Nafi Thiam and Noor Vidts got off to a good start in their seven heptathlon races at the Eugene Worlds on Sunday at Hayward Field in the 100m hurdles. They respectively occupy the 5th and 3rd places of the fifteen competitors.
Third test: shot put
Nafi Thiam signed a (very) nice 15m03. She hadn’t thrown so far since last year and took 2nd place in this event behind the Dutch Annouk Vetter who propelled her weight to more than 16m.
Noor Vidts breaks her personal best by sending her weight to 14m43 and achieves a magnificent performance.
In the standings, Nafi keeps his first place with 3127 points. Vidts keeps his fourth position with 2933 points and is very close to the podium.
The next event, the 200m, will take place in the middle of the night in Belgium, around 3:38.
Second event: the high jump
For his favorite event, Nafissatou Thiam did not disappoint. The Namuroise sublimated herself and finished the competition as the last jumper stopping only at 1m95. His best jump of his season.
She takes first place with 2264 points.
Noor Vidts has nothing to be ashamed of either, on the contrary. The native of Vilvoorde matched her best performance by jumping a bar at 1m83.
Vidts takes fourth place in the standings with 2110 points.
On the podium, behind Thiam we find the Polish Adriana Sulek second with 1m89 (1,093 points) who is already 88 points behind (2,176). The American Anna Hall, 3rd in the competition with 1m86 (1.054), also finds herself 3rd in the standings with 2.148 points, 116 less than Thiam
First event: 100m hurdles
Thiam, double 2016 and 2020 Olympic champion, 2017 world champion and reigning vice-world champion, hit hard in Oregon, the headquarters of her equipment supplier. The Namuroise won the first series in 13.21 seconds, all smiles at the finish when she saw her time. She improves by 13/100th her personal best which dates back to 2017 in 13.34. His best time of the season so far dates back to the Belgian championships on June 26 in Gentbrugge in 13.50. She scores 1,093 points, 19 points ahead of her personal best of 7,013 points at Götzis in 2017. She is in 5th place in the standings.
Noor Vidts covered the straight and her ten hurdles in 13.20 seconds to finish fourth in the second heat. The personal best of the reigning world champion in the pentathlon is 13.17 which was established last year at the Tokyo Olympics. This season, she had signed 13.33 a fortnight ago at Heusden-Zolder. With this second career time, she has 1,094 points, 5 less than during her record total at the Tokyo Olympics (6,571). Vidts shares the provisional 3rd place.
At the end of this first event, the American Michelle Atterley is in the lead with 1.106 points (she ran in 13.12) ahead of the Swiss Annik Kälin 1.099 (13.17). the American Anna Hall who beat Vidts by thousandths of a second has 1.094 (13.20) and shares 3rd place with the Vilvordoise.