2009 World Championships in Athletics – Women's heptathlon explained

The Women's Heptathlon at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on August 16 and August 17. A number of high-profile heptathletes did not feature at the competition, including defending champion Carolina Klüft and 2007 bronze medallist Kelly Sotherton, who were both injured, and Olympic silver medallist Hyleas Fountain, who failed to qualify at the national championships.

Nataliya Dobrynska, the 2008 Olympic champion, was highly favoured to win the event, while Great Britain's Jessica Ennis was predicted to improve upon her own world leading mark of 6587 points. Tatyana Chernova, Ukrainians Hanna Melnychenko and Lyudmyla Yosypenko, and Germans Jennifer Oeser and Lilli Schwarzkopf were cited as medal contenders.^[1]

After the first day, Ennis had built up a considerable lead, winning three of the four events and ending the day more than three hundred points ahead of second-ranked Dobrynska.^[2] Ennis' first day total of 4124 points was the third highest ever first day score in the heptathlon, behind Kluft and world record holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee.^[3] On the second day, unusually for a heptathlon competition, Linda Züblin set a Swiss record in the javelin throw.^[4] Ennis maintained her lead with competitive marks in the long jump and javelin throw (her weaker events) and she won the final 800 metres race, gaining her first major championship gold medal and setting a world leading mark and much improved personal best of 6731 points to win by 238 points. Olympic champion Dobrynska faded into fourth place on the final day, while Jennifer Oeser set a personal best for the silver medal and Kamila Chudzik took bronze, Poland's first ever heptathlon medal at the competition.^[5] ^[6]

The competition represented a breakthrough for Ennis, who had missed the 2008 Beijing Olympics through injury and whose previous best result was fourth place at the 2007 World Championships. She was Great Britain's first gold medallist of the tournament, and she became the country's third woman multi-eventer to win a major global championship, after former Olympic champions Mary Peters and Denise Lewis.^[6]

Medalists

Gold
Silver
Bronze

Records

Standing records prior to the 2009 World Athletics Championships
World record	7291	Seoul, South Korea	24 September 1988
Championship record	7128	Rome, Italy	1 September 1987
World leading	6587	Desenzano del Garda, Italy	10 May 2009
African record	6423	Götzis, Austria	29 May 2005
Asian record	6942	Götzis, Austria	26 May 1996
North American record	7291	Seoul, South Korea	24 September 1988
South American record	6076	Beijing, China	16 August 2008
European record	7032	Osaka, Japan	26 August 2007
Oceanian record	6695	Auckland, New Zealand	28 January 1990

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
August 15, 2009	10:10	100 metres hurdles
August 15, 2009	11:20	High jump
August 15, 2009	18:20	Shot put
August 15, 2009	21:10	200 metres
August 16, 2009	11:35	Long jump
August 16, 2009	18:05	Javelin throw
August 16, 2009	20:50	800 metres
August 16, 2009	20:50	Final standings

Results

100 metres hurdles

Rank	Heat	Time	Points	Notes
1	1	12.93	1135
2	4	13.44	1059	PB
3	1	13.45	1058
4	1	13.50	1050	SB
4	1	13.50	1050
6	4	13.58	1039	SB
7	1	13.60	1036
7	3	13.60	1036	SB
9	1	13.62	1033
10	4	13.64	1030	PB
11	1	13.66	1027	SB
12	3	13.67	1026	SB
13	4	13.69	1023	PB
14	4	13.75	1014	SB
15	1	13.78	1010
15	4	13.78	1010
17	2	13.79	1008	PB
18	2	13.80	1007	SB
19	2	13.85	1000	SB
20	2	13.90	993
21	3	13.96	984	SB
22	2	13.99	980
23	2	14.17	954
24	4	14.23	946
25	3	14.40	923
25	3	14.40	923
27	3	14.51	907
28	2	14.55	902
29	3	14.89	856

Key: PB = Personal best, SB = Seasonal best

High jump

Rank	Group	Result	Points	Notes
1	B	1.92	1132	SB
2	B	1.89	1093
3	B	1.86	1054
4	B	1.83	1016	PB
4	B	1.83	1016
6	B	1.83	1016	SB
7	B	1.83	1016	SB
8	B	1.80	978
9	B	1.77	941
10	B	1.77	941
10	A	1.77	941	SB
10	A	1.77	941	PB
13	A	1.74	903
14	B	1.74	903
15	B	1.74	903
16	B	1.71	867
16	A	1.71	867
18	B	1.71	867
18	A	1.71	867	PB
20	A	1.71	867
21	A	1.71	867
22	A	1.68	830
22	A	1.68	830
22	A	1.68	830
25	B	1.68	830
26	A	1.68	830
27	A	1.65	795
28	A	1.62	759
29	A	1.62	759

Key: PB = Personal best, SB = Seasonal best

Shot put

Rank	Group	Result	Points	Notes
	B	15.82	916	SB
	B	15.21	875
	B	15.10	868	PB
	B	14.29	813	PB
	B	14.14	803	PB
	B	14.04	797
	B	13.75	777
	A	13.70	774	SB
	B	13.56	765
10	B	13.43	756
11	A	13.42	755	PB
12	A	13.40	754
13	B	13.26	745
14	A	13.16	738	PB
15	A	13.01	728
16	A	12.93	723
17	B	12.92	722
18	B	12.92	722
19	A	12.83	716
20	A	12.71	708
21	B	12.53	696
22	A	12.43	690
23	B	12.40	688
24	A	12.21	675
25	A	11.62	636
26	A	11.15	605
27	A	11.07	600
	B
	A			DNS

Key: PB = Personal best, SB = Seasonal best

200 metres

Rank	Heat	Time	Points	Notes
	1	23.25	1054	SB
	1	23.86	994
	1	23.87	993
	1	24.11	970	PB
	1	24.13	968
	3	24.19	963	SB
	3	24.30	952	PB
	3	24.33	949	PB
	3	24.39	944	SB
10	3	24.60	924
11	1	24.62	922
12	1	24.71	914
13	2	24.75	910	SB
14	1	24.78	907
15	4	24.83	902	SB
16	2	24.92	894	PB
17	4	24.98	889	SB
18	3	25.02	885
19	3	25.04	883
20	4	25.15	873
21	2	25.32	858
22	4	25.49	842
23	2	25.59	833
24	4	25.65	828
25	2	25.93	803
26	2	26.07	791
27	4	26.17	782
	2			DNS
	4			DNS

Key: PB = Personal best, SB = Seasonal best

Long jump

Rank	Group	Result	Points	Notes
1	B	6.55	1023	PB
2	B	6.50	1007	SB
3	B	6.43	985	PB
4	B	6.42	981
5	B	6.41	978
6	A	6.40	975	SB
7	B	6.36	962
8	A	6.32	949	SB
9	B	6.29	940
10	B	6.24	924	SB
11	B	6.23	921
12	B	6.20	912
13	B	6.18	905
14	B	6.13	890
15	A	5.99	846	SB
16	A	5.97	840
17	A	5.90	819
18	A	5.87	810
19	B	5.87	810
20	A	5.82	795
21	B	5.78	783
21	A	5.78	783
23	A	5.69	756
24	A	5.69	756
25	A	5.43	680
	A
	B			DNS
	B			DNS
	A			DNS

Key: PB = Personal best, SB = Seasonal best

Javelin throw

Rank	Group	Result	Points	Notes
1	A	53.01	919	NR
2	A	50.02	861
3	A	48.72	835
4	A	48.39	829	PB
5	A	47.93	820
6	A	46.87	800
7	B	46.70	796	SB
8	B	44.14	747	PB
9	A	43.84	741
10	A	43.54	735
11	A	43.52	735
12	B	43.51	735
13	A	43.29	731
14	B	42.87	722
15	A	42.24	710
16	A	41.88	703
17	A	41.19	690
18	B	41.13	689
19	B	40.88	684
20	A	40.70	681
21	B	37.68	623
22	B	37.15	613	SB
23	B	36.70	604	PB
24	B	36.03	591
25	B	33.82	549
26	B	32.30	520
	A			DNS
	B			DNS
	B			DNS

Key: NR = National record, PB = Personal best, SB = Seasonal best

800 metres

Rank	Heat	Time	Points	Notes
	3	2:09.11	978	SB
	2	2:10.34	960
	2	2:11.92	937
	4	2:12.22	932
	2	2:12.62	927	PB
	1	2:12.66	926
	4	2:12.85	923	PB
	4	2:13.22	918
	1	2:13.81	910
10	3	2:13.84	909
11	4	2:14.34	902
12	4	2:14.64	898	SB
13	3	2:14.80	896
14	1	2:15.58	885
15	3	2:15.60	884	PB
16	3	2:15.85	881	PB
17	2	2:16.72	869
18	2	2:17.01	865
19	4	2:17.07	864
20	3	2:17.43	859	SB
21	4	2:17.72	855	SB
22	4	2:18.58	843
23	1	2:23.79	773
24	1	2:25.50	750
25	2	2:35.05	631
26	1	2:36.13	618

Key: PB = Personal best, SB = Seasonal best

Final standings

Rank	Athlete	Country	Points	Notes
			6731	WL
			6493	PB
			6471	SB
			6444
			6416	PB
			6414
			6323	PB
			6288
			6265
			6126
			6086
			6049
			6033
			6008
			5949
			5934
			5885
			5760
			5748
			5704
			5658
			5598
			5505
			5134
			5014
			4983
				DNF
				DNF
				DNF

Key: DNF = Did not finish, PB = Personal best, SB = Seasonal best, WL = World leading (in a given season)

References

General

Heptathlon results. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-15.

Specific

Notes and References

Jalaka, Mirko (2009-08-09). Women's Heptathlon - PREVIEW. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-15. Archived 2009-09-08.
Butcher, Pat (2009-08-15). Berlin 2009 - Day 1 WRAP - 15 Aug . IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-15.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/8202884.stm Ennis closes in on heptathlon win
Jalava, Mirko (2009-08-16). Event Report - Women's Heptathlon - Javelin Throw . IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-17.
Jalava, Mirko (2009-08-16).Event Report - Women's 800 Metres - Heptathlon . IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-17.
Brown, Matthew (2009-08-17). Ennis’ PB Put puts her to gold in Berlin . IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-17.