Sebrle victorious in Reval Hotels Cup (0)
It was the closest possible result. After the seventh event of Reval Hotels Cup in Tallinn (EST), Olympic champion Roman Sebrle from the Czech Republic and German Andre Niklaus both had a score of 6067 points. IAAF Rules states that the winner should be the athlete who has received more points in a greater number of events. And that was Sebrle who was better in five events than Niklaus.
The competition started with excellent performances by Estonian athletes Kristjan Rahnu and Mikk Pahapill and also the Finn Jakko Ojaniemi who were the leading forces on the first day. At the end of the first day Rahnu had a 75 point advantage over Sebrle while Niklaus was a distant seventh 226 points behind.
The decisive event was the pole vault. Rahnu cleared only 4.55, Sebrle went over 4.85 and bearing in mind his better 1000m potential he looked like the winner. Pahapill was still in contention after clearing 5.05 in pole vault, but Niklaus jumped over 5.35 and as an even better runner he came into contention.
In dramatic finish to the 1000m Niklaus was the best as Sebrle faded in last 50 metres, but the Czech just did enough for the win. The Estonian decathlon school again showed its potential even after the retirement of Olympic champion and one of the organisers of the event Erki Nool.