Sander Skotheim of Norway won the European indoor heptathlon championship spectacularly on Saturday in the Netherlands.
The European record holder won gold with a new continental record points total of 6,558 after setting a personal best time of 2 minutes 32.72 seconds in the last 1000m.
With his performance in Apeldoorn, the global indoor silver medallist rose to third place in the all-time list, behind Americans Kyle Garland (6639 in 2023) and Ashton Eaton (6645 in 2012).
The 22-year-old said, “The atmosphere was crazy,” following his two-day combat with Swiss Simon Ehammer.
Last year’s world indoor heptathlon winner in Glasgow, Ehammer, finished in second place with 6506 points. With a score of 6388, Till Steinforth of Germany claimed the final podium position.
Ehammer had taken the lead during Friday’s second event, setting a long jump record with an attempt of 8.20 metres.
In the 60-metre hurdles, Ehammer dominated, although Skotheim recovered in the high jump. Ehammer had a 50-point lead heading into the seventh and final event when both of them cleared 5.10 metres in the pole vault, with Skotheim saving his best for last.
Andy Diaz, the Italian who won bronze at the Olympics in Paris last year and was born in Cuba, won the men’s triple jump title with a leap of 17.71 metres.
