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2008 Beijing Olympic Preview: Heptathlon

Posted August 8th, 2008 at 10:30 PM by Jesse Squire

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

Heptathlon
The Schedule: Friday Aug 15, Saturday Aug 16
The Americans: Hyleas Fountain, Jacqueline Johnson, Diana Pickler
The Contenders: Tatyana Chernova (RUS), Lyudmila Blonska (UKR), Kelly Sotherton (GBR), Jessica Ennis (GBR)
The Stats: Records, 2008 List, 2007 Worlds, 2004 Olympics
The Medal Picks: T&FN - ; SI -
The Story: This is the event that nobody wants to win. Defending World and Olympic champ Carolina Kluft has abandoned it, at least for the time being, and will compete the long and triple jumps instead. World Indoor champ Tia Hellebaut also opted out and will high jump. Former World champ Eunice Barber also skipped it in favor of the long jump. So the door is open.

Until early this year, you would have had to pick Blonska as the new favorite. She has far and away the best PR, won last year’s IAAF Combined Events Challenge as the year’s top heptathlete, and took silver at the Worlds behind Kluft. But two things happened to change that.

First, Chernova scored a massive PR in May to handily defeat Blonska at the big Gotzis heptathlon. Just 20 years old, she is obviously a star quickly on the rise. (And if you’re entering any medal prediction contests, it’s worth noting that her previous PR was set in Beijing.)

Second, Fountain scored an even bigger PR at the US Olympic Trials. It was the year’s highest point total, and of her competitors only Blonska has ever scored higher. The Dayton, Ohio resident who occasionally trains at a track located on Edwin Moses Boulevard now has a realistic chance to make the city find another street to rename for a gold medalist.

Brits Sotherton and Ennis were third and fourth at last year’s Worlds and figured to move up with Kluft’s departure, but they may be leapfrogged. Trials runner-up Johnson is a four-time NCAA champ and will gain valuable international experience, but probably is not competing for a medal.

Note: Athletes’ rankings refer to TheFinalSprint.com’s World Points Standings, and medal picks come to us from Track & Field News and Sports Illustrated, respectively.