| Watch over 50 IAAF Events Live and On-Demand at WCSN.com |
Monte-Carlo - The names of the sixteen athletes who will compete in the Combined Events at the 12th IAAF World Indoor Championships, Valencia, Spain, 7 - 9 March 2008, (eight invited for the men’s Heptathlon and eight for the women’s Pentathlon) have been confirmed.
The list of eight participants for each of the two disciplines in Valencia is composed of four athletes from the current indoor season’s world top list (as at 18 Feb 2008) and four from the 2007 outdoor world top list (as at 31 Dec 2007).
The men’s Heptathlon most notably pitches World and Olympic Decathlon champion Roman Sebrle (CZE), who has won the World Indoor Heptathlon title on two occasions (2001 and 2004), up against USA’s Bryan Clay. The American was the 2005 World Decathlon champion, and has taken World Indoor Heptathlon silvers in both the last editions (2004 and 2006). Osaka 2007 Decathlon silver and bronze medallists, Maurice Smith (JAM) and Dmitriy Karpov (KAZ) are among the others who will compete.
While defending men’s Heptathlon champion Andre Niklaus (GER) does not return to defend in Valencia, the reigning World Indoor Pentathlon champion Lyudmila Blonska (UKR) is in the eight athlete line-up who will contest the women’s title. While recent injury has denied Carolina Klüft the chance of recapturing the title she took in 2003, Austra Skujyte (LTU) and Kelly Sotherton (GBR) who finished in the minor medal positions behind the Swede in the Heptathlon at the 2004 Olympics will contest the title. Blonska and Sotherton were respectively the silver and bronze medallists behind Klüft in Osaka last summer.
The Start List (as at 27 Feb 2008) is as follows:
Men’s Heptathlon
Roman Sebrle CZE
Maurice Smith JAM
Andrei Krauchanka BLR
Dmitriy Karpov KAZ
Bryan Clay USA
Aleksandr Pogorelov RUS
Mikhail Logvinenko RUS
Donovan Kilmartin USA
Women’s Pentathlon
Lyudmila Blonska UKR
Kelly Sotherton GBR
Austra Skujyte LTU
Karolina Tyminska POL
Anna Bogdanova RUS
Nataliya Dobrinska UKR
Tia Hellebaut BEL
Tatyana Chernova RUS
Know someone else who's interested in running and triathlon?
