Coming into the combined events of this year's European Championships there were two unknowns, both having to do with world record holders. N. Thiam and K. Mayer had not yet qualified for the Paris Olympics and the Rome championships looked like their last chance to obtain the minima (6480 and 8460 points respectively).
For Thiam that was her first appearance in 2024. After having established a new world record in the indoor pentathlon in March 2023 she took part in an heptathlon in Ratingen where she participated in five selected events. She looked in excellent shape but then she injured her Achilles tendon and could not participate in the 2023 world Championships. (The heptathlon event was won there by K. Johnson-Thompson with 6740 points, nothing to write home about).
Mayer won the European Indoor heptathlon title in March 2023. He then participated in a few competitions from May to July but when he showed up in Budapest for the World championships he was able to complete just two events before dropping out due to injury. Not having a valid decathlon in 2023 he tried to obtain a qualifying mark at the very end of the year in Australia but had to renounce feeling some pain in the thigh. He tried again in March 2024, in San Diego, but had to drop out at the high jump due to a painful abductor.
Fortunately for them, Thiam and Mayer received an invitation to participate in the European Championships, a kind of wild card, and they both used it successfully, albeit with very different approaches.
Thiam started the event with a solid performance in the hurdles and then took control of the event jumping 1.95 m at the high jump. K. Johnson-Thompson was still in contention but that was not going to last: she dropped out after the next event. It was precisely at the shot put that we witnessed the arrival in the top three of A. Lazraq-Khlass, just behind Thiam and N. Vidts. The order did not change after the 200 m with Thiam having a 35-40 points advantage over the other two.
Those who follow my blog may remember that last year I had spotted two new faces in the heptathlon: Lazraq-Khlass and S. Dokter. The latter won bronze in this winter's World's but the Europeans were going to be a moment of glory for Lazraq-Khlass. And in fact with a mighty throw in the javelin she managed to distance herself from Vidts consolidating her position behind Thiam.
Entering the 800 m Thiam was leading with 5909 points, L-K was second with 5700 and Vidts third with 5622, just in front of Kälin, who, thanks to a great 6.84 m in the long jump, was still in medal contention with 5614 points. But the 800 is Vidts specialty (she won with 2:09.35), so Kälin did not have a chance. Thiam, with more than 200 advantage, could have jogged in 2:25 and still win the heptathlon. But that's not what he did. She ran as if the title depended on this event and finished in a personal best of 2:11.79 just ahead of Lazraq-Khlass (who with 2:12.07 signed another personal best, the sixth over the seven events; she missed a pb in the long jump by a mere 3 cm). It is clear what was the strategy of Thiam. Winning with 6848 points she meant to send a clear message to all her adversaries that she is ready, if pushed, for a 7000+ heptathlon and that she is going for a third title in the Olympics.
Mayer's strategy had nothing to do with that of Thiam. He was in Rome in order to qualify for the Olympics and he intended to do just the bare minimum in order to ensure this. (The French have a nice expression that springs to mind at this point: "minimum syndical", which translates into "union sanctioned minimum" and means that one does the minimum he can get away with).
Rome's decathlon saw the spawning of another great french decathlete, "Big Mak" M. Gletty who obtained his first global medal. He won the 100 m and the shot put but below-par performances in the discus and javelin costed him the silver medal. (On the other hand he was allowed to re-run the 110 m hurdles after his loudspeaker failed to function during the start. And he profited in order to run a pb of 13.88 s, the best performance in the event).
M. Rooth (last year's European U23 champion) jumped 8.01 m in the long jump, S. Skotheim (last year's European U23 vice-champion) jumped 2.17 m in the high jump and was leading after the first day with 4566 points just ahead of J. Erm (who ran an excellent 46.81 in the 400 m) 4541 points and Gletty at 4539. Rooth was fourth with 4456, still in contention for a medal.
And Mayer in all this? Well, he started with 10.72 s in the 100 m and followed with 7.37 m in the long jump with just a single attempt. In fact he gave the impression that he was not taking any risk, contenting himself with decent performances, making sure he was en route for the qualiication. He ended the first day with 4230 points precisely half of the qualification mark.
Defending champion N. Kaul won the discus with a 49.89 pb just ahead of Mayer. And then the latter had a brush with disaster in the pole vault. He started at 5 m and needed three attempts to get over the bar. (Mind you, he did exactly that when he won the world title in 2022). But once over this height he went on to jump 5.30 m before calling it a day. And, (was it a spell put on french athletes?), Gletty also needed three attempts at his initial 4.60 m, bringing back memories of his no-heighting during the 2023 European indoors.
At that point of the competition Rooth was third just over 100 point behind Erm who was leading he event. But he sustained an injury while attempting a 5.20 m (that would have been a personal best) and had to drop out of the competition. (Let's hope he manages to get well for Paris).
The javelin throw saw, as expected, the victory of Kaul with 75.45 m, with Mayer throwing 69.54 m putting him second in the classification, behind Erm, 7893 to 7986. And one could wonder whether he was going to try to get on the podium. But that was not in Mayer's plan. In fact he had to run the 1500 m at worse in 4:58.82 in order to qualify for the Games and he did just that. He jogged around the track in 4:55.99 finishing with 8476 points, but still in fifth position. Erm won with 8764 points, with Skotheim second in 8635 and Gletty third with 8606, all three registering a personal best. Thanks to his second day Kaul was fourth with 8547 points, being the second german to qualify for the Olympics. (If you are living under a stone and do not know who is the first one, L. Neugebauer has the leading world performance with 8961 points). Two other young decathletes I am following, D. Dester and J. Hauttekeete, finished 6th and 8th with personal bests 8235 and 8156 points respectively (an Italian record for the former).
So Mayer will be present in the Olympics, to the great relief of french fans. But once there what are his chances for the title? Having seen him compete in Rome I think that they are slim. Barring injury, he probably can manage a performance around 8800 points. That could prove enough for a medal but I am afraid that the olympic gold will be more "expensive" than that.
PS. While discussing with my "Décapassion" friends Frédéric and Pierre Gousset I learned that A. Lazraq-Khlass is putting the shot in the spinner style. She is probably the first female combined-event specialist to do so. There is a summary of the heptathlon events on youtube that you can watch and you can see her throwing in excellent rotational style.
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