Image: GEPA pictures/ Oliver Lerch
Pierce LePage won the traditional meeting on Sunday with 8,700 points ahead of Warner (8,619) and the Norwegian Sander Skotheim (8,590). World Championship third Anna Hall won the heptathlon with 6,988 points and just missed the 7,000 point mark. The best Austrian was Isabel Posch, who achieved her best career performance in 15th with 6,021.
LePage won the discipline with the 100 m, the seven-time Götzis winner Warner won the long jump and the 110 m hurdles. The challenger had taken the lead with the performance in the seventh discipline, the discus throw. “Damian pushed me, he’s the king of Götzis, he’s still the king,” said LePage, who missed his personal best by one point. Annual world bests were achieved in both the decathlon and the heptathlon.
“I’m just happy, it feels great. I can’t wait to get back to work and to be ready for the World Cup,” said 22-year-old Hall, who provided the second-best performance in Götzis and in terms of points is now the fifth best athlete in history. She ran the final 800 m in a magnificent time of 2:02.97 minutes. She also won the 100 m hurdles, the 200 m and the long jump.
Second place went to the British Katarina Johnson-Thompson (6,556), third was the Pole Adrianna Sulek (6,480). With the Dutch Anouk Vetter, one of the favorites gave up. The multiple Olympic champion as well as world and European champion Nafissatou Thiam was not at the start, she is already preparing for the Budapest World Championships.
Posch is only the fourth Austrian to break the 6,000 mark. “I can’t believe it. I didn’t think it would be so good,” said the Götzis debutant. Her compatriot Chiara-Belinda Schuler from Vorarlberg came in 19th with 5,916 points, but was satisfied with the “cool heptathlon” given that the preparation was not without problems. Sarah Lagger did not compete in the final 800 m run and was classified 24th.
Source: Nachrichten
