As the world took a long run up the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Tenerife stole the spotlight by providing an early qualifier with Austrian heptathlete Verena Preiner recording the third best score of 2019 with 6,472 points, shaving 52 points off the entrance mark. Verena´s last event 800 metre victory was a fitting finale to the Arona Combined Events weekend in Playa de Las Americas. With full recognition by athletics governing body,the IAAF, and meeting points counted to competitors rankings, it’s become a magnet for potential champions. For the latestedition it was even streamed world wide on You Tube.
Eleven countries were represented in the 10 event mens decathlon, and seven event womens heptathlon, with Brazil, Estonia, and for the first time the United States. The setting of the Estadio Antonio Dominguez showed Tenerife in its best light, and as always a large team of local volunteers backed up athletics coaches and administrators from Arona, to ensure all ran smoothly. I dipped into the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions, arriving as the mens long jump, and ladies high jump competed for attention, although the giant screen relayed all the action. In between warm ups, warm downs, and frantic bursts of on track action, I caught up with the USA trio, Curtis Beach, Dan Golubovic, and Teddi Maslowski. Curtis explained how they came to make their first visit to Tenerife.
“ We don’t get any meetings solely focussed on combined events back home, so as our coach from Duke University in North Carolina was away for June, it seemed a perfect time to try a different competition. I flew over via London, and Dan via Madrid, the organisers, especially Victor and Javier have been very welcoming and helpful so it’s made it easy for us to settle in. I arrived a few days ahead of the event and managed to see Mount Teide and some of the beaches. I’m from New Mexico so I felt quite at home in the dry heat. There was a little head wind for the 100 metres on the first day that slowed the times a little but we’ve been able to push ourselves ready for the USA Championships in July.”
It turned out to be a particularly good meeting for Dan who finished in fourth place after the two days, ending with a flourish after topping his group in the javelin on the Sunday evening. Teddi, from Pittsburgh, made light of a niggling injury to have a solid two days including a 5th place in the long jump.
“ We’ve come without a coach so are pushing each other, it gives us a different approach to usual but makes for a more relaxed attitude. I came over with a little fracture in my leg from a long jump in the States two weeks ago but I’m working though that, I even managed to tackle a camel ride during some exploring when I got here. It’s our first time here so it’s been good to see the beauty of the island, I visited a few places around the coast, like Los Gigantes.”
All competitors get three nights in the Zentral Hotel, just along from the stadium, but many have chosen to stay on for extra days elsewhere around the island to relax with family supporters.
Every year brings a good sized contingent from Great Britain and Ireland, this year there were seven, including Andrew Murphy from East Kilbride who took seventh place overall, the long jump gave him a big opening push on the Saturday morning. Scott Connal, a 19 year old from Edinburgh also made a big opening leap to propel him to third place in the Under 20 Decathlon. Other notable achievements from back home came in the long jump with a 6th place for GBs Jenna Blundell in her group, and top spot for Holly McArthur and 3rd for Anna McCauley in their javelin as well as long jump group. Hot weather training and competition works well for athletes but some take the reverse route, 19 year old Marissa Vaz of Portugal has been living and training in Sheffield.
The Arona Pruebas Combinado doesn’t just bring publicity to Tenerife, it also has a practical influence on local athletes. Between the main competiton events, clubs from Arona run their own youth events, giving the next generation a taste of bigger competitions and a chance to learn by seeing experienced performers in action. There’s a lot more than raw power to being a winner, technique counts for a lot, the javelin, and shot putt were good examples of that. As for the pole vault, the splattering of coloured markers to guide the leapers to their launch spots took almost slide rule precision. The sight of Manuel Dias clearing the bar with Roque del Conde in the background was a combination of strength and grace.
There was plenty of inspiration over the weekend, Norway’s Martin Roe was solid in all the disciplines to take the Mens Senior Decathlon, he also picked up a 250 euro bonus for his 8,037 points, ahead of Kristen Rosenberg of Estonia a good gap away in second with 7879 points. The Senior Heptathlon battle between Verena Preiner and Noor Vidts of Belgium, brought out the best in both of them and 3rd placed Vanessa Chefer of Brazil. Jorge Dani Lopez took the Decathlon Under 20 title, the Heptathlon Under 20 was a Spanish clean sweep for Nuria Menendez Sanchez, with Ivet Rovira Figueras in second, and Alba Ramirez Martin in third.
Looking forward to 2020, it’s not just the Olympic year, but also the 10th year of the Arona Combined Events. With the commitment shown by Arona Council, and the athletics community, it will be another weekend to look forward with relish.