27th February 2013 06:01
Pentathlon:
The European Athletics Indoor Championships in Göteborg offers Russia's Ekaterina Bolshova an opportunity to lay down a big marker for this summer's IAAF World Championships on her home soil of Moscow.
The 25-year-old re-stated her athletic credentials on February 9 as she defended her Russian Indoor Combined Events title at Volgograd, producing a score of 4851 points which leads this year's world and European rankings, and was only 45 points short of the total she had produced at the same event a year earlier which had established her in world terms as she went fifth on the all-time listings.
Bolshova might have done even better had she had taken more than one attempt at the long jump, even though that took her out to 6.57m, one of two personal bests set in the competition, the other being the time of 2:10.52 she recorded in the concluding 800 metres.
However, Russia's rising multi-eventer will face strong opposition from close to home – 24-year-old Yana Maksimava of Belarus is currently second in the world standings with 4624 points, set in winning at Gomel on January 23, where she had a shot put of 14.45m.
And the Belarus athlete is currently ranked just one point ahead of the Ukraine's Hanna Melnychenko, who won in Zaporizhzhya on January 30.
The Russian will also beware the talent of France's reigning European outdoor heptathlon champion, Antoinette Nana Djimou, who took gold in Helsinki ahead of the Ukrainian athlete who later earned Olympic silver behind Ennis in London 2012, Lyudmyla Yosypenko.
And the Göteborg line-up will also include one of Europe's rising stars in 20-year-old Latvian Laura Ikauniece, who followed up her European junior bronze in 2011 with bronze in Helsinki.
Melnychenko's Ukrainian colleague Alina Fyodorova, fourth in the 2013 rankings on 4622, will also fancy her chances of reaching the podium, especially if she can improve on the impressive shot put of 14.94m she recorded en route to winning the Sumy meeting on February 13.
Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam, whose winning effort of 4558 in Ghent earlier this month established her at seventh in the 2013 world list. The Netherlands challenge will be led by 27-year-old Remona Fransen, whose winning performance of 4540 in Valencia last month leaves her one place below Thiam in the listings.
Heptathlon:
Eelco Sintnicolaas, the 2010 European decathlon silver medallist, will be favoured to go one better at the European indoor version of the heptathlon. The Dutchman is the highest ranked of the 15 entrants this season thanks to the personal best of 6341 points he set in winning at Apeldoorn on February 10.
Sintnicolaas is currently enjoying a rich vein of form, having finished second at the Gotzis meeting last summer behind Hans Van Alpen, setting a Dutch record of 8506 points after a strong second day left him just 13 points adrift of the Belgian.
But the Dutchman will need all his competitive instincts to hold off the challenge of the Czech Republic's Adam Helcelet, who also produced a heptathlon personal best this season with 6040. Estonia's Mikk Pahapill is third in this season's European rankings with 6024, but has the highest personal best in the competition – 6362.
There will also be strong competition from Russia's World indoor bronze medallist Artem Lukyanenko, who beat fellow countryman Sergei Sviridov, eighth-placed at the London 2012 Olympics, to win the national indoor title in Volgograd, where a personal best of 15.23m in the shot lifted him to 6008 points.
Russian team-mate Ilya Shkurenyov, the European bronze medallist, will be after another European medal having finished second at the nationals with 5890 points.
Meanwhile the French pair of Jeremy Lelievre and Kevin Mayer look well-placed to challenge, having set respective personal bests of 5997 and 5983 points at Aubiere on February 17.
Home hopes will be carried by Petter Olson, who has recorded 5783 points this year and has a personal best of 5868, and Fabian Rosenquist, who has scored 5599 points this season and has a best of 5645.