I first attended the X-Athletics meeting in Clermont Ferrand in January 2019, the year I decided I was going to put my lifelong love for the combined events out into the world. At that meeting I made new friends among the X-Athletics team, I discovered the wonderful photography of Michel Fisquet and fully appreciated the expertise in French decathlon of Decapassion’s Frédéric Gousset.
Twenty-nineteen was not the first X-Athletics meeting – and many recognisable names had competed there previously – but the meeting was still largely under the radar internationally. Since 2019 the meeting has grown in confidence, in status and in reputation. X-Athletics is now vying with the Tallinn combined events meeting to become the Götzis of the indoor season.
MAYER, FIVE EVENTS AND RANKINGS
We’re unlikely to see the world record holder at Götzis any time soon, but Kevin Mayer does include Clermont-Ferrand in his schedule, where he typically tests out a number of individual events. This weekend of 28-29 January he will be participating in just five events, so his results will be of no direct relevance to the heptathlon competition, or to his combined event rankings.
On rankings, World Athletics have now fixed the bug – or at least this one – which prevented athletes including both World Championships and Olympic Championships performances in their eligible scores. The principle was intended to avoid overweighting by the generous placing bonuses of major championships. While the principle itself had merit, it did not take into account the combined events where athletes might only compete once or twice a year.
The approach created the nonsensical situation where Kevin Mayer – the reigning world champion and Olympic silver medallist – fell out of the rankings (he was second) for the last four months of 2022. His Oregon performance bumped out his Tokyo one, and his last eligible competition, in Torun in March 2021, expired at the start of September.
That has now been adjusted, and both World and Olympic performances are eligible simultaneously for inclusion. The overweighting has been addressed by awarding GL (Götzis-level) bonus points, rather than championships bonus points, to the second eligible major champs performance.
Mayer is therefore back in the rankings at number one, and the Decathletes of Europe ranking analysis will also be back next week with an update on the new rankings rules and what that means for standings.
While Mayer’s star power is good for the sport, and his willingness to help his younger competitors a mark of his class, there are lots more interesting things in store over the weekend, as the athletes embark on their first multis of the season.
HEPTATHLON INTERNATIONAL FIELD
It was the heptathlon, rather than the decathlon or even the long jump, that brought Simon Ehammer onto mainstream athletics radar. His Day 1 duels with Mayer at the European Indoor Championships in Torun in 2021 and with Damian Warner at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in 2022 brought his talents to a new audience, beyond Switzerland and combined events nerds.
His duels were no less thrilling for knowing that the 9000-point men would pull away on the second day, and Ehammer won in Clermont Ferrand in 2022 where he broke Ashton Eaton’s heptathlon long jump world best. He went on to win a world indoor heptathlon silver, a world outdoor long jump bronze, a European decathlon silver, and a decathlon long jump world best of 8.45m which remained the world lead in the individual event from the end of May until the middle of August.
Since January 2022 the key factor for Ehammer’s heptathlon has been his consistency over 5m in the pole vault, a world away from his problems of 2021. He has more to bring from the shot to his heptathlon score, and indoors the only thing that stands between Ehammer and his next major step up in points is his weakest event, the 1000m. He has already run 6.87s over 60m, 7.78s over hurdles, thrown 14m and jumped 8m this season, so we know he’s in form to deliver a 6000+ score.
Switzerland achieved a 1-2-3 in the heptathlon here in 2022, and of that group Finley Gaio returns in 2023. Like Ehammer, Gaio is world class in multiple events and placed fifth at the European Championships in the 110mh. Matthias Steinmann is also back this year, and Nino Portmann too, who retired after 2 events in 2022. In the pentathlon, Geraldine Ruckstuhl is persistent in her pursuit of her old form, and with a full year in her new coaching base in Zurich, she has another go at her comeback. Celine Albisser and Katelyn Adel complete the Swiss squad.
Ehammer’s predecessor as X-Athletics winner was Rik Taam of the Netherlands in 2021. Last year wasn’t a great one for Taam, but when fit he is a beast indoors. His 1000m speed took him to within a handful of points of bronze in Torun, just a few weeks after his victory in Clermont Ferrand. He’s joined by European Under 23 silver medallist Sven Roosen.
Before Taam in 2021, Manuel Eitel of Germany won the competition in 2020. Eitel has been over 8100 points outdoors every year in which he competed a decathlon, 2018, but he hasn’t yet had the opportunity to translate that into a 6000+ score indoors. Eitel and Ehammer are evenly matched in the sprints, and as a 7.50m+ long jumper Eitel always has a powerful start to competition.
While others might be watching Mayer, I’ll be watching Meyer – Marcel Meyer, the second German in the field. He placed fifth in the USA v Germany Thorpe Cup competition in 2022 and is my bet for the next zehnkampfer to surpass 8000 points outdoors.
Carabinieri duo Dario Dester and Sveva Gerevini had sublime years in 2022, a pair of azzurri whirlwinds revising the Italian record books. Dester added the Italian decathlon record – set before he was born – to his indoor record; Gerevini set a national pentathlon record and had her first outdoor performance over 6000 points. Lorenzo Naidon joins them.
Decathlon calendar cover star Gerson Izaguirre makes his debut at X-Athletics, after setting a Venezuelan heptathlon record in February 2022. He’s based in Spain and has already revised his 60m, hurdles and high jump PBs in 2023. From Spain, he’s accompanied by Götzis regular Carmen Ramos, Andrea Medina, and Andreu Boix in the heptathlon, for whom the meeting will be an excellent step up from his participation at “home” in Arona in 2022.
World U20 heptathlon record holder and European U20 decathlon champion Jente Hauttekeete’s progression at the senior events was impeded by a back problem in 2022, but he’s had a few encouraging results in the last few weeks. Benjamin Hougardy and Laura van den Brande are the other Belgians participating.
THE FRENCH
While X-Athletics is a significant international meet, the generous home field also provides an excellent insight into the state of French decathlon and heptathlon
In the heptathlon, two athletes to look out for are Makenson Gletty and Arthur Prevost. Makenson has been on the cusp of the big time for years – thwarted by a foul at the European U23s in 2019, and limping over the finish line with a bandaged thigh at the same competition in 2021. His heptathlon PB of 5639 dates from 2019. But in 2022 he pulled out his first two 8000-point scores, and should be up alongside Eitel, Gaio, Taam, Roosen and Dester. Gletty is the Frenchman you should be watching this weekend.
The progression of former rugby player Arthur Prevost has been hugely rewarding to watch over the last year. His indoor best may only be around 5300, and his outdoors 7774, but many of his events are still raw, with plenty technical improvement to come to complement his speed and strength. Watch his pole vault, where his preparation and run-up are reminiscent of a knight wielding a lance in preparation to joust. His energy and appetite for the combined events are palpable.
European U20 decathlon bronze medallist Teo Bastien is – like Hauttekeete –steadily working through his adaptation to the senior event. His sister Maeve Bastien is competing in the pentathlon, one of two sets of siblings in the competition alongside Noemie (who competed at the Euro U20s in Tallinn) and Jeremy Desailly.
Sacha Rifflart won the U20 heptathlon in Clermont Ferrand in 2021, and with Pierre Blaecke went on to compete at the World U20 Championships in Cali, where Blaecke finished sixth and Rifflart ninth.
In the pentathlon, Leonie Cambours found herself in new territory when her third place at X-Athletics in 2022 took her to the World Indoors in Belgrade. She also finished third in Ratingen and participated in the European Championships in Munich. Her 2022 indoor season was astonishingly consistent across her three pentathlons– 4457, 4435, and 4442. Celia Perron wasn’t able to reach the form that took her to Torun in 2021 but she and Cambours represent the new era of promising French heptathletes.
There’s no Esther Turpin this year – she has switched to the NCAA system and is now competing for Azusa Pacific – but X-Athletics regulars Cassandre Aguessy-Thomas and Annaelle Nyabeu-Djapa will be in action this weekend as will Solene Ndama, one of the unluckiest athletes with injury in combined events.
If Gletty and Cambours are French athletes I expect to see near the top of the standings this weekend, then Auriana Lazraq-Khlass is, like Prevost in the heptathlon, the athlete in whose progress I’ll be most interested among the French contingent. She posted a significant improvement of 4226 in December, and could go higher in a strong field. Her competition eye-makeup is also the fiercest you’ll see anywhere.
Bastien Auzeil was on French TV commentary duty in 2022 but he’s participating this weekend, as is Jeremy Lelievre.
PENTATHLON INTERNATIONAL FIELD
Commonwealth Games silver medallist Kate O’Connor is back to the pentathlon, and while her throws make her stronger outdoors, her indoor best of 4214 dates to 2019 and is due for significant revision.
Like Ruckstuhl, Maria Huntington’s return is a tentative one, after losing much of 2022 to injury but a fully fit Finn would be a strong contender. Bianca Salming* had a strong outdoor season in 2022, with a PB of 6185 outdoors in Munich.
In the absence of the 2022 winner Arianna Sulek, there is potential for a close competition between O’Connor, Ruckstuhl, Huntington, Salming, Cambours and Gerevini.
The international field is completed by Yuki Yamasaki – returning to Europe for the first since her back-to-back heptathlons in Talence and Ratingen in June 2019 – and in the heptathlon Kazuya Katayama. Both are making their indoor combined events debut.
You can follow the competition on the Decathletes of Europe Instagram and Twitter feeds.
*Bianca’s father died recently: you can donate to Börje Salming ALS Foundation here.