A fabulous pentathlon

When Adriana Sulek crossed the finish line of the 800 m she was during six and a half second the world record-woman of the indoor pentathlon. 

I know, I know. The results are not valid before the end of the race and once it was over Nafi Thiam was the overall winner of the pentathlon and the new world record holder. But I like the idea that for a few fleeting seconds Sulek had the best performance ever recorded in that discipline. 

But let us start at the beginning. Coming at the Ataköy Arena the world record stood at 5013 points, established in the same venue by Natalia Dobrynska 11 years before. At the end of a great fight with Jessica Ennis-Hill, Dobrynska managed to erase Belova's 20-years old 4991 points record. (Ennis-Hill on the other hand did not manage the same feat as Sulek, despite beating Dobrynska in the 800 m, essentially due to her slightly below-par jumps, obtaining "just" 4965 points).

Dpbrynska's record got a scare in February, when during the US indoors Anna Hall broke the 5000 barrier with 5004 points, becoming at the time the second performer ever. Hall ran a superb 2:05.70 800 m (but as I pointed out in my "Facing the calvary" article the record of the indoor pentathlon 800 m is still held by Ester Goosens with 2:04.42). Hall's time is not a freak performance. In fact during the same US championships she won the 400 m title with 51.03 s and her outdoors 800 m best is an impressive 2:03.11.

Coming into the championships, Sulek did not hide her ambition to aim at a world record. And with personal bests in the jumps and the shot put she was on the right path. Meanwhile Thiam is a double olympic, world and european champion, and was vying for a third european indoor title. She took control of the event with a personal best of 15.54 m in the shot put and a lead of 144 points. Still, I think that her 1.92 m high jump was a tad below her usual performances. Sulek excelled in the long jump with a PB of 6.62 m but Thiam minimised the point loss with 6.59 m, entering the 800 m 134 points ahead of Sulek. 

In the 800 m Sulek went all-out finishing practically stumbling from exhaustion and a superb 2:07.17 which gave her a total of 5014, one point more than Dobrynska. Prior to that race Thiam had a personal best of 2:18. Had she run in that time she would have obtained 851 points instead of 913, bringing down her total below 5000 and losing the title. But Thiam is always Thiam. She smashed her personal record with 2:13.60, obtaining the title and a world record with 5055 points. 

The only competitor who could follow Thiam and Sulek was the reigning world indoor champion, and Thiam's compatriot, Noor Vidts. She had won the title last year in Belgrade with 4929 points. This year she had to content herself with 4823 points, having lost some 80 points, with respect to last year's performance, in the 800 m. But she has definitely a 5000 points potential.