Fierce rivals to face off again

Feb 02, 2005
By TBT staff

TALLINN - Estonia’s Erki Nool and Roman Sebrle from the Czech Republic will be the main stars at the Reval Hotels Cup 2005 heptathlon contest, which will be held in Tallinn Feb.5-6.
The young and promising Estonian athletes Indrek Turi and Kristjan Rahnu will be the main domestic competitors for Nool, in addition to 2004 Olympic gold medalist Sebrle, who is one of the favorites to win the contest.

One of the highlights of the contest will be 19-year-old world decathlon champion Andrey Kravchenko from Belarus. Other big names to feature in the contest include Iceland’s Jon Arnar Magnusson, Claston Bernard from Jamaica, Ukrainian Aleksandr Yurkov, Jaakko Ojaniemi from Finland and Chiel Warners from Holland. According to preliminary information from the organizers, 18 athletes have registered for the contest.

Sebrle, 30, won last year’s contest in Tallinn with 6,350 points, while Nool was second with 6,123 points. Sebrle was also first and Nool second at the 2003 contest. The Czech also won the contest in 2001, while his fierce rival Nool managed to do so only once, in 1999.

The heptathlon, a shortened, two-day indoor version of the Olympic decathlon event, includes the 60-meter race, the long jump, the shot put, the high jump, the 60-meter hurdle race, the pole vault and the 1,000-meter run.

Nool, 34, who said before the last Olympics that he might retire from top level athletics after the games in Athens, is nevertheless willing to participate in the European Athletics Indoor Championship in Madrid this March.

Though Nool has already received an invitation to the contest in Madrid, his decision will depend on his results at the Reval Hotels Cup. Nool has told the local press he intends to win 6,000 to 6,100 points at the contest in Tallinn.

Although the event has been held annually since 1998, its organizers said it had been difficult to arrange this year due to a lack of interest from sponsors. o

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