Great things were expected – incredible things happened!
Jessica Ennis is the new British record holder in the heptathlon after winning the Hypo Meeting in Götzis, Austria. The Sheffield based athlete proved all her doubters wrong by performing superbly, setting new PB’s one after another.
As expected she started off leading the competition after another fabulous 100m hurdles race – with 10 hurdles provided by the organisers this time. 12.81sec meant a new meeting record and left her only two hundredths short of her own PB. The high jump was a nail-biter and Jess had to settle for 1.85m. However, strong title contenders Tatyana Chernova (RUS) and Nataliya Dobrynska (UKR) both stayed below their PB’s and so it was rather surprising when Austra Skujyte (LTU), New Zealand’s Sarah Cowley and Yana Maksimava (BLR) dominated the event in 1.91m.
After two events Ennis was still leading, but with the shot put not one of her strongest events was up next. With 14.51m she was once again only a few centimetres below her PB, while Austra Skujyte could win her second event of the day in 16.49m. She took over the lead, but there was little to worry for the British athlete with the 200m concluding day one of the competition.
Netherland’s Dafne Schippers performed an outstanding race and helped Jess Ennis to a superb new PB in the 200m. The Dutch won the event with 22.73sec and Ennis with 22.88sec which are both strong results – even for pure sprinters.
With the psychological advantage of leading the competition after day one Ennis could start into day two where the long jump challenged the heptathletes. The wind was coming from behind and kept changing, making it impossible for some to perform any outstanding results – not Jess Ennis of course.
While she made coach and spectators hold their breaths after a weak 6.23m and a foul second attempt she hit the board perfectly and sailed to equalise her PB of 6.51m. Strong Dutch sprinter Dafne Schippers came close second in 6.49m.
With only the javelin throw and the final 800m remaining the calculating of points started to become serious and it became obvious that a new British record was on course. The stats said if Ennis could throw around 44m in the javelin and run a 2:10min in the 800m Denise Lewis’ 12 year old record could be hers.
With a new PB in the javelin (47.11m) the British record only seemed a formality and all eyes were set towards the 6900 points mark. Ennis would have to run below 2:10 in order to reach this new stage that only seven women in history reached so far. And of course she did not disappoint. In a close finish with Tatyana Chernova Ennis finished six hundredth behind the Russian in a time of 2:09.00 leaving her with a final result of incredible 6906 points.
Second came Chernova with 6774 and third Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Yosypenko with 6501 points. People may be wondering what happened to indoor world champion and pentathlon world record holder Nataliya Dobrynska , but actually it was a surprise the Ukrainian was competing at all. Only weeks after her victory in March this year her husband and coach, Dmitry Polyakov ,died of cancer which puts her result of 6311 and position nine into relation.
The men’s decathlon had no clear favourite from the start. Legend Roman Sebrle was competing, 11 years on the day later that he set a new – and still unbeaten world record – and was the first decathlete to ever beat the 9000 point mark. But there were other experienced and young athlete to step into Götzis’ spotlight. Secretly discussed favourites Jan-Felix Knobel and Mihail Dudas had to retire from the competition due to injury and others like Germany’s Michael Schrader who won the meeting back in 2009 failed to secure any points in certain events.
In the end it was Belgium’s Hans van Alphen taking home the title after competing in Götzis for years and not even finishing within the top ten. The athlete performed a decathlon of a lifetime smashing PB’s, leaving rivals speechless. But it was not an easy win.
His victory was challenged by friend and training partner Eelco Sintnicolaas (NED) and the German athletes Pascal Behrenbruch and Rico Freimuth. While van Alphen was leading the competition after day one with consistent strength (4334 points: 10.96sec PB, 7.62m PB, 15.23m, 2.06m PB, 49.45sec) ahead of Freimuth (4253), the German took over the lead after the first event, the hurdles, on day two, while team mate Behrenbruch pushed van Alphen into third position after the discus throw.
In the pole vault the athletes had to face the harsh reality of the event with Brazil’s Carlos Chinin missed the mat in his first attempt (which he cleared) had to be transported into hospital, being diagnosed with ‘only’ a fracture in his elbow and a circulatory insufficiency later.
However, despite the rather disturbing disruption the pole vault evolved to the event to change the current standings rapidly, leaving the two German leaders with 4.86m. A strong Hans van Alphen improved his PB up to 4.96m, but it was suddenly Eelco Sintnicolaas who stole the show. The Dutch entered the competition with 5.16m, being the only athlete left at this height and raised the bar up to superb 5.36m, crowing him leader of the competition with two events to go.
The javelin saw Britains Ashley Bryant rising like a phoenix from the ashes, smashing his PB leaving him with outstanding 69.26m. For him the Olympic standard was out of reach in the end, but he finished in a PB of 7837 and a Euro qualification.
With only the 1500m to go the battle was on between the friends van Alphen and Sintnicolaas. Van Alphen would have to beat leading Sintnicolaas by approximately 4sec in order to lay claim on the title. With a strong finish the Belgian finished in 4:20.87 leaving the Dutch just over six seconds behind him.
A speechless Hans van Alphen tried to describe his feelings after the competition, but it was not easy for the 30 year old to realise that after many years of not being recognised enough for his performances he finally proved his strength.
The final standings read a new PB for the Belgian in 8519 points, leaving Eelco Sintnicolaas in second position only 13 points but with a new PB behind him in 8506 and the two Germans Behrenbruch (8433) and Freimuth (8322 PB) in third and fourth position with a ticket for the London Olympics.
Full results can be found on the official Hypo Meeting website via the following link (https://www.meeting-goetzis.at/home.htm).
