After finishing third in 2015, second at the last edition two years ago on home soil in Tallinn, Estonia finally stepped on the top of the podium at the European Combined Events Team Championships Super League on Sunday.
The Estonians triumphed despite losing their leading heptathlete Grit Sadeiko, who had personal and seasonal bests better than any other woman in the western Ukrainian city of Lutsk, at the end of the first day due to heel problems with her right foot.
However, their trio of scoring decathlete rose to the occasion on the second day to pick up the slack and the team finished the 17-event competition – which combined the scores of a team’s three top decathletes and heptathletes – with a total of 39959 points, 399 ahead of second-placed Belarus.
<blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'>
Highlights from the European Combined Events Team Championships in Lutsk: 
Decathlon 
Zhuk 8237 
Uibo 8181 
Urena 8073 
Heptathlon 
Sloboda 6165 
Stainton 6029 
Esselink 5905 
Overall standings 
Full results: <a href='https://t.co/1Qs7q2RHrG'>https://t.co/1Qs7q2RHrG</a> <a href='https://t.co/ecSq9cbVo9'>pic.twitter.com/ecSq9cbVo9</a>
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) <a href='https://twitter.com/EuroAthletics/status/1147921594020446208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>July 7, 2019</a></blockquote>
Great Britain’s John Lane was the fastest man in the 100m when he won his heat in 10.91 but Spain’s Jorge Urena took over in pole position with 1775 points following a 7.38m leap in the long jump. 
However, Berlin 2018 bronze medallist Vitali Zhuk gave notice that he was in good shape with a personal best of 15.66m in the shot put although the Belarusian was still in third place behind Urena and Estonia’s Kristjan Rosenberg at this stage.
However, Rosenberg proved to be the revelation of the high jump, increasing his personal best by three centimetres when clearing 2.16m on his third attempt to not only win this individual event but move to the top of the standings with 3405 points after four events.
The first day finished with Zhuk running the 400m more than half-a-second faster than anyone else with a time of 48.24, an excellent performance in the cooling conditions as dusk started to fall but Rosenberg continued his series of solidly consistent performances with 49.06 to lead overnight with 4263 while Urena ran 49.10 end the day with 4165, 53 ahead of Zhuk.
The Spaniard, who had won the European indoor heptathlon title back in March, regained the lead in the opening event of the second day when he produced a sparkling run over the barriers to reduce his 110m hurdles personal best by 0.02 to 13.88 to win that event but Zhuk again showed his strength in the throws by sending his discus out to 48.64m, well over a metre better than he had thrown before and more than three metres father than anyone else in Lutsk. 
The effort moved Zhuk into the lead with a seven-event total of 5865, 54 ahead of Urena despite the latter producing his second consecutive personal best with a throw of 39.60m.
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In a terrific pole vault competition, the top four men all vaulter five metres and higher and equalled or improved their personal bests with the field being led by Estonia’s Maicel Uibo, who cleared 5.30m on his first attempt before failing three times at 5.40m.
Having steadily accumulated points behind Zhuk, Urena and Rosenberg, Uibo’s vault, worth 1004 points saw him rise to the top of the standings with 6717, a thrilling finale starting the brew up as he had an advantage of just two points from Rosenberg and three from Zhuk, who vaulted a personal best of 5.00m and 4.80m respectively.
The honours in the javelin went to 2017 individual men’s winner Janek Oiglane who produced a massive throw of 70.61m with his third attempt but Zhuk’s best effort of 64.19m put him back in the lead with 7515 and a 14-point margin – just over two seconds advantage – over Uibo going into the last event, the 1500m.
In the first heat, with the countries in the lower half of the Super League standings all running together rather than in the usual system of world and European championships where the leading individual competitors do battle in the final heat, Urena had a race-long duel with his compatriot Pablo Trescoli before the latter eventually prevailed, the pair clocking 4:27.00 and 4:27.06, which meant that Urena took his tally to 8073, just 52 points shy of his personal best.
It also meant the other main protagonists – Zhuk, Uibo, Rosenberg and possibly Oiglane – in the following heat couldn’t falter too badly if they had ambitions of making the podium.
However, Zhuk ended all discussions about who was the best man over the two days in Lutsk with a thrilling run down the home straight at the end of his 1500m to overtake long-time race leader Lewis Church, of Great Britain, with 30 metres to go and cross the line in 4:33.54 for a total of 8237, the second best tally of his career just 53 off the mark he accrued in Berlin last summer.
In contrast, Uibo started to look very tired on the last lap and a saw a succession of men overtake him over the last 200m before finishing more than six seconds behind Zhuk, eventually scoring 8181.
Urena had dome enough in the first heat to finish third while first-day leader Rosenberg was fourth but was rewarded by breaking the 8000-barrier, putting behind him two years of back and shoulder problems, with a score of 8033.
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In truth, the heptathlon had less depth than the decathlon, but one couldn’t fault home heroine Daryna Sloboda for her domination of the competition. The Ukrainian moved into the lead after the third event – with heptathlon favourite Sadeiko clearly struggling – and was never headed.
The Netherlands’ Marijke Esselink of the Netherlands sped to personal best of 13.45 to win the 100m hurdles and still held the overall lead after a 1.72m high jump, and event which saw Sloboda and Great Britain’s Katie Stainton clear 1.78m, a personal best for the latter. 
Sloboda to took over at the top after winning the shot with 14.03m, just four centimetres off her best.
Sloboda finished almost a second behind the fastest women in the 200m, Great Britain’s Jo Rowland who won in 24.25 but her time of 25.19 was enough to keep the lead overnight with 3589 points.
Stainton produced another outstanding jumping performance in the opening event of the second day with another personal best. Her long jump of 6.29m was the best mark of the morning and moved her from fourth to second overall while Sloboda reached 6.22m.
Sloboda extending her advantage with a personal best of 42.98m, although mention must be made of Mari Klaup-McColl’s winning effort of 50.05m, an important addition to Estonia’s points with Sadeiko now watching from the sidelines. 
Esselink moved up to second place by throwing 41.59m to Stainton’s 38.95m but the Briton is a far better 800m runner and showed it when produced a determined run to win the final event in 2:09.31 to take almost four seconds off her best.
Sloboda followed her home in 2:12.20 to give her a comfortable victory with a heptathlon best of 6165. .
Stainton topped 6000 points for the first time in her life with a total of 6029 – making a major impact on Great Britain finishing a surprising third in the overall team standings behind the two big guns of Estonia and Belarus – while Esselink had clocked 2:20.15 in the earlier heat to finish third with a personal best of 5905.
Full results <a href='http://competitions2.uaf.org.ua/2019.07.06-07_ecetc/index.php?r=site/results' target='_blank'>here</a>.

Estonia finally take the European Combined Events Team Championships title

This may well be the last European Combined Events Team Championships and the finish line for this competition, and its earlier variants, is in sight, but an exciting two days of multi-events action in the Super League should still be in store in Lutsk, Ukraine on Saturday and Sunday.
Ukraine won the title – which combines a nation’s top three men’s and women’s performances – two years ago in the Estonian capital Tallinn and they are eager to defend their crown in front of their home fans in the 11,000 capacity Avangard Stadium.
The host’s team will be headed by the Oleksiy Kasyanov, at 34 the oldest man in the competition who has a venerable history including world and European medals. 
Injuries meant that he didn’t compete in a decathlon last year but he returned to competition in May and although his 21st place in 7874 points at Gotzis was a rather modest performance by his own standards, it suggested that he had few physical problems remaining and passing 8000 points might be on the cards again for the men’s individual runner-up at the last two Super Leagues.
Alongside him are two other men from the team that won in Tallinn two years ago: Vasyl Ivantskyy who was fourth on that occasion and Ruslan Malohlovets.
The hosts will be missing the two Alinas – Fyodorova and Shukh – who were respectively the top heptathletes in the 2015 and 2017 Super League competitions but are still able to count of two of the four 6000 points-plus performance in the heptathlon field, Daryna Sloboda and Rimma Buinenko, with the former having already exceeded the 6000-barrier this year.
On paper, Estonia should offer the biggest challenge to Ukraine for the very last Super League title in after the decision by the European Athletics Congress in April to bring this competition to an end.
Maicel Uibo has a career best of 8514 from the 2018 Gotzis meeting, where he finished second, and the US-based athlete showed that he is in excellent shape with third place at the same meeting in May, when he put together a tally of 8353.
'I went back to the US straight after Gotzis, took a few days off and then started preparing for this competition. We have a strong team and there is the feeling this could be our chance for the title,' said Uibo at Friday's press conference.
Estonia finished third in this competition in 2015, second on home soil two years ago and nothing would make Uibo happier than to guide his country one step further up the podium with an individual victory in Lutsk. Alongside him in the Estonian team is men’s winner from Tallinn, Janek Oiglane, whose best of 8371 came when he finished fourth at the IAAF World Championships in London, and he has already gone over 8000 points this year.
Leading the women’s entries is another Estonian, Grit Sadeiko, who has made the individual podium at three of the last four editions of this competition, including finishing second in 2015.
Sadeiko’s personal and season’s best are better than anyone else having put together tallies of 6280 and 6162 points respectively, the latter coming at the Decastar event in Talence, France less than two weeks ago. The big question is whether she will be able to put together two quality back-to-back heptathlons in such a short space of time. 
'and it's a good question because normally I wouldn't consider doing two heptathlons in such a short space of time but I'm here for the team. However, I have a problem with my right foot so my aim is just to stay healthy and go event-by-event,' said the 2011 European U23 heptathlon champion.
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France took third place two years ago in Tallinn and were second in 2015, as well as being the 2013 champions, and have never been off the podium in the four editions of the combined Championships since they were inaugurated in 2013. Consequently, it’s logical to consider they will be in contention for a top three position once more although the squad does not look as strong as previous years.
World record-holder and 2018 European Athlete of the Year Kevin Mayer has his sights set on bigger prizes later in the summer so the best-known multi-events exponent in Les Bleus team is Bastien Auzeil, who has gone over 8000 points six times in his career although most recently in 2016.
However, Belarus could surprise everyone despite the nation never having been on the podium since the competition became a combined Team Championships. 
Former European champion and 2008 Olympic silver medallist Andrei Krauchanka, now 34, can boast of a career best of 8617, which is the highest of anybody in Lutsk, and showed good shape when he went close to 8000 points when he won the domestic National Cup competition last month, his first decathlon since he won the 2014 European title after a series of injuries during the last five years.
However, a lot of eyes will be on his rapidly improving compatriot, Berlin 2018 bronze medallist Vitali Zhuk, who is 12 years Krauchanka’s junior.
Two years ago, Zhuk set a personal best of 7612 when finishing eighth in this competition but he improved his decathlon best to 8290 when finishing third in the German capital last summer. This year, he has improved his personal best in six individual disciplines so could well be challenging for the first place among the men and, perhaps, another personal best.
Also part of the Belarus team is Eduard Mikhan, the 2008 world U20 silver medallist who took second place in this competition in 2013 and 2014.
It will be a major surprise if Spain enter into consideration for team honours, but the 2019 European indoor heptathlon champion Jorge Urena will be looking to improve in his personal best of 8125 after having fallen a frustrating two points short of it in Gotzis recently. 
However, Urena's preparations have been far from ideal. With soaring temperatures in Spain, even though he lives and trains in his mountainous hometown of Onil, he has changed his training schedule to accommodate the heat which regularly surged into the mid-30s during the last couple of weeks.
Live results <a href='http://competitions2.uaf.org.ua/2019.07.06-07_ecetc/' target='_blank'>here</a>. 
Live streaming <a href='https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbLKqiOxcIe_KfyNxCY0zI-HfMqJ5qCho' target='_blank'>here</a>
Action at the European Combined Events Team Championships First League in Ribeira Brava, Portugal begins on Friday and the Czechs arrive with a strong team in tow, including Adam Sebastian Helcelet and Jan Dolezal in the decathlon and Katerina Cachova in the heptathlon.
The individual favourite in the decathlon could be the in-form Pawel Wiesiolek who set a lifetime best of 8204 points to win the Polish title earlier this season, a mark which has only been surpassed by Helcelet in terms of lifetime best performances.
The Second League also takes place in Ribeira Brava this weekend. The prospective favourites are Belgians Noor Vidts and Niels Pittomvils and they could also make a run for the overall title despite the absence of some of their illustrious teammates.

Can Ukraine retain their European Combined Events Team Championships title?

The final entries for the European Combined Events Team Championships Super League in Lutsk, Ukraine on 6-7 July are available and can be found <a href='https://directus.european-athletics.com/public/uploads/european-athletics/originals/d92e4945-04e0-4962-a7bf-cc64ec9c5d4e.pdf' target='_blank'>here</a>.
Ukraine won the overall trophy two years ago in Tallinn and their team features the very experienced Oleksiy Kasyanov - the individual runner-up in the decathlon on three occasions - and Daryna Sloboda and Rimma Buinenko, both of whom have surpassed the 6000 point-barrier for the heptathlon.
But after narrowly losing out to the Ukrainians on home turf two years ago, the Estonians have fielded a team capable of reversing the outcome in Lutsk. 
The Estonians did have individual success to celebrate in Tallinn and their team for next weekend features reigning individual champion and world fourth-placer Janek Oiglane as well as Maicel Uibo who has the highest total based on season’s best performances with 8353 points.
Similarly, the leading entrant in the heptathlon based on season’s best performances is Estonia’s Grit Sadeiko who scored 6162 points in Talence last weekend.
The Belarusian team features European decathlon bronze medallist Vitaly Zhuk and former European champion Andrei Krauchanka who is on the comeback trail from injury along while the standout name on the Spanish team is reigning European indoor heptathlon champion Jorge Urena.
The final entries for the European Combined Events Team Championships First League in Ribeira Brava, Portugal can be found <a href='https://directus.european-athletics.com/public/uploads/european-athletics/originals/79456cab-dc47-455f-8de4-d5859c537fda.pdf' target='_blank'>here</a>.
And the final entries for the European Combined Events Team Championships Second League which also takes place in Ribeira Brava, Portugal can be found <a href='https://directus.european-athletics.com/public/uploads/european-athletics/originals/2cc2614e-9315-4a97-adef-7906fc17aedf.pdf'>here</a>.

Final entries available for European Combined Events Team Championships

Oleksiy Kasyanov leads the Ukrainian team for the Lutsk 2019 European Combined Events Team Championships Super League on home soil on 6-7 July.
Ukraine were crowned overall champions in Tallinn, Estonia two years ago with Kasyanov playing an important role in their collective win, finishing second in the decathlon with 7958 points.
Kasyanov has finished runner-up individually in this competition on three occasions. He finished second behind Andrei Krauchanka - who has been named on the Belarusian team for Lutsk - a decade ago and finished second to Russia’s Ilya Shkurenyov in 2015.
The Ukrainian team also features returning fourth-placer Vasyl Ivanytskyy who set a still-standing lifetime best score of 7801 points in that competition but the team is weakened somewhat by the absence of reigning individual heptathlon winner Alina Shukh who is focusing on the Gavle 2019 European Athletics U23 Championships.
The leading light on the heptathlon team will be Daryna Sloboda who scored a creditable 6094 points in the Gotzis Hypo-Meeting, just ten points adrift of her lifetime best.
She will be joined by Rimma Buinenko - also a 6000 points-plus performer at her very best - and 20-year-old Iryna Rofe-Beketova who scored 5675 points at the recent Ukrainian Combined Events Team Championships in Lutsk.

Hosts Ukraine announces team for European Combined Events Team Championships

Ukraine won the overall title at the European Combined Events Team Championships Super League in Tallinn, Estonia two years ago and they will be looking to keep hold of their crown one month today when the Ukrainian city of Lutsk plays host to the top-tier of the competition. 
Their standout individual performer two years ago was the precocious Alina Shukh. Only 18 at the time, Shukh won the heptathlon title with a lifetime best of 6208 points which she improved to 6381 points later in the month to win her second major title at the European Athletics U20 Championships.
Shukh hasn’t contested a heptathlon thus far this season but the home contingent will surely expect big things from their star all-rounder who also won the world U20 javelin title last July. Away from the track, Shukh is a talented artist and she also helped with the design of the mascot - a bee - for the event.
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One of the stalwarts of the Ukrainian team is Oleksiy Kasyanov who is expected to play a significant role for the hosts. Not only does Kasyanov bring a lot of experience to the team, he is also a three-time runner-up in the event individually.
Kasyanov finished second two years ago to Estonia’s Janek Oiglane who went on to finish fourth at the IAAF World Championships in his breakout season. With five decathletes already having scored in excess of 7900-points already this year, the Estonians will arrive in Lutsk of winning their first team title in event history.
Ukraine will be staging the event for the first time in event history with the two-day competition taking place in Lutsk’s recently refurbished Avanhard Stadium. The city itself is situated on the Styr River and is associated with the Lutsk Castle which dates back to the mid-fourteenth century.
Previous individual winners of the European Combined Events Team Championships Super League include Torsten Voss (1985, 1987), Tomas Dvorak (1995, 1999), Roman Sebrle (1997), Erki Nool (1998) and Kevin Mayer (2013) in the decathlon and Sabine John (1985), Denise Lewis (1995), Carolina Kluft (2005) and Jessica Ennis-Hill (2007) in the heptathlon.

One month to go - European Combined Events Team Championships 

With less than four months to go until the European Combined Events Team Championships Super League in Lutsk, European Athletics delegates visited the Ukraine city on March 15-16 to check the progress of preparations.
European Athletics First Vice President Dobromir Karamarinov, Technical Delegate and European Athletics Council Member Sylvia Barlag and Project Leader Daniel Pereira formed the delegation.
During the two-day visit, when the delegates were accompanied by Ukraine federation representatives including the President Ihor Hotsul and the LOC Executive Board, the European Athletics delegates assessed the city and the sports facilities that will be used for the competition.
During the trip, the delegates met with the acting Mayor of Lutsk Hryhoriy Pustovit and then embarked on an inspection of the host venue, the Avanhard Stadium.
 [PHOTO src='1286378' size='mediumLandscape' align='right'] 
'All the technical details are of great importance. I can say that the stadium meets the requirements for an international athletic competition,” said Karamarinov.
“There are some little issues that we are recommending be fixed, like refreshing the line markings, but this is normal and there is nothing that can't be remedied in a short space of time. In general, we are very satisfied with what we've seen,' he added. 
In addition to the track, the European Athletics delegates also inspected the warmup area, approved the official hotels for the event, and also approved a provisional timetable for the competition itself.
'We see the great desire and painstaking efforts of the people organising the European Combined Events Team Championships Super League to hold them at the highest level. I have no doubt that a real sporting mega-event awaits Lutsk in summer,' commented Karamarinov upon his departure.
Chairman of the LOC Executive Board Ihor Polishchuk added: 'We will make every effort to hold the competition at the highest level. I am confident that the European Combined Events Team Championships Super League will be the first of a series of other major athletics competitions hosted by Lutsk.”

European Athletics delegates visit Super League host city Lutsk

Ukraine has a fine tradition in the decathlon and heptathlon, but the country will host the European Combined Events Team Championships Super League for the first time in its history when the city of Lutsk – a picturesque city dating back almost a thousand years of just over 200,000 inhabitants in the northwest of the country – plays host to the event on 6-7 July.
However, as defending champions from last year when they won the title for the first time when finished ahead of then hosts Estonia in Tallinn, they will be assured of substantial support.
Ukraine will be hoping to field, among others, their 2017 European U20 heptathlon champion Alina Shukh, who excelled in the Estonian capital and notched up a personal best at the time of 6208 points to win over seven events.
In the decathlon, Ukraine managed to place two men in the top four to add considerably to their overall team score – which combines the top three men’s and women’s scores for each nation – with 2012 European silver medallist Oleksiy Kasyanov finishing second and Vasyl Ivanytskyy fourth with 7958 and 7801 points respectively.
Kasyanov is something of an iconic figure in Ukrainian athletics, having also taken a 2009 world championships decathlon bronze as well as world and European medals in the indoor discipline of the heptathlon.
After getting injured during the IAAF World Indoor Championships in March, Kasyanov has no plans to compete in a decathlon in 2018 but told European Athletics: “My plan is to be fit again for 2019 and although I will have to see how things go, the European Combined Events Team Championships Super League next year is something I would like to compete in.
“It’s an honour to compete for my country and an even bigger one to do so at home. I like the event very much and have competed in it on several occasions,” added Kasyanov, who also finished second in the 2015 competition.
As reigning champions Ukraine will obviously have ambitions of defending their crown in front of their home fans but Estonia and France, second and third in 2017, are also expected to send strong teams.Look out as well for newly-promoted the Netherlands, who can boast of an especially strong group of heptathletes. 
The Netherlands were second in 2014 before being surprisingly relegated in 2015 but bounced straight back up after impressively winning the First League in 2017.
The history of the competition in its current format of a combined men’s and women’s competition is relatively recent with the first edition being in 2013 and so, strictly speaking, 2019 will be only the fifth edition of the biennial event but the European Combined Events Team Championships can trace its origins back more than 40 years to 1973.
Bonn, Germany staged was then the European Combined Events Cup final – with separate team scoring for the decathlon and what was the prevailing women’s discipline at the time, the pentathlon – with Poland and East German winning the respective men’s and women’s titles and nations qualifying via a semi-final stage.
46 years later, the European Combined Events Team Championships Super League is the one of the most important competitions on the calendar for Europe’s top multi-events exponents from the competing nations.

Lutsk to welcome Europe's top multi-events exponents 

The Ukrainian team overcame a narrow overnight deficit to lift the team title ahead of hosts Estonia at the European Combined Events Team Championships Super League in Tallinn on Sunday (2). 
The star performer on the second day was the inaugural European U18 heptathlon champion Alina Shukh, 18, who moved from fourth to first over the course of the second day. 
Overnight leader Geraldine Ruckstuhl from Switzerland maintained her lead with a lifetime best of 6.06m in the long jump - her first time in excess of the six metre line - with Shukh moving into second with 6.10m. 
Both Shukh and Ruckstuhl, who are expected to clash again at the European Athletics U20 Championships in Grosseto, are superb exponents of the javelin and while Ruckstuhl went out to 53.72m - an excellent mark albeit six metres down on her lifetime best - Shukh moved into the lead with an emphatic 55.95m, her best ever throw in a heptathlon. 
Shukh held a lead of eleven points over Ruckstuhl heading into the 800m and as expected, the Ukrainian duly extended her advantage, clocking 2:12.61 to Ruckstuhl’s 2:17.04 to bolster her country’s prospects of claiming the team title for the first time. 
Shukh added more than 100 points to her lifetime best with a score of 6208 points with Ruckstuhl a close second with 6134 points. The Swiss still leads the world U20 rankings with her national senior record of 6291 points from the Gotzis Hypo-Meeting in May but the head-to-head is poised at one apiece with Grosseto only three weeks away.
<blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'>
Alina Shukh, 18, wins the heptathlon at the European Combined Events Super League with a lifetime best of 6208.<a href='https://t.co/bELXAqSzyS'>https://t.co/bELXAqSzyS</a> <a href='https://t.co/B5FbAYiVyl'>pic.twitter.com/B5FbAYiVyl</a>
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) <a href='https://twitter.com/EuroAthletics/status/881523343089950720'>July 2, 2017</a></blockquote>
Estonia's Grit Sadeiko was third overnight and she maintained that position on the second day with a total of 5958 points ahead of Ellen Sprunger, fourth for Switzerland with 5813 points.
While Sadeiko had a steady second day, the Estonian decathletes had varying fortunes across the concluding five events in the Kadriorg Stadium. 
Overnight leader Oleksiy Kasyanov extended his lead to over 200 points after clocking 13.98 in the 110m hurdles - the fastest time of the day - followed by a solid 41.42m in the discus but the Ukrainian had some notoriously weak events to follow.
Estonia’s Janek Oiglane was third overnight but he substantially outperformed Kasyanov in the pole vault - 5.10m to 4.60m - and the javelin - 68.79m to 49.93m - and entered the 1500m with a cushion of 241 points over Kasyanov with Oiglane’s teammate Karl Robert Saluri also performing well in third. 
[PHOTO src='1281531' size='mediumLandscape' align='right'] 
After the completion of the first day, Estonian decathletes filled four of the top seven places on the leaderboard but their chances took a double hit when their third counter Markus Leemet no heighted in the pole vault before Kristjan Rosenberg withdrew from the competition after taking just one throw in the javelin. 
Despite some misfortune in the preceding events, only 61 points separated Ukraine and Estonia heading into the 1500m but the Ukrainian decathletes packed well to capture the team title from Estonia with a combined score of 40,085 to the hosts’ 39,779. 
But Oiglane still gave the home crowd something to cheer for as he won the individual decathlon title with a lifetime best score of 8170 - in excess of the qualifying standard for the World Championships - ahead of Kasyanov (7958 points) and Saluri (7837 points).
Full results can be found <a href='http://ekjl.ee/uudised/superliiga-1521' target='_blank'>here</a>.

Shukh excels in Tallinn as Ukraine claims team title   

European Combined Events Team Championships Super League

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SPAR has been the principal sponsor of European Athletics since 1996, becoming synonymous with the sport during this period. Athletics is a sport where personal endeavour is combined with team participation to achieve success, and SPAR identifies with this principle through its national partners by ensuring that consumers enjoy shopping at SPAR. SPAR retailers continue to develop the brand through sponsorship awareness and through the critical link with individual athletes who are also customers of independent retailers. SPAR is proud to be involved with European Athletics, an organisation which strives to bring passion and enthusiasm for their sport to viewers, spectators and participants.

SPAR

Eurohold Bulgaria AD is a leading energy and financial group operating mainly in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE). It is listed on the Bulgarian and Warsaw Stock Exchange. Eurohold owns Euroins Insurance Group AD (EIG), one of the largest insurance groups in the region. EIG provides a full range of insurance products, serves over 4 million customers in 13 countries and has over 3000 employees.

Eurohold

Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland began its partnership with European Athletics in 2008 as a top-tier sponsor of all Major Events and the European Athletics U23 and U20  Championships. Le Gruyère is a very high quality natural cheese that has been produced for many centuries in an artisanal method without any additives. VIP guests, athletes and fans have the opportunity to taste this magnificent cheese at European Athletics events sponsored by Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland.

Le Gruyère

Toyo Tires is one of the world's largest tire manufacturers. Toyo Tire Corporation was founded in 1945 in Osaka, Japan. In 1975, the manufacturer opened its European headquarters in Germany. The product range includes winter, summer and all-season tyres for motor vehicles as well as van tyres and special off-road products. The philosophy of Toyo Tires is to combine driving pleasure with top performance. This is reflected in each of the products, as well as in its close partnership with European Athletics.

Toyo Tires

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has been the Official Broadcast Partner of European Athletics since 1981. During this 40-year partnership, the outstanding collaboration between both organisations has always been focused on developing European Athletics into a more attractive product for television, spectators and athletes. Through its operational department Eurovision Services, the EBU is continuously working to promote athletics by offering the most comprehensive coverage of European Athletics events all over Europe.

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with 110,000 employees and an annual revenue of approximately €12 billion. It is the European number one in cybersecurity, cloud and high performance computing, and the group provides tailored end-to-end solutions for all industries in 73 countries. A pioneer in decarbonisation services and products, Atos is committed to a secure and decarbonised digital environment for its clients. Atos is a SE (Societas Europaea), and listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index.

Atos is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic and  Paralympic Games. It is also the Timing-Scoring, Results and Operations provider of European Athletics events since 2017, and European Athletics Official Digital Partner for their new digital platform (web and mobile).


Atos

Conica has been developing and manufacturing innovative seamless flooring solutions for sports, games and leisure for over 40 years and is one of the world's market leaders and innovation drivers in this field.  The user-oriented requirements for technical and sports functional performance as well as usability while guaranteeing the health aspects of the material itself, and for the user, are the focus of Conica's product development.  Conica is part of the Serafin group of companies based in Munich, Germany.

Conica

Polanik is a family company, founded by Wiesław Szczepanik in 1966. It produces athletics equipment having over thousand products in the offer. Polanik fully equips stadiums all over the world and handles the highest-level athletics events. Stars of athletics beat world records using Polanik products. Polanik is held in high regard by many for top quality and advisory services for designers and investors of athletics stadiums.

Polanik

Opened in 1909 and magnificently restored, the Hotel Royal Savoy Lausanne combines Art Nouveau and modernity with genuine panache. Featuring tailor-made service and unbeatable comfort, this legendary venue is located a short walk from the shores of Lac Leman and offers every guest the absolute luxury of feeling truly at home. The Hotel Royal Savoy is proud to be the Preferred Hotel Partner of European Athletics in Lausanne since 2016, offering valuable support and accommodation services to European Athletics business activities throughout the year.

Hotel Royal Savoy Lausanne

Getty Images is the world's leading creator and distributor of visual content – with award winning editorial photographers and videographers covering hundreds of Sports, Entertainment, and News events daily. Digital asset management and distribution services optimize efficiency and content syndication for hundreds of media partners and rights holders.

Getty images

The first companies of Würth MODYF Group were founded in Künzelsau, Germany and Neumarkt, Italy in 1997 as an independent subsidiary of the Würth Group and can thus look back on more than 25 years of experience in the field of workwear and safety footwear.

Würth MODYF Group currently operates companies in seven countries and has more than 400 employees in Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. Smaller sales units support Würth MODYF’s customers in Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium. Würth MODYF Group is continuing to expand internationally, opening new branches all over Europe.