Ilya Shkurenyov and Anna Blank will look to lead the way as Russia chase a second Super League success in Aubagne this weekend.
Having won the European Athletics Team Championships two weeks ago in Cheboksary, now the attention turns to their defence of the European Cup Combined Events title.
The Super League takes place in southern France with the First and Second Leagues both being staged at the same time in Inowroclaw, Poland.
It is only the third year of the event being a joint team competition, with France winning in 2013 from Russia and Estonia before Russia triumphed 12 months ago from the Netherlands and France.
In Shkurenyov, the Russians have the leading individual as he is sixth on the European Athletics decathlon rankings with 8343 after finishing fifth in Götzis in May.
He is joined in the men’s team of four by Roman Kondryatyev, Yevgeniy Sarantsev and Sergei Timshin.
Shkurenyov was third at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich last summer in a personal best of 8498 but Ukraine’s Oleksiy Kasyanov is not far behind that with 8479 and he will lead their squad.
France will be strong, too, with Romain Barras, who has a personal best of 8453, and Florian Geffrouais, with 8164, at their helm as they all face opposition in the team and individual events from Belarus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Great Britain and the Netherlands.
Blank is at the forefront of Russia’s team in the heptathlon with a season’s best of 6055, but this competition could be about the strength of Ukraine with three out of four team member having achieved at least 6000 points this summer.
Anastasiya Mokhnyuk is 10th on the European rankings with 6331 after being 12th in Götzis last month and she is joined by Hanna Kasyanova, with 6277, and Alina Fyodorova, with 6090.
The Russian quartet is made up of Blank, Yelena Molodchinina with 6022, Ulyana Aleksandrova with 5995 and Anastasiya Belyakova with 5807.
The individual heptathlon honours, though, might be heading the way Eliska Klucinova, of the Czech Republic.
She was 10th in Götzis and sits in ninth on the European Athletics rankings with 6349 points.
The team scores are calculated by combining the top three finishers from each nation in the heptathlon and decathlon.
In the First League, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland and Sweden will be battling for both promotion and to avoid relegation.
Karolina Tyminska will aim to give the home crowd something to cheer about having finished third in the heptathlon in Kladno with 6048 points while Spain’s Pau Tonnesen is the favourite in the decathlon after his superb second at the NCAA championships with 8247, though Poland’s PaweÅ‚ WiesioÅ‚ek, who was 11th in Götzis with 8140, will also be in contention.
The Second League will have athletes from Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal and Türkiye in pursuit of promotion.
One woman stands out from the rest in the heptathlon and that is Latvia’s Laura Ikauniece-Admidina, the silver medallist from the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 2012.
She broke the national record in Götzis finishing eighth with 6436 points to move to seventh on the European Athletics rankings.
In the decathlon, Finland’s Tero Ojala has the leading season’s best score of 7245 but Latvia’s Edgars Erins has the top personal best of 8312.