Tim Duckworth holds on to decathlon lead in Berlin
British decathlete Tim Duckworth stands on the threshold of winning the first major medal of his career after finishing the morning session on day two of the European Championships competition in Berlin with a 70-point lead.
On another bakingly hot day at the Olympic Stadium, the 22-year-old NCAA champion sits on 6930 points ahead of Russian neutral athlete Ilya Shkurenyov’s 6860 and home favourite Arthur Abele (6832) with this evening’s javelin and 1500m events to come.
Duckworth began the day 95 points ahead of Abele and Norway’s Martin Roe, although the margin between first and second narrowed to 18 points after the Briton clocked 14.55 (+0.3) for third in a 110m hurdles race which was won by the German in 13.94.
The lead changed hands after the discus competition, with Abele throwing 45.42m to Duckworth’s 41.94m and moving 53 points clear. Shkurenyov had the best throw overall with 45.53m.
The picture changed again during the pole vault, however, when Duckworth cleared a best of 5.10m – making three attempts at 5.20m – while Abele managed just 4.60m. Shkurenyov’s season’s best clearance of 5.30m – he attempted 5.40m – moved him into silver medal position. A fascinating evening climax to the competition awaits.
In the men’s 1500m, the three Ingrebrigtsen brothers and the trio of Britons competing all progressed from the heats.
It was defending champion Filip who had the bumpiest ride, having to recover from a mid-race fall in the midst of heavy traffic during what appeared to be a slightly erratic performance to come third in heat two with a time of 3:40.88.
Former European champion, Marcin Lewandowski, was first in 3:40.74 ahead of Britain’s Charlie Da’Vall Grice.
The other two heats were won by Britons, with Chris O’Hare clocking 3:49.06 ahead of German Homiyu Tesafey’s 3:49.28 and Henrik Ingebrigtsen’s 3:49.54.
Jake Wightman rounded off a fine morning’s work, qualifying fastest in 3:40.73 to finish just ahead of Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:40.81) and the elaborately named Italian Joao Capistrano M. Bussotti Neves Junior (3:40.87).
With Adam Gemili and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake automatically through to the men’s 200m semi-finals, Delano Williams was the only British sprinter involved in the qualifying rounds. He joined his fellow countrymen after clocking 20.89 (+0.2) for third in heat three, which was won by Italian Eseosa Desaul’s 20.39, the quickest time in qualifying, while Frenchman Frances Stuart Dutamby (20.64) was third.
The first heat was won by Belgium's Robin Vanderbemden in 20.50 (+0.1), Italian Andre Howe (20.60) was second and Dutchman Taymer Burnet (20.67) third to go through.
In heat two, Greek Likourgos-Stefanos Taskonas took the win in 20.49 (-0.1), with France's Mikael-Mebe Zeze (20.65) and Italy's Davide Menenti (20.70) also progressing
Heat four went to Netherlands' Solomon Bockarie in 20.66 (+0.2), while Steven Muller of Germany was second in 20.78 and Spaniard Daniel Rodriguez third in 20.81.
In the first group of javelin qualifying, German champion Andreas Hofmann took just one throw to seal his place in the final – reaching 82.36m.
World champion Johannes Vetter also achieved the automatic qualifying mark on his first attempt, recording 87.39m in Group B, while Olympic champion Thomas Rohler had to wait until the final round but his 85.47m booked his place alongside his German team-mates.
A women’s events report can be found here.
» Results can be found here, while a day-by-day guide to the upcoming action in Berlin is here. See the August 9 and 16 editions of AW magazine for coverage
