Van Alphen and Chernova the overall winners of the 2012 IAAF Combined Events Challenge

Monte Carlo – Hans van Alphen of Belgium and Russia’s Tatyana Chernova were the overall winners of the 2012 IAAF Combined Events Challenge and will each receive a payment of $30,000 from the IAAF.

Propelled by victories in both Götzis and Talence, 30-year-old Van Alphen, who was sixth in the Challenge in 2011, tallied a total of 25,259 points. Van Alphen improved the Belgian national record to 8519 points in Götzis and later finished fourth at the Olympic Games.

Germany’s Pascal Behrenbruch, the 2012 European champion, was second with 25,117 points, ahead of Oleksiy Kasyanov of Ukraine, the European Championships silver medallist, who was third with 24,822.

Chernova, who also won the series title in 2010 and 2011, produced another consistent season capped by her 6774-point performance to finish second in Götzis. The 24-year-old, who took Olympic bronze in London, tallied 19,717 points in the series.

Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Yosypenko of Ukraine, who finished second at the European championships and fourth at the Olympic Games before ending her season with a victory in Talence, was second overall with 19,520. Antoinette Nana Djimou Ida of France, the European champion, was third, just ten points back with 19,510.

Rounding out the top-five on the men's side are Eelco Sintnicolass of The Netherlands and Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakhstan. The Dutchman, 25, began the season on a high note with a runner-up finish in Gotzis where he improved his national record to 8506 points and eventually collected 24,481 in the Challenge. Karpov, the Asian record holder, nabbed early season victories in Desenzano del Garda and Kladno to finish fifth overall with 24,271.

In the women's series, Austra Skujyte of Lithuania and Latvian Laura Ikauniece tallied 19,408 and 19,031 respectively to finish fourth and fifth. The 33-year-old Skujyte's season was highlighted with 6599 personal best effort for fifth at the Olympic Games while Ikauniece, just 20, took bronze at the European Championships and pieced together a 6414 national record performance at the London Games.

Beginning with the African Combined Events Championships in Bambous, Mauritius in early April and concluding with the Decastar competition in Talence, France in mid-September, the 2012 Combined Events Challenge included 11 of the world’s finest multi-events meetings.

2012 witnessed the 15th successive year of the Combined Events Challenge which in addition to the five individual permit meetings (Desenzano, Götzis, Kladno, Ratingen and Talence), this year also included the Olympic Games, European Championships, NACAC Combined Events Championships, the Oceania Combined Events Championships, African Combined Events Championships and the U.S. Olympic Trials.

The Challenge offers a total of US$202,000 in Prize Money paid by the IAAF which is distributed to both the top-8 men and women as follows*: 1st $30,000, 2nd $20,000, 3rd $15,000, 4th $10,000, 5th $8000, 6th $7000, 7th $6000, 8th $5000.

Athletes had to complete three competitions to be eligible to contend for the overall prize money, and in 2012 11 men and 14 women made the grade. In total 217 athletes completed at least one Decathlon or Heptathlon in the Challenge series.

– Click here for the final men’s Decathlon standings
– Click here for the final women’s Heptathlon standings

IAAF