Ehammer and Atherley Lead After Day 1 at the Hypo Meeting in Goetzis
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Simon Ehammer of Switzerland and Michelle Atherley of Great Britain are the overnight leaders at the Hypo Meeting in Goetzis, the second leg of the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold.
Olympic champion and seven-time Goetzis Hypo Meeting winner, Damian Warner from Canada, sprinted to a time of 10.20 with a tailwind of +1.3 m/s in the 100 meters. This is the second-fastest time in the history of the Hypo Meeting, only behind his personal best of 10.12 set in 2019.
Olympic bronze medalist Ashley Moloney from Australia and world indoor heptathlon champion Simon Ehammer from Switzerland both matched their personal bests with a time of 10.34. World bronze medalist Lindon Victor set his lifetime best with 10.48.
Ken Mullings from the Bahamas won the third heat of the 100 meters, improving his personal best to 10.45, narrowly defeating Sven Roosen from the Netherlands (10.49).
Ehammer leaped to a seasonal best of 8.25m to win the long jump, marking the best performance in the history of the Hypo Meeting after his own national record of 8.45m and Warner’s 8.28m. The Swiss athlete also achieved 8.22m on his second attempt before fouling in the third round. Johannes Erm from Estonia, the world indoor bronze medalist in the heptathlon in Glasgow last March, missed his personal best by 8 cm with 7.90m. Warner jumped 7.80m in his first attempt to finish third. Moloney set a seasonal best of 7.75m, and Victor improved his personal best to 7.73m. Ehammer moved to the lead in the overall standings with 2138 points, ahead of Warner (2057) and Moloney (2010).
Edgaras Benkunskas from Lithuania won the shot put, improving his personal best to 15.91m in the third round, ahead of Rasmus Roosleht from Estonia (15.87m) and Nils Laserich from Germany (15.63m). Warner threw 14.55m, reducing his gap on Ehammer (14.08m) to 52 points in the overall standings (2871 to 2819). Victor threw 15.14m to move into third place with 2770 points, ahead of Mullings (2753).
Ken Mullings, Tim Nowak, and Niels Pittomvils cleared all heights until 2.03m on their first attempts to share first place in the high jump. Warner finished fourth with a seasonal best of 2.03m, beating Ehammer on countback. Ehammer maintained the lead in the overall standings with 3702 points ahead of Warner (3650). Mullings moved into third place with 3584 points, ahead of Moloney (3548).
Warner won the third heat of the 400 meters, improving his seasonal best to 47.46, ahead of Marcel Mayer from Germany (48.18) and Ehammer (48.22). Sven Roosen clocked the fastest overall time with a personal best of 46.64 in the fifth heat.
Ehammer ended the first day as the overnight leader with 4601 points, holding a narrow lead of just 16 points over Warner.
"The first day went very well. I am very happy with my performances. Everything can happen on the second day, but I can score a lot of points," said Ehammer.
Warner was also pleased with his first day.
"I was better than after the first day at last year’s World Championships in Budapest. I am happy with my time. It shows that my preparation is going in the right direction. The track is fast, and the atmosphere is very special and has pushed me to a fast time. I was just a bit disappointed with the shot put. Simon Ehammer is an incredible athlete and a great person. He is one of the best decathletes in the world and one of the best long jumpers," said Warner.
Michelle Atherley Leads Women’s Heptathlon
Michelle Atherley set a new meeting record of 12.71 in the fourth 100 meters hurdles heat with a tailwind of +1.3 m/s. Beatrice Juskeviciute from Lithuania finished second in a national record of 12.87, and European bronze medalist Annik Kälin from Switzerland improved her personal best to 12.97.
Annie Kunz won the third heat in 13.26, beating Olympic bronze medalist Emma Oosterwegel from the Netherlands (13.58).
Atherley cleared 1.80m in the high jump, just one cm off her personal best. Mathilde Rey from Switzerland improved her personal best by 1 cm with 1.80m. Erica Bougard from the USA, Jodie Smith from Great Britain, Vanessa Grimm from Germany, and Bianca Salming from Sweden jumped 1.77m. Kunz equaled her seasonal best with 1.74m. Atherley led the overall standings with 2146 points ahead of Smith (2009) and Kunz (1989). Kälin jumped 1.68m before failing her first attempt at 1.71m and withdrew from the high jump competition due to a knee problem.
Anouk Vetter from the Netherlands, Olympic silver medalist in Tokyo 2021 and winner in Goetzis, improved her seasonal best in the shot put to 15.37m to move into third place with 2819 points. Kunz threw 15.14m to close the gap to 59 points on Atherley, who improved her personal best to 13.67m. Atherley brought her total score to 2918 points to Kunz’s 2859. Abigail Pawlett threw 14.39m to move into fourth place with 2796 points, ahead of Kälin, who set her seasonal best with 14.33m, bringing her total to 2775 points.
Sophie Weissenberg from Germany ran the fastest time in the 200 meters with 23.39, beating Allie Jones (23.46) and Atherley (23.53) in the fifth heat. Pawlett won the fourth heat with a personal best of 23.55, defeating Kälin (23.72) and Vetter (23.73).
Atherley ended the first day in the lead with 3944 points, leading Vetter by 118 points. Pawlett is ranked third with 3820 points, ahead of Kälin (3783) and Kunz (3777).
Atherley won the NCAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham in 2019 in the pentathlon with 4547 points and the NACAC Combined Events Championships in Ottawa with 6029 points in 2022. She entered the Hypo Meeting in Goetzis with a world lead of 6372 points set at the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut on April 18.
"I exceeded my expectations. The crowd helped me a lot. The weather conditions are excellent, and the atmosphere is amazing," said Atherley.
