Dmitri Karpov Wins IAAF World Combined Events Challenge 2006 (0)
Dmitri Karpov of Kazakhstan is this year’s winner of the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge and receives a prize of US $30,000. Prize money is paid to eight athletes, whose accumulated scores at any three of the qualifying competitions are the highest. Throughout the season of 2006 17 decathletes finished three decathlons.
Karpov’s total of the three best Challenge meetings was 25145 points. The bronze medallist of the 2003 World Championships and the 2004 Olympics took two wins this year – in Talence (8438) and in Ratingen (8414), and was the second in Götzis (8293).
After winning the European title in Gothenburg (8526) and adding 8333 points in Arles and 8170 points in Talence to his score, Roman Sebrle (CZE), the three-time champion of the IAAF Challenge (2002, 2004, 2005), secured the second place in the Challenge standings with the total of 25029 points and received a cheque for US $20,000. Attila Zsivóczky of Hungary was the third and took US $15,000 of prize money, his total of three meetings being 24950. Zsivóczky was the second in the European Championships as well as in the European Cup Super League (8356 and 8390 points respectively) and the fifth in Götzis (8204).
Bryan Clay (USA), who had to cancel most of his season because of injury and illness, did not enter the Challenge standings, though his 8677 points collected in Götzis was the highest score in the world this year.