Decathlon 2000 blog: Jessica Bullenkamp (0)

So – I actually needed half a day to recover from yesterday’s time at the stadium. But now I’m ready to share some impressions from the - I have to admit quite exciting - decathlon competition.

Though it started with a surprise / disappointment.. Neither Kasyanov nor Wiberg, both of whom were among my candidates for the medals, did not compete anymore. Barras on the other hand started his second day just like the first one – beating the time of his best decathlon and advancing to third place behind Draudvila and Krauchanka. Draudvila kept his lead on through the discus throw that didn’t change much in the overall standings as all of the aspirants for the title. It was the beginning though of a great second day for Dutch Eelco Sintnicolaas. Already with a personal record at 110m hurdles he improved his discus PB by 2 metres and his strong discipline was yet to come…

Pole vault – my favourite event of the dayas the decathletes actually have the whole stadium for themselves. But of course it was just the real decathlon fans / supporters that stayed at the venue in the afternoon – great support for all the athletes though. Krauchanka, jumping in the group with the weaker pole vaulters, started his competition by clearing 4.65 but his next attempts at 4.85 began with a shock – broken pole and it took him some time and effort to get a replacement. But though it seemed to confuse him at first – it took him 3 attempts to clear that height – he recovered and jumped 5.05, a height that moved him into first position after 8 events. Draudvila, the leader up to that point, only jumped a decent 4.55, but with 8.032 points and 7th position in the end he should be satisfied. The other top athletes all jumped in the other group… Pahapill had some problems at 4.85, only clearing it at the last attempt, then a great jump at 4.95 but no further – probably less than expected and though he was still on 3rd position he would need a really good javelin throw to keep his chances for a (gold) medal. Barras on the other hand cleared every height from 4.65 up to 5.05 at the first attempt, but 5.15 was still too much. That height was actually just the starting point for Sintnicolaas – just amazing how a young athlete like him has the confidence to start that high and then leave out the next height. But 5.25 were no problem for him, and he pushed himself even higher to 5.35 and 5.45 in the end. It’s actually been a long time that we haven’t seen jumps like that – probably since Erki Nool no one has jumped that high. That height moved him into 2nd position just behind Pahapill.

A short break later (and with huge clouds starting to pile up above the stadium) the next discipline started with the first javelin throwers. Nothing remarkable though, probably due to more or less difficult wind conditions, until one of the very last throwers. Lars Vikan Rise seemed to catch a great wind and his javelin flew to over 70 metres – increasing his former PB by more than 6 metres to 71.71. After that we had to wait for more than 1 hour for the next group and during that time, to the dismay of everyone including spectators, decathletes and especially the high jumpers warming up, the rain started. Light at first but it would not stop – difficult conditions now for the next group. Barras though did not seem to have any concerns with the weather – 65.77, just a couple of centimeters short of his PB, in the first attempt and huge cheers in the French team. Pahapill could not keep up with that: though he has a PB of 67 metres none of his throws went over 60 metres and his chances for a medal were as good as gone. Why? Because Sintnicolaas – usually a rather weak thrower – caught a good wind as well when his last javelin flew to 62.57.

After the javelin throw the situation could actually not be more exciting. Sintnicolaas just 5 points behind Barras with Krauchanka relatively secure in 3rd position. The Dutch started the race always running behind Barras, probably hoping to overtake and beat him at the very last moment. But 200m away from the finish line Barras showed his strength in the last event and increased the distance to Sintnicolaas meter by meter, already starting to cheer with 50m to go.

Congratulations to Romain! Great competition, great new personal best and he is one of the athletes that really deserved to finally win a medal!

Also an amazing second day for Sintnicolaas – he’s one athlete for the future and Krauchanka also seems to be back in the world class at only 24 years.

My personal hero of the day though (except for all decathletes of course): Swedish 5.000 m runner Wallerstein who was very last in his heat and started celebrating during the last 100m, cheering to the crowd and finally crossing the finish line by running backwards. That’s what I call self-mockery..

Well – back from the stadium and the first day of the decathlon.. Tired of course, but I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised by the whole competition… So far it has been a great decathlon – just on drop-out so far and ten athletes actually seem to be on their way to a PB after the first day (based on previous results)

The start into the competition was rather slow in my opinion. Except for Kasyanov’s 10.60 (and maybe a couple of others – Draudvila, Sintnicolaas) times were more or less average, but not bad. After the long jump which Kasyanov won again with 7.88 he seemed to be aiming for a position at the top from the very start – leading by more than 100 points. Which is not that unusual for him… But after that his performances got much worse (just 14.27 in the shot put, 2.04 with a lot of effort in the high jump, slow 49.41 over 400m), while other athletes started to perform over or close to their personal bests.

Now I’m really hoping for a good second day. Conditions will probably stay that way and pole vault will be at noon – so I hope it’s not going to be too hot to get some good results. I suppose (and I hope) it’s going to be a really close fight for both the title and the podium. For me the pool of prospective winners has even increased.

Barras had an impressive first day, doing better in every single event than during his best decathlon so far in Tallinn this year. And he has quite strong second day, especially in comparison to Kasyanov

Pahapill is starting to be the man of the last attempts (best mark in the long jump and the shot put and clearing both 2.04 and 2.07 with his last attempt) and is more than 100 points ahead of his best decathlon.

Krauchanka might actually be back after having some problems still in Götzis (I think he was injured before). His start was not so good, but he got better during the competition and with a good pole vault he might climb even higher.

Drozdov might (for me) still be a candidate for a medal, but I don’t think he can win the competition. Compared to the others his second day, especially the 1.500m, is not as good – he just lost too many points in the shot put.

Wiberg actually could still get into the race for the podium. He has a really good second day and is just about 50 points behind his PB of 8406 points right now. His total score might depend a little on the pole vault and how well he has recovered from an inury.

One point that was rather disappointing though I have to say is the championship in general. Not even 30.000 people in the stadium today (and just like 5.000 in the morning I think..) and except for those groups supporting some special athletes it’s just the Spanish athletes that are cheered for. And it’s kind of hard to follow all the events, which might also be due to language problem.

Somehow Berlin last year felt much more like an important athletics event. Of course it was a world championship, but if I remember back to Munich 8 years ago (and Göteborg 2006 as well, at least on TV) there were many more people in the stadium and the whole atmosphere was somehow more excited.

That’s it for now – time to sleep and prepare for tomorrow

So I’m sitting at the Baden-Baden airport right now waiting for my flight to Barcelona. I’m way too early, but after yesterday I really prefer not to take any risks like delayed trains or long queues at check in. Very quiet here though – so actually I could have taken the train 2 hours later (and I really needed the sleep, but I can get some rest now at least).

Even though I’m really looking forward to the trip I have to say I don’t expect that much from the decathlon competition in Barcelona. Too warm, some athletes not competing, some out of shape… But maybe it’s just my “lack of preparation” that makes me feel that way. Work at the lab really made it hard to keep in track with all the recent results and stories. Right now it’s just great to get away and have a week watching athletics, doing some sightseeing and enjoying the sun.. And as soon as I’m in the stadium maybe I’ll be a little more optimistic about the decathlon as well..

So who’s going to be there to compete for the title of European champion? Except for no German decathlete – first time in ages! There’s so much potential there, just somehow they can’t bring it on.. Looking at this season’s results it might be a close fight between Kasyanov (8381 points in Kladno) and Barras (8313 points in Tallinn) – though maybe with a small advantage for Kasyanov with a PB of 8479 points from last year. But it will definitely be interesting to see Barras, with a strong second day, gain more and more points on the Ukrainian. And one should not forget about Krauchanka, Pogorelov and Drozdov, all of whom are always candidates for a score around 8.300 to 8.400 points as well. Though the latter ones have not yet done a good decathlon this season. More or less outsiders but nevertheless potential candidates for the medals include Eelco Sintnicolaas, Mikk Pahapill and Nicklas Wiberg. So if the conditions remain good and there are no injuries we might actually see a quite close competition for the podium. And as usually it will be interesting to see how some of the rather unknown athletes compete, maybe some might aim for the 8.000 mark and it’s mostly the small personal victories that make a decathlon really interesting.

More on that tomorrow – now it’s time to see this evening’s competitions live in the stadium (by now I’ve arrived in Barcelona and got some internet access at the hotel)

The first glance out of the window on Sunday morning actually should have prepared us for the day: nothing but rain and clouds, just as predicted…

Actually it was worse, but let’s start with the first event. Even before the start oft he 110m hurdles race the first bad news got out that 3 more athletes (after Diaz and Zsivoczky on Saturday) had to quit the competition due to injuries, including Trey Hardee and Roman Sebrle. Due to the wet track the first heats are rather slow, but we were still hoping for a fast final heat with Bryan Clay, as he ran 13.64 in the beginning of May. Even though the first attempt was a false start (and according to the new IAAF rules the next athlete starting to early will be disqualified – stupid in my opinion) he started quite well, but touched the the last hurdles and lost time there – still a 14.08, beaten only by García (14.02) and Raja (14.05).

For the discus throw we actually feared worse results, but the rain got a little lighter. Only one thrower, Drozdov, did not manage a single good throw. We saw a couple of PBs and a good throw by Bryan Clay in his second attempt to 49.85 m

Unfortunately the most difficult discipline on the second day was affected the strongest by the rain. It was raining like crazy and the athletes definitely had their problems keeping themselves and their poles dry. The result was kind of obvious: 6 athletes failed at their first height plus Massimo Bertocchi suffered an injury while warming up – suddenly every athlete between place 2 and 5 after the discus was out of the race fort he podium. But though all in all the pole vault results were rather disappointing, some athletes actually jumped 5.00m or even higher. One point worth mentioning: while almost every athlete began his jumps at quite low heights (like 4.20) Sintnicolaas did his first attempt at 5.00m – and cleared it without any problems.

The javelin throw as well was accompanied by constant rain and also unfavourable wind conditions. Best thrower not Suarez as one might have expected but Jan Felix Knobel with 66.51. Unfortunately he was among the 6 athletes without any pole vault result while on the way to a PB, but we will see what he can do in Ratingen.

After 9 disciplines Clay was clearly in the lead – more than 300 points ahead of Arnold, Barras and Suarez, who were all quite close together. With a good 1.500m race both Barras and Suarez were able to catch up with Arnold.

In the end Clay finished with a score of 8483 points – not that bad considering the conditions. There were 10 athletes with more than 8.000 points and 5 athletes still finished with a decathlon PB (Arnold, Sintnicolaas, Dudas, Newdick, Distelberger – hope I did not forget anyone). The very promising results of the first day could unfortunately not be continued on Sunday. I can’t remember ever seeing so many athletes dropping out in one single event, especially not so many in a good position for the podium.

The first day in Götzis started pretty well in my opinion. The weather was quite nice (much better than expected) – actually before the rain started perfect conditions for a decathlon.

The first event was quite promising as well: a lot of PBs in the 100m race and especially great times for Clay & Hardee.

Unfortunately the long jump could not really keep up with that. Maybe it was due to quite windy conditions but neither of the two favorites could get close to their personal bests in the long jump. Instead other athletes like Kasyanov (7.97) or Mihail Dudas (7.63) could impress the crowd.
I cannot really say much about the shot put I have to admit. I know the results of course (great throw my Maurice Smith, also Barras’ 16.19 were amazing), but that’s it. Unfortunately it’s one of the not so spectacular events in a decathlon..

The high jump started in perfect conditions, maybe it was even too warm. But then at 2.06 it started to rain and I suppose that’s why just 3 athletes managed to clear that height and none got further
The final event was “dominated” by young Austrian’s Distelberger’s performance – more than 2 seconds below his PB.

My personal surprises of day 1 are Larbi Bourrada from Algeria and Canadian Massimo Bertocchi. I never expected them among top 5 even just after day 1. But actually both of them have a much weaker second day, so there are going to be a couple of changes in the front.

I was rather disappointed at Behrenbruch , Pahapill and Hardee. They are definitely still up for a good 8000 score, but I simply expected a little more personally.

Still, although there might be a couple of below-average performances the overall impression for me was quite good. A lot of athletes are on the way to a PB and of the 35 starters just 2 dropped out so far (we will see if anyone else quits by tomorrow).

Unfortunately tomorrow’s weather forecast is not quite as good as for today, more rain and a little colder, so I suppose we cannot expect any great scores.

Now it’s almost 5 a.m. in the morning and I’m ready to leave for Götzis.

Actually I have started asking myself why I’m doing it at all: coming home late yesterday, packing the stuff in the evening, trying to find a place to stay as the weather is not really good for camping, getting up at 4 in the morning, 4 hour-drive, two days in the stadium, going back late on Sunday and back to work on Monday morning. During the past 10 years it’s been the same procedure every year, missing quite a lot of things on the same weekend like my own competitions (some time ago), an exam on the Monday afterwards or my favourite soccer club winning the German cup.

The answer is quite simple: it’s all worth it. Götzis is the one place for me to see a real decathlon competition (and heptathlon also of course) once a year.Even though sometimes the list of participants might not be that great on first glance like last year or the weather is supposed to be “unfavourable” you always have something to talk about and a lot of small things to remember. As far as I can think back I’ve never regretted going. Like in 2001: we were actually planning not to go – I had a regional championship coming up I think. But just imagine not having gone there in that particular year, I suppose I would have regretted that one forever. Sometimes I get lucky and there’s a big championship like Berlin 2009 that I can go to as well, but most of the years it’s just Götzis. And still: Götzis is something special as you’re really close to the competitions and the athletes and it’s a really great atmosphere.

So every year in May the planning starts again for this one trip to Vorarlberg at the end of May. Actually I start looking forward to it again as soon as I’m back home. And I hope it’s a tradition that will last a long time - this year is now my 16th time in Götzis (ever since 1994, at the age of 8).

Hello everyone,
I'll start my blog with introducing myself...

I started loving athletics and especially the decathlon mainly through my parents. At the age of 8 years we went to Stuttgart to watch the World Championships which was my first contact with athletics. After that our annual visits to Götzis started, which really made me fall in love with the multi-events. If you have ever been there you will probably know why! So every year I take the trip to Austria and I will probably still go there in 20 years (at least I hope so). Whenever there is the chance to watch a major championships (like Berlin last year or Barcelona this year) I also try to take the chance.

A couple of years ago I decided to start my own homepage http://decathlonfans.de.funpic.de/ to share some personal experiences and information on meetings and athletes. As I'm currently at the end of my study time at university I haven't been able to work very much on the website, as studying and working takes up a lot of time. But I hope to find the time pretty soon to include some updates.
Decathlon 2000 has been and still is a huge inspiration for me. I visit it regularly for the latest results and discussions in the forum. It's one of the few places where you meet other fans of the multi-events and I'm looking forward to a lot of contact with all of you.