Nadine Broersen led the way for the Netherlands as the Dutch were crowned champions of the European Combined Events Team Championships First League in Monzon on Sunday, with Jorge Ureña inspiring hosts Spain to promotion as they finished second.
Broersen won the heptathlon while Ureña triumphed in the decathlon as the two leading two nations held on to their overnight positions throughout the second day.
The Netherlands’ won with 39,386 points from Spain, who were second with 39,153. At the other end of the table, Portugal and Romania were relegated.
Broersen, the 2014 world indoor pentathlon champion and European heptathlon silver medallist, added another title to her superb list of honours as she won with 6326 from Czech Republic’s Eliska Klucinova (6003) and Portugal’s Lecabela Quaresma (5861).
The top three men and women from each nation make up the scores, and Broersen was supported by Lisanne Drost (5451) in 10th and Michelle Oud (5360) in 14th.
The leading Spanish heptathletes were Carmen Ramos (5500) in sixth, Carmen Romero (5450) in 11th and Andrea Medina (5255) in 18th and for their teammate Ureña, he is having a year to remember.
He added more than a hundred points to his best as he broke the 8000- point barrier for the first time, winning with 8121 from Sweden’s Marcus Nilsson (7987) and the Netherlands’ Bas Markies (7624).
Ureña won European indoor heptathlon silver in Belgrade in March and he beat his old his personal best mark of 7985.
Jonay Jordan (7505) in fourth and Vicente Guardiola (7322) in eighth joined Ureña as Spain’s leading competitors. Along with Markies, Rik Taam (7375), in seventh, and Sybren Blok (7250) in 10th, banked good points as the Netherlands took the title.
Heptathlon
Broersen was third in the opening event, the 100m hurdles, in 13.78 as the Czech Republic’s Katerina Cachova won it with 13.35 before Klucinova took over after her high jump of 1.87m with Broesen second with a clearance of 1.84m.
Broersen then took the lead after three events with 2856 points after her 14.34m shot put, from Klucinova on 2839 and Quaresma on 2723 but it was all change again after the 200m.
Klucinova’s victory in the third heat in 24.72 – as Broersen was third in the final heat in 25.33 – saw the Czech athlete ahead edge into the lead overnight with 3752 from the Dutchwoman’s 3713.
Broersen won the first event of the second day, the long jump, with 6.19m by four centimetres from Klucinova and though the Czech star led, the javelin set the tone for the final outcome.
Broersen’s 51.10m was far better than anyone else– Klucinova was 10th in this event with 31.89m – and it gave her a clear advantage of 5502 to 5160 from her nearest rival going into the final event.
Quaresma had the best time overall in the 800m with 2:16.28 and Klucinova was third in the second heat in 2:18.57, a race won by Spain’s Romero in 2:17.31, but Broersen completed two laps of the track in 2:19.93 and the individual honours were hers.
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Decathlon
The Dutch men took hold initially in the decathlon with Loek Van Zevenbergen the best in the 100m in 10.88.
Markies won the fourth race in 10.94 with Ureña not far behind, second in 11.06, and he was second in the long jump as well.
Markies won that discipline with 7.43m, achieved in both his second and third jumps, as Ureña leapt 7.33m, It left Markies in front with 1792 from Ureña (1740) after two events.
Nilsson denied Jordan (14.79m) a home win in the shot put as his last round 14.87m brought victory but Ureña’s personal1best of 14.36m kept him in the hunt.
With 14.20m, Markies still led after three events with 2533 and Ureña stayed in second with 2490.
The high jump saw Ureña take control as he won with it 2.04m and with Markies down in fifth, unable to do better than 1.89m, it was all change at the top as Ureña led with 3330) from Markies’ 3238.
Ureña then won the last heat of the 400m in 49.62 to lead overnight wirth 4162 points from Markies (4009) and Nilsson (3917).
The Spaniard stayed in front after the second day’s opening event, the 110m hurdles, as he won the last race in 14.22 from Markies in 14.47 to give him an advantage of 5108 to 4924.
Nilsson won the discus with 44.85m while Markies was seventh with 38.71m and Ureña ninth with 37.56.
Overall Ureña led with 5723 from Markies (5562) and Nilsson (5554). Next came the pole vault and once more Ureña had the edge with 5.00m, which equalled his outdoor best, as Markies went over 4.80m.
Ureña led after eight events with 6633 from Markies with 6411, who was only narrowly in front of Nilsson, on 6403 after his 4.80m in the vault too.
Finland’s Eetu Kangas won the javelin with 67.31m but Ureña’s 57.78m bettered Markies’ 51.23m before the 1500m settled it.
Heading into the final discipline, Ureña was in front with 7337 points from Nilsson (7221) and Markies (7018).
There was still a long way to go for Ureña to reach 8000 points but the Spaniard dug deep and won the second race in a personal best of 4:24.12 to score 784 points and finish on 8121.
Nilsson completed his late charge by being in second in 4:26.79 and finished second overall with 7987, with Markies third in the competition with 7624 after trudging round in 4:52.08.
Nevertheless, Markies played a key part in the Netherlands’ team success, while the home crowd in this picturesque setting, surrounded by a great deal of greenery, had much to cheer about from Ureña.