Laarbi Bouraada and Jennifer Oeser win top positions at the Erdgas Mehrkampf Combined Events Meeting
While appearing on the field at the Erdgas Mehrkampf Combined Events Meeting in Ratingen, on Sunday, July 17, Laarbi Bouraada and Jennifer Oeser marked their dominance in the event which is regarded as German leg of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge.
Striving to carve out their best points, Bouraada, the 23-year-old Algerian decathlon specialist, marked an African record for scoring a staggering 8302 points, while Oeser observed the second best effort of her career for bagging 6663 points in total.
Bouraada, who is a decathlon specialist, is a two-time African champion. He marked his successes at the 2008 Adidas Ababa and in 2010, while competing at the African Championships in Athletics in Nairobi. For an impressive total of 8171 points scored two
years ago at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, Bouraada already possessed the African record. Now, with an altogether new total, he has only improved his personal best and has firmed his grip on the African record that he boasts of claiming.
On the other hand, Jennifer Oeser, the German heptathlete, who is a veteran for the discipline, possesses no lesser than a tremendous record when compared to her African counterpart. The 27-year-old athlete appeared at the first global event of her career
back in 2002, while competing at the World Junior Championships in Athletics. In the event, she settled for an eighth place after earning a total of 5405 points. Just about a year down the line, she improved her Personal Best significantly and took it to 5901
points, which culminated in bringing her a gold medal at the 2003 European Athletics U-23 Championships.
Entering into senior level matches, she appeared at the 2006 European Athletics Championships held in Gothenburg, where she managed to mark a fourth finish. The next year, she slipped to a seventh rank at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. However,
she managed to bag a silver medal at the 2009 IAAF World Championships held in Berlin. Competing at Ratingen has always been lucky for her, as last year she defeated her countrywoman, Lille Schwarzkopf, to bag the title for marking a total of 6427 points.
While competing at this year’s IAAF Combined Events Challenge, undeterred by the challenging weather conditions, Bouraada had to outdo formidable rivals like Rico Freimuth, William Coertzen and Pascal Behrenbruch. The task, which seemed daunting at first,
proved to be a nerve testing encounter for the Algerian. For the matchless performances displayed by him on the track, no one could hinder his way from bagging the win.
Interestingly, similar was the case for Oeser, who, for marking her win, had to overcome Aiga Grabuste, Ramona Fransen, and last year’s runner-up, Lilli Schwarzkopf. Just like she did last year, the fierce athlete was impossible to be hindered from defending
her title.
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