Each day in the run up to the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow, we will select two athletes from the heptathlon field for a head to head. The second in our series looks at those athletes who have led the world rankings during the 2018-19 season.

Thomas Van der Plaetsen

Glasgow will be the second time Thomas has competed at the European Indoors, after finishing sixth eight years ago when the championships took place in Paris. In a wonderful weekend for Belgium in February where Thomas and his teammate Hanne Maudens shot to the top of the world and European rankings, Thomas vaulted a spectacular 5.50m - the second highest vault ever in a >6000 point heptathlon.

See more about Thomas here.

Andreas Bechmann

2019 began with two Germans qualified automatically for the European indoors, and no spare slots in the German team. Fast forward a few weeks, and a series of events saw both Arthur Abele and Kai Kazmirek withdraw through injury, and Andreas catapulted into the world lead, albeit just for a few hours, ahead of Jorge Ureña. Andreas obliterated his personal best with a score of 6017 in Halle.  He set personal bests in every discipline, and is now the sole German in the field for Glasgow.

See more about Andreas here.

Photo credit:
Thomas Van der Plaetsen - Michel Fisquet Team Photo
Andreas Bechmann - Olavi Kaljunen Trackpic

Gabby Pieraccini

Brief athletics career peaked with a glorious medal for Glasgow University in the 4x200 relay in 1992 (look it up, it’s true, honest). Since then been talking about decathlon to anyone who will listen, or anyone who has ears. Civil servant in Edinburgh, Scotland. Loves to tell the stories of decathlon: the highs, the lows, the joy and the tears.

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