Anouk Vetter has won silver in the heptathlon at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene in the US. The 29-year-old athlete lost the battle for the world title to Belgian Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam.
Thiam led the heptathlon from the first part, the 100 meter hurdles. Vetter climbed to second place after the third part, the shot put, and Thiam replaced the first place after the sixth part, the javelin throw. In the closing 800 meters Vetter failed to maintain her small lead in points. Thiam ran the 800 meters too fast for that. The Belgian ran a personal best of 2.13.00, while Vetter got stuck at 2.20.09. In the final score, Thiam came out at 6947 points.
It was Vetter’s best heptathlon ever. After the seven parts she was at 6867 points, a big improvement on her Dutch record (6693 points). It is the fourth medal for the Arnhem team in a major championship. She became European champion in Amsterdam in 2016, won bronze at the 2017 World Cup and especially surprised last summer with the silver medal at the Olympic Games.
The American Anna Hall took the bronze medal with 6755 points. Emma Oosterwegel, Tokyo Olympic bronze winner, finished in seventh place with 6440 points, well below her personal best of 6590 points.