The expected duel between Simon Ehammer and Kyle Garland is playing out as the men’s heptathlon reaches the half-way stage at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26.
Ehammer, the world indoor gold medallist in 2024 and silver medallist last year, got off to a flying start in the opening discipline, speeding to a 60m PB of 6.69 – comfortably the quickest of the day. The next nine athletes posted times between 6.91 and 7.00, and Garland was among those, running 6.93.
Ehammer extended his overall lead in the long jump, his best discipline and the event in which he earned world bronze in 2022. He opened with 8.08m, followed it with 7.99m and then improved to 8.15m – just one centimetre shy of the championship best performance.
Garland was the second-best performer in that discipline but, as was the case in the 60m, was some way behind Ehammer. The US athlete jumped 7.58m to move into second place overall.
Garland made inroads on Ehammer’s lead in the shot put, throwing 16.21m to the Swiss athlete’s 14.87m. Estonai’s Rasmus Rooseleht was the best overall performer in that event, unleashing a season’s best of 16.44m.
After three of the seven disciplines, Ehammer leads with 2876 – 14 points ahead of the pace when setting his heptathlon PB of 6506 at last year’s European Indoor Championships. Garland is in second place overall, 150 points behind Ehammer, but with some strong events to come, meaning the title is still all to play for.
Fewer than 100 points separate the next seven athletes. USA’s Heath Baldwin is currently in third, ahead of French duo Makenson Gletty and Téo Bastien, Belgium’s Jente Hauttekeete and Czechia’s Vilém Stráský.
With the high jump, 60m hurdles and pole vault – three disciplines with a high chance of surprise outcomes – still to come, expect many more changes to the leaderboard before the concluding 1000m on Saturday.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics