Laurent Hernu victorious in Arles (0)
Laurent Hernu opened his season with a 8122 points total, while American Stephen Moore managed to contain Kristian Rahnu of Estonia for second, 8085 points to 8062.
Despite his win with 13.98 over the Hurdles, Hernu's final victory didn't appear obvious at any time before the finish of the 1500m. However the Frenchman turned out to be the most consistent over the last five events while both Kristian Rahnu and Stephen Moore showed fatal weaknesses. Rahnu's good results in the throws (47.76m in the Discus and 63.10m in the Javelin) didn't make up for his early elimination in the pole vault (4.31m) and his difficulties in the 1500m (5.00,15).
As for Moore, his performance in the Discus (39.68m) was well below his expectations, so that, though still third with one event to go, Hernu had managed to maintain the gap under control and stole the show with an advantage of almost 15 seconds over Moore (4.33,90 against 4.48,35).