Norway’s Sander Skotheim leads the way in the heptathlon after six events at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing.
The 22-year-old Norwegian delivered a standout performance in the long jump, soaring out to 8.00m – a distance rarely seen in combined events – to establish an early advantage over his rivals.
He has maintained strong consistency over the course of the competition delivering confident performances, even equalling his personal best (7.93) in the 60m hurdles, solidifying his place at the top of the leaderboard before clearing a solid 5.00m in the pole vault.
Skotheim has been in record-breaking form this season. In February, he set a new European heptathlon record with 6484 points in Tallinn before surpassing that mark at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, amassing 6558 points to move to third on the world all-time list.
With just the 1000m still to come, it seems as though it’s Skotheim’s gold to lose, with his versatility across the disciplines making him a formidable force.
And there is every possibility of a European 1-2-3 in the event. Estonia's Johannes Erm, who just missed out on a medal in fourth at the European Athletics Indoor Championships, cleared 5.30m to solidify his silver medal prospects (5506 points) with Germany's Till Steinforth, the bronze medallist in Apeldoorn, third overall (5464 points).
First global medal for Kalin with long jump silver
After finishing fourth in the heptathlon at the 2024 Olympic Games, Switzerland's multi-talented Annik Kalin won her first major global medal of her career in the long jump final.
Kalin bounded out to 6.83m in the sixth round to move into the medal positions behind the little-known American Claire Bryant who jumped a lifetime best of 6.96m in the fifth round on her international debut.
Spain's Fatime Diame won her second successive world indoor bronze medal with her first round jump of 6.72m.
Meanwhile, world record-holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh had to settle for bronze in the women's high jump final with a 1.95m clearance behind the Australian duo of Nicola Olyslagers who retained her title at 1.97m to win on countback from Eleanor Patterson.
Mahuchikh won her third European indoor title in Apeldoorn earlier this month but the Ukrainian admitted she was struggling with an ankle injury which limited her to a height some six centimetres below her world lead.
"Coming from the European Indoor Championships, I had some injury. During today's jumps, I felt 1.95m was not good, but I was sure that 1.97m would be great. So I started running but I felt that my ankle is not good, unfortunately," she said.
This was Mahuchikh's first defeat since the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow where she had to settle for silver behind Olyslagers.