Taliyah Brooks and Teo Bastien are the overnight leaders after the first day of action at the Multistars event, the inaugural World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold event of 2024.
American athlete Taliyah Brooks enters Sunday’s second day of action as the leader in the women’s heptathlon, securing a comfortable 220-point lead over the rest of the field with an over total of 3,767 points after the first four events.
She excelled in the sprint events after topping the field in the 100m hurdles and 200m while Sweden’s Bianca Salming (high jump) and Austria’s Ivona Dadic (shot put) won the other two events
Meanwhile, French decathlete Teo Bastien surged ahead after a strong performance in the long jump, and maintained his lead with a total score of 4,154 points after the first five events.
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However, Belgian athlete Jente Hauttekeete with 4,153 points narrowed the gap to just one point at bedtime, setting the stage for an intense competition on the second day.
Brooks kicked off her heptathlon title defense with an impressive 100m hurdles time of 13.14 seconds (-2.3m/s), despite challenging wind conditions. Her solid performance continued with a notable high jump clearance of 1.77m and a strong shot put throw of 13.11m.
As the day concluded, the American star secured the top spot with a 200m time of 23.92 seconds.
Ida Eikeng from Norway and Lovisa Karlsson from Sweden finished the day second and third, respectively.
Eikeng tallied 3,547 points in second place and Karlsson with 3,530 sits third.
The long jump, javelin and 800m are the remaining events in the heptathlon.
On the decathlon front, Switzerland’s Nino Portmann and Belgium’s Robin Bodart opened the day in the 100m heats with the top times, setting the tone for a competitive competition.
But Bastien’s standout long jump mark of 7.82m propelled him to the lead, and is being closely followed by Hauttekeete’s consistent performance across various disciplines.
Entering Sunday’s second day of competition, Santiago Ford of Chile sits third with 3,997 points.
