Athletics

Mayr on track for Paris with heptathlon Austrian Championship title

Verena Mayr(Bild: APA/EXPA/PETER RINDERER)

Verena Mayr won the national title in the heptathlon at the all-around meeting in Götzis. With 6196 points, the Upper Austrian finished eighth in the victory of Anouk Vetter (6642) from the Netherlands. Mayr gained valuable points for starts at the European Championships in Rome and the Olympics in Paris. Silver went to Ivona Dadic (6115), who finished tenth overall, while Chiara-Belinda Schuler (15th/5822) took bronze. Damian Warner from Canada won the Ländle decathlon for the eighth time. 

The heptathlon direct limit for the European Championships is 6300 points, for the Olympic Games 6480, which is currently out of reach for the Austrians. However, the fields of 24 athletes will be filled via the World Ranking, in which Mayr is in a promising position. The qualification deadline for Rome is May 26th. We will therefore have to wait for next weekend's competitions. "The competition was certainly a step in the right direction, even if not everything worked out, but you can't really expect that from the first heptathlon of the season," explained Mayr. She is looking forward to the title and the upcoming tasks "in Rome and hopefully also in Paris".

"But it often takes me a little longer at the beginning of the season!"
Dadic had a mixed second day. "The first day gave me a good prospect of a good overall result, which would have been nice. But at the beginning of the season, it often takes me a little longer to get everything running smoothly," she said. Schuler was not quite fit in the 800 m race, she blamed the sun for her dizziness. Only three of the five ÖLV athletes made it into the rankings. Sarah Lagger did not compete in the javelin throw. She did not want to risk her back problems getting worse. "I knew that it would be a bit of an experiment. It's smarter from a training point of view, but it's extremely hard on my head that I won't be able to finish in Götzis again." Isabel Posch did not take part in the final run. "My ankle was giving me problems today, so we didn't want to make it worse in view of a possible participation in the European Championships," she said.

Vetter won ahead of Switzerland's Annik Kälin (6506) and the US American Michelle Atherley (6465). Tokyo Olympic champion Warner won the decathlon with 8678 points ahead of the Dutchman Sven Roosen (8517) and the Estonian Johannes Erm (8462). There was no Austrian at the start.