Events & Meetings

Russia reign in Torun as Broersen and Sintnicolaas storm to glory for the Dutch

Home
  • News
  • Russia reign in Torun as Broersen and Sintnicolaas storm to glory for the Dutch

At the end of two days of intense competition, Russia are the European Cup Combined Events Super League champions after beating their rivals, and the dreadful weather, in Torun on Sunday.

And the story of the second day was in parallel with the first as the individual honours went to the Netherlands, even if the script from Saturday had a change to it.

Nadine Broersen took the heptathlon crown having led after the opening day with the decathlon title being won by her teammate Eelco Sintnicolaas with his fellow Dutchman Ingmar Vos, who was in front overnight, finishing third.

It was a busy day for the organisers of the competition as heavy rain hit, and the women’s final event, the 800m, was run in thunderstorms.

But that did not stop Broersen, who just under a month out from the European Athletics Championships in Zurich put down her outstanding credentials in her bid for gold.

It has been some year for the Netherlands’ multi-events star.

First came the IAAF World Indoor pentathlon title in Sopot in March and now back in Poland she has another crown with her score of 6539, a personal best, which will send her to Switzerland as one of the big favourites.

Sintnicolaas is the European Athletics Indoor heptathlon champion and now he has this prestigious decathlon honour to his name after a fine second day.

But even winning both competitions, the Dutch could not stop the might of the Russians who left as the overall champions as their superb consistency brought brilliant rewards.

In fact, they did not have an athlete in the final top three of either yet still took team gold.

As Sintnicolaas won the decathlon with 8156 from Eduard Mikhan, of Belarus, with 8004 and Vos with 7959, Russian men filled the next three places.

Sergey Sviridov was fourth with 7952, Yevgeniy Sarantsev was fifth with 7917 and Ivan Grigoryev was sixth with 7882.

It was almost a similar scenario in the women’s as Broersen won the heptathlon by over 300 points as France’s Antoinette Nana Djimou was second with 6212 and Belarusian Yana Maksimava was third with 6173. Russia were fourth with Anna Blank scoring 5990, a place ahead of her teammate Aleksandra Butvina with 5887 but unlike in the decathlon, their next best scorer was Kristina Poltavets who was 15th with 5531.

With all the scores added together, Russia won the Cup with 41,159 from the Netherlands with 41,048 and France with 40,761, while Switzerland, in seventh with 38,076, and Poland, in eighth with 36,879, were both relegated.

It's delight for the Dutch

Sintnicolaas made a great start to the second day as he won the 110m hurdles with a best overall time of 14.00 to begin his bid for glory before then adding to his success by taking the next event, the pole vault with 5.30m. That brought him 1004 points to add to the 975 he had won over the barriers and he was already on his way to victory.

Sviridov had enjoyed success on Saturday when he won the long jump and he savoured another individual success by finishing first in the discus with 47.58m from his final effort after his opening two had been fouls.

It was not one of Sintnicolaas’ strongest disciplines and he was 19th with 39.28. But all points are part of the process and as Estonian Janek Oiglane won the javelin with 68.04m, Sintnicolaas was eighth with 58.36m.

The final event confirmed his victory and he went out in style by winning the second heat of the 1500m in 4:24.62 which earned him second overall as Great Britain’s Liam Ramsay had won the opening race in 4:20.88.

But the decathlon title was on its way to the Netherlands for a man who, like his teammate Broersen, should feature in the mix in Zurich.

Broersen could not have made a better start to the heptathlon after leading overnight as she won the long jump with 6.31m from her first attempt of the competition. It was enough to give her victory ahead of Switzerland’s Linda Zublin, who finished with a season’s best of 6.14m, and Blank with 6.05m.

If the outcome was going to be in any doubt, Broersen then powered further away as she won the javelin with 51.96m, a season’s best, from Maksimava with 48.90m, a personal best, and Nana Djimou, with 47.31m.

Broersen could not make it a hat-trick of wins as the rain came down in the 800m as she finished fifth in the second heat – which was the quickest of the two – in 2:12.94 and it was won by Blank, whose time of 2:10.58 brought 956 points to Russia's victorious total.

FINAL TABLE
1. Russia 41,159
2. Netherlands 41,048
3. France 40, 761
4. Belarus 40,152
5. Estonia 39,015
6. Great Britain 38,516
7. Switzerland 38,076
8. Poland 36,879




Official Partners
Official Partners
Official Partners
Official Partners
Official Partners
Official Partners
Broadcast Partner
Broadcast Partner
Preferred Suppliers
Supporting Hotel
Photography Agency