Estonian Johannes Erm and Colombian Martha Araujo Prevail at Decastar in Talence
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Estonian decathlete Johannes Erm and Colombian Martha Araujo won the Decastar meeting in Talence near Bordeaux, the final World Athletics Combined Events meeting of the season.
Erm achieved the second best performance of his career with 8589 points crowning a successful season in which he won the European title in Rome, the world indoor bronze medal in the heptathlon in Glasgow and finished sixth at the Olympic Games. The Estonian athlete won by 72 points over Sander Skotheim from Norway. Sven Roosen from the Netherlands finished third with 8293 points.
Germany’s Manuel Eitel clocked the fastest time in the 100 metres with 10.56. Roosen and Erm ran 10.71 and 10.79.
Skotheim leapt to 7.70m in the long jump to move into the lead in the overall standing with 1882 points. Erm and Roosen jumped 7.37m and 7.34m respectively. Eitel jumped 7.35m to move into second place.
Niels Pittomvils from Belgium and Roosen threw 15.15m and 15.06m respectively in the shot put. Erm produced the third best mark with 14.79m. Roosen moved into second place with 2630 points in the overall standing 15 points behind Eitel. Skotheim was ranked third another 10 points back with 2605 points. Erm was a close fourth with 2593.
Skotheim cleared 2.11m in the high jump, six cm higher than Pittomvils, to move into the lead with 3511 points. Eitel dropped out of the competition after the high jump
Roosen ran the fastest time in the 400 metres with 46.72. Erm clocked the second best time with 47.27. Skotheim ran 47.51 to end the first day in the lead overnight with 4444 points, 112 ahead of Erm. Jente Hauttekeete from Belgium moved into third place with 4241 after 10.82 in the 100 metres, 7.23m in the long jump, 14.39m in the shot put, 2.02m in the high jump and 48.25 in the 400 metres.
Both Skotheim and Hauttekeete clocked the same time with 14.17 in the 110 metres hurdles. Roosen and Erm ran 14.12 and 14.21 respectively. Skotheim maintained the lead after six events with 5397 points ahead of Erm (5280) and Hauttekeete (5194).
Skotheim threw to 44.75m in the discus throw to hold on the lead with 6159 points. Erm won the discus throw with 47.25m to maintain second place with 6093 points.
Erm was the only athlete to jump over the 5 metres barrier improving his PB to 5.37m in the pole vault to move ahead of Skotheim in the overall standing with 7119 to 6999 points. Hauttekeete cleared 4.97m to maintain third place with 6803 ahead of Roosen (6794). Skotheim and Roosen vaulted 4.77m.
Erm was one of the three athletes to throw beyond the 60 metres barrier with 60.47m in the javelin throw. José Fernando Ferreira topped the javelin throw with 64.87m. Devon Williams produced the third best mark of 60.01m. Erm was on top of the overall standing with 7864 points, 140 ahead of Skotheim.
Erm clocked 4:33.04 in the 1500 metres to clinch the win with 8589 points ahead of Skotheim (8517). Roosen clocked 4:24.91 to move up into third place with 8293, 25 points ahead of Hauttekeete (8268).
Women’s heptathlon:
Araujo set a South American record of 6429 points in the women’s heptathlon. She finished seventh at the Olympic Games in Paris with her previous PB of 6386 points. During a successful season she scored 6329 points at the Colombian Championships and 6274 points at the Ibero American Championships.
Araujo beat last year’s Talence winner Emma Oosterwegel, who had finished joint seventh with the Colombian athlete at the Olympic Games in Paris with the same score of 6386 points.
Michelle Atherley finished third with 6267 points repeating the same placing as at the Hypo Meeting in Goetzis with 6465 points.
Atherley ran the fastest time with 13.04 in the 100 metres hurdles. Araujo opened her campaign with 13.12.
Araujo improved her PB by 2 cm to 1.75m in the high jump to move into the overall lead.
Vanessa Grimm from Germany topped the shot put with 14.37m, as Araujo threw 13.38m. The South American athlete clocked 24.31 in the 200 metres to wrap up the first day with 3726, 42 points ahead of Atherley (3684). Adrianna Sulek Schubert from Poland ended day one in third place with 3638 points ahead of Sweden’s Lovisa Karlsson (3610). Sulek Schubert clocked 13.72 in the 100 metres hurdles and 24.44 in the 200m, cleared 1.75m in the high jump, threw 13.57m in the shot put.
Karlsson won the long jump with 6.55m ahead of Araujo (6.49m). Araujo led after five events with 4730 points, 97 ahead of Karlsson. Grimm dropped out of the competition after the 200 metres.
Marie Dehning threw to 53.18m to win the javelin ahead of Oosterwegel (52.56m). Araujo also threw beyond the 50 metres barrier with 50.64m to hold on to the overall lead with 5603, 272 points ahead of Oosterwegel. Atherley threw 41.52m to maintain her third place with 5273 points.
Araujo crossed the finish-line in 2:19.80, a time that was enough to defend her leading position with 6429, 156 ahead of Oosterwegel. Atherley ran the fastest time in the 800 metres with 2:08.01 to end the competition with 6267 points ahead of Karlsson (6111 points).
Michelle Atherley and Johannes Erm became the winners of the 2024 Tour. Atherley, who won at the Mt. SAC Relays (silver meet) and finished third at the most prestigious meet in Götzis, won ahead of American fellow Taliyah Brooks and Emma Oosterwegel of Netherlands. Estonian European champion Erm won the last Talence meet (gold) and also finished third in Götzis. In the overall standings he outperformed Norway’s Sander Skotheim and Heath Baldwin of USA.
