Theisen-Eaton wins Hypo-Meeting heptathlon title for third time in four years

It’s the second consecutive year and for the third time in four meets at Gotzis that Theisen-Eaton has won the heptathlon crown in the annual combined events mega showcase. It’s also the second time Canadians swept the heptathlon and decathlon with Damian Warner winning the latter.

Holding a 40-point lead against the field after the first four events on Saturday (where she set two personal bests), Theisen-Eaton entered Sunday wearing the ‘leader’ bib. She expanded that gap in winning by 143 points on Sunday, with Laura Ikauniece-Admidina of Latvia coming in second, while Carolin Schafer of Germany finished third. Theisen-Eaton’s main competitor going into the final day was Katarina Johnson-Thompson of Great Britain, who is the only other person to win the heptathlon title at Gotzis in the last four meets. Johnson-Thompson, however, faded when she failed to land a top long jump mark, while Theisen-Eaton leapt to a field-leading 6.56 metres for 1027 points. The Canadian followed up her long jump exploits with a personal best javelin throw 47.74m, scoring another 816 points while Johnson-Thompson continued to struggle, throwing well below her career high. In the final event on Sunday, Theisen-Eaton – then comfortably ahead and in one of her stronger events – ran the second fastest 800m time, a 2:10.98 clocking that brought her 963 points Theisen-Eaton had gone into Sunday’s finale with 3972 points after four of seven events on Saturday. In the 100-metre hurdles the Canadian finished in a personal best 12.93 seconds (1135 points); cleared 1.83m in high jump (1016); launched 13.71m in shot put (775); and sprinted to career fastest 23.33s in the 200m (1046). anadians swept the heptathlon and decathlon titles on Sunday, with Damian Warner winning the men’s field. Theisen-Eaton and Warner had previously recorded the Canadian sweep in 2013.