(Reuters) – France’s decathlon world record holder Kevin Mayer beat world champion Niklas Kaul and world silver medallist Maicel Uibo in the latest edition of the Ultimate Garden Clash on Sunday where the trio competed simultaneously in three different countries.
The three athletes participated in a unique live ‘triathlon’, which included the pole vault, shot put and a shuttle run, with Frenchman Mayer competing in Montpellier, German Kaul in Mainz and Estonia’s Uibo in Florida.
The event was streamed live on World Athletics’ social platforms and Mayer — silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics — won two of the three events to come out on top.
The challenge began with the trio attempting to clear four metres in the pole vault as many times as they could in 10 minutes and although Mayer was 25 seconds late to start, he won the event with 17 clearances to Uibo’s 15 and Kaul’s 14.
The shot put challenge required the athletes to clear 12 metres as often as possible in 10 minutes and Mayer showed no signs of tiring as he produced 28 throws while Kaul and Uibo finished with 22 and 20 respectively.
“In the shot put I think I made the difference because my personal best is 17 (metres) so it was easy for me to throw 13 every time and I got in a rhythm that felt good,” Mayer said.
“I was really, really tired at the end but it was a good effort for me.”
The final challenge was a five-minute shuttle run between cones placed 20 metres apart. Mayer and Uibo completed 26 circuits but Kaul pulled ahead to win with 27.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said he was in “total awe” of the athletes. “Be under no illusion, that was a lot tougher than they made it look,” he added.
Last month former Olympic pole vault champion Renaud Lavillenie of France and Sweden’s world record holder Mondo Duplantis shared the spoils in a pole vault garden challenge after clearing five metres 36 times in 30 minutes.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
