7th May 2012 09:00
Greece's Sofia Ifadidou added more than 100 points to her heptathlon personal best when she won at the Multistars IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting in Desenzano, Italy, with 6109 points on Sunday.
Ifadidou was sixth overnight but had a superb second day scoring personal bests in the all three of the second day disciplines: long jump, javelin and 800m.
Great Britain's 2009 World Youth Championships gold medallist Katarina Johnson-Thompson was the surprise first day leader with 3662 points after she ran a lifetime best of 13.68 in the 100m hurdles, cleared1.81m in the high jump - the only slight disappointment as she cleared 1.88m indoors this winter – and then had further personal bests of 11.75m in the shot and 23.78 in the 200m.
The 19-year-old Briton stayed in pole position by 15 points after the long jump but her only valid jump of 6.14m was well-short of her best of 6.44m and opened the door to the more proficient throwers, which included Ifadidou.
Ifadidou, who seems to enjoy the second day at Desenzano, took full advantage of the helpful gusty conditions and launched her spear out to 55.72m, one of the best ever performances in the event during a heptathlon and moved up from sixth to first place with 5241 points after six events.
It also added nearly two metres to her previous best set 12 months ago at the same event.
The 27-year-old Greek athlete, who finished a modest 15th at the 2010 European Athletics Championships, then gritted her teeth and went around two laps of the track in 2:16.75 to defend her first place from France's Blandine Maisonnier by 27 points, the latter getting the second best tally of her career with 6082 points.
Both Ifadidou and Maisonnier secured their places in the squads their nations will send to the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki this summer.
The 2012 European Athletics Championships will be held in the Finnish capital from 27 June – 1 July.
'Last year I set the javelin meeting record, so it was fine to break it again. I scored a big PB in the javelin and two career bests in the 800 metres, in the long jump and in the high jump (1.72m) and a new heptathlon PB. I came close to my 100 metres hurdles PB with 13.76. I am now qualified for the European Championships and hopefully for the Olympic Games,' reflected Ifadidou.
Another athlete who left Desenzano hugely satisfied was the teenager Johnson-Thompson, who finished third.
She bounced back from her below-par long jump to record near personal bests in the javelin and 800m to give her a total of 6007 points - a 220-point improvement on her previous best - and make a substantial improvement on the British junior record of 5910 points set seven years ago by 2010 Europe champion Jessica Ennis.
Full results can be found here.