Day 1 in Götzis

A flood of best performances and a boss who gets stuck in

Damian Warner (3rd from left) and Simon Ehammer (3rd from right) went head-to-head on the first day.(Bild: Peter Weihs/Kronenzeitung)

The first day of the Hypo-Mehrkampfmeeting in Götzis brought brilliant performances. Already in the men's 100-meter sprint, the personal bests tumbled by the dozen. In the battle for the heptathlon state title, a duel between Verena Mayr and Ivona Dadic is in the offing - with the two Vorarlberg athletes Isabel Posch and Chiara Schuler lurking behind.

The 49th edition of the legendary Hypo multi-discipline meeting got off to a brilliant start on Saturday. On the one hand, this was due to the US-American Götzis debutant Michelle Atherley, who was four hundredths of a second faster in the 100 meter hurdles in 12.71 seconds than her compatriot Anna Hall, who set the meeting record last year.

On the other hand, the decathletes also impressed in the 100m sprint. Although Damian Warner (Kan) was eight hundredths faster than his best in 10.20 seconds, a total of eleven of the 22 starters managed to set a new personal best. Among them was Simon Ehammer (Sz), who was 0.15 seconds faster in 10.34 than at his Götzis appearance in May 2023 and thus laid the foundation for his narrow overall lead after day one.

Alexander Razen, the "chief referee" of the world federation, got to work himself in Götzis.(Bild: Peter Weihs/Kronenzeitung)

Incidentally, a man from Vorarlberg saw them up close: Alex Razen, Technical Services Manager at World Athletics, took the opportunity to raise the red and white flags at the long jump pit himself.

Isabel Posch (l.) and Chiara Schuler (r.) had a good first day.(Bild: Peter Weihs/Kronenzeitung)

Mayr leads ahead of Dadic
Speaking of Vorarlberg: The first day went well for record holder Isabel Posch - the athlete from Fußach performed better over the hurdles, in the high jump and with the shot put than at her first appearance in Götzis. And although she fell short of expectations in the 200 meters, she was 39 points better than 2023 after day one. Chiara Schuler ran a best performance in the 200 meters in 24.73 seconds and was 89 points behind Posch before the three final events. In front: Atherley, who scored 3944 points. Verena Mayr is ahead of Ivona Dadic (3619) and Posch in the race for the heptathlon state championship title with 3654 points.