Annik Kälin took bronze in the Munich European heptathlon, two days after Simon Ehammer won silver in the decathlon. The 22-year-old Grisonne thus offers a fourth medal to the Swiss Athletics delegation in these games.
Promising 6th at the recent World Championships in Eugene, Annik Kälin even broke her national record established in Oregon (6464 points). The 6515 points accumulated on Wednesday and Thursday allowed her to rank 3rd, behind the untouchable Belgian Nafissatou Thiam (6628 points) and the Polish Adrianna Sulek (6532).
A decisive jump at 6m73
Annik Kälin had thus ideally launched his heptathlon by winning the 100m hurdles in 13”23. She also shone in the 200m (2nd in 24”14) and, above all, at the length where she jumped to 6m73 (1st place) to become the 2nd Swiss performer in history in the discipline behind Irene Pusterla (6m84) .
This performance allowed her to equal the best jump ever achieved by the legendary Meta Antenen. This was precisely so far the only Swiss to have climbed on a continental podium in an all-around (silver in the pentathlon in 1969).
A personal best to conclude
Second before the 800m with a margin of 44 points over Adrianna Sulek, Annik Kälin could not cope with the Pole. But she withstood the onslaught of Nafissatou Thiam, beating her personal best in the 800m by nearly four seconds to claim bronze.
ats/tzing