the silver medal at the World Championships in Eugene with another national record of 6867 points. Vetter also won two world medals in London 2017 with 6636 and Budapest 2023 with 6501.
Vetter will clash against her compatriot Emma Oosterwegel, Olympic bronze medallist with 6590 points. Oosterwegel also finished seventh in Eugene 2022 and fifth in Budapest with 6464 points in the most recent editions of the World Championships.
Tallyah Brooks will compete in her second heptathlon meeting of the year. The US heptathlete took her second consecutive win at the Multistars in Brescia equalling her PB with 6330 points. Brooks won the NCAA indoor title in 2018 in the pentathlon with 4578 points and clocked 7.97 in the 60 metres hurdles indoors and a PB of 12.61 in the 100 metres hurdles.
Annie Kunz won the US outdoor title in Eugene in 2021 with her PB of 6703 points and finished sixth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo later that year with 6420 points.
The US contingent will be also represented by Erica Bougard, fourth at the World Championships in Doha 2019 with 6470 points, Michelle Atherley, NCAA indoor champion in 2019 and world seasonal leader with her outdoor PB of 6372 points in Walnut last April, and Allie Jones, who improved her heptathlon PB to 6234 points in Walnut in 2023.
Sophie Weissenberg from Germany won two silver medals in the long jump with 6.40m at the World under 20 Championships in Bydgoszcz 2016 and in the heptathlon at the European under 23 Championships in Gavle 2019. She finished seventh at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 in the heptathlon with 6438 points. Sophie’s mother Heike Tischler won the European silver medal in the heptathlon in Split 1990.
The other German athletes to watch are Vanessa Grimm, third in Goetzis in 2022 with 6323 points, and Sandrina Sprengel, world under 20 bronze medallist in Cali 2022 and European under 20 champion in Jerusalem 2023.
The British contingent will be represented by Holly Mills, Agigail Pawlett and Jodie Smith. Mills placed fourth in the pentathlon with 4673 points at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade and at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in the heptathlon in 2022. She returns to Goetzis where she set her PB of 6260 points in 2022. Pawlett improved her PB to 4419 points in the pentathlon at the Tallin indoor meeting. Smith won the British heptathlon title in 2022.
Three Swiss athletes will compete in the women’s heptathlon: Annik Kaelin, Celine Jansen and Mathilde Rey.
Kaelin won the European bronze medal in Munich with a national record of 6515 points and finished sixth at the World Championships in Eugene with 6464 points. The Swiss athlete placed fifth at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow 2024 in the long jump with 6.75m and improved her indoor PB to 7.99 in the 60 metres hurdles at the National Championships in St. Gallen.
Jensen will also return to Goetzis. She improved her PB in six of the seven heptathlon disciplines last year and finished seventh at the Multistars in Brescia with 5872 points. Rey will make her debut in Goetzis.
Austrian crowd will cheer on Ivona Dadic, Verena Mayr, Sarah Lagger, Isabel Posch and local favourite Chiara Belinda Schuler. Dadic did not finish her first competition at the Multistars in Brescia. The Austrian athlete of Croatian origin won the European indoor silver medal in Belgrade 2017 with 4767 points, the world indoor silver medal in the pentathlon with 4700 points in Birmingham 2018 and the European outdoor bronze medal in Amsterdam 2016 in the heptathlon with 6408 points. She holds a PB of 6552 points and took part in three editions of the Olympic Games.
Mayr won the world bronze medal in Doha 2019 with 6560 points and finished fifth at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow 2024.
Posch won the gold medal at the World University Games in Chengdu 2023 with her lifetime best of 6107 points.
Lagger won the world under 20 gold medal in Bydgoszcz 2016 and finished third at the European under 20 Championships in Grosseto 2017. Schuler won the bronze medal at the European under 18 Championships in 2018.
The other athletes to watch are Odile Ahouanwanou from Benin, eighth at the World Championships in Doha 2019 and All-African Games champion in Accra 2024, Bianca Salming from Sweden, eighth at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow 2024 and fifth at the Multistars in Brescia this year with 5915 points, and Beatrice Juskaviciute from Lithuania, second at the Mt.Sac Relays in Walnut with her lifetime best of 6192 points.
