Roman Sebrle wins in Talence with 8326 points (0)
Talence, France - IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting didn’t provided any real surprises for the Decathlon winner.
The Olympic champion and World record holder Roman Sebrle finished the first day of the Decathlon with the small margin of only 37 points over Russian Aleksandr Pogorelov. However, statistics showed that Sebrle’s second day is usually better than Pogorelov. But the Russian started to close the gap after the 110m Hurdles, the first event of the day, with 14.25 versus 14.47 for Sebrle.
The Discus Throw didn’t help separate the two leaders, since Pogorelov threw the implement 45.83m, only 66cm further than Sebrle.
Pole Vault: Sebrle was satisfied by his 4.80m jump, but the overall lead was now with Pogorelov after he jumped 5.10m.
However, the last two events, Javelin Throw and 1500m were expected to favour Sebrle. The World record holder showed all his experience by reaching his very best level with a 66.05m throw, some 8m further than Pogorelov, and finally secured his win during the 1500m by finishing in 4:47.76, 10 seconds ahead of his Russian rival.
So Sebrle won the Decathlon with 8326, far from his usual standard, but still better than his 2004 victory in Talence (8217). Pogorelov gained 1 point compared to the 8246 total which gave him 5th place in Helsinki at the World Championships last month.
Tomas Dvorak placed 8th, missing by only 4 points 8000 points for the 35th time of his long and successful career, while Romain Barras for 5th place scored his 5th 8000+ score this year.