Warner Looks for Hat Trick, Thiam Competes in First Heptathlon Since Rio Olympics in Gotzis

By Adam Kopet, DyeStat Editor

The Hypo Meeting in Gotzis, Austria, gets underway Saturday for the two-day, combined-events meet.

The IAAF previewed the meet, placing Canada's Damian Warner, 2015 World silver medalist in the decathlon, and Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam, the Olympic heptathlon champion, as the favorites.

Warner is going for his third win in Gotzis. He won in 2013 and 2016. Winning would make him the third decathlete to win the Hypo Meeting three times. Guido Kratschmer and Roman Sebrle have also achieved the hat trick in Gotzis.

Last year, Warner captured the bronze medal in Rio, but the two athletes who finished ahead of him, Ashton Eaton and Kevin Mayer, will not be competing. Eaton has retired from the sport. However, expect Germany's Kai Kazmirek, the fourth-place finisher in Rio, to push Warner throughout the competition.

In the heptathlon, Thiam has never finished better than fourth in Gotzis in her three previous appearances. However, much has changed in the last two years. Thiam cleared 6-6 (1.98m) in the heptathlon high jump in Rio, bettering the winning mark in the individual event. In all, she set five personal bests on her way to the gold medal.

Thiam will take on the 2015 European Indoor champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson of Great Britain. Johnson-Thompson, who has struggled at times with the multi-event aspect of the heptathlon, moved to France last winter to train alongside Mayer.