Algerian Bourrada gets IAAF invitation to Portland 2016

Algeria’s Larbi Bourrada has accepted the official invitation from the IAAF to compete in the combined events at the IAAF World Indoor Championships – Portland 2016 next week.

[link id=”896″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Bourrada”], a three-time African champion (2008, 2010 and 2014) and the former African record-holder in the Decathlon, is the only African invited for the Heptathlon (7 events).

Unlike other events where countries selected their representatives, the combined events was exclusively by invitation of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to [link id=”671″ tax=”category” text=”Portland 2016″], which takes place from 17-20 March.

The Gold medal in contention at the IAAF World Indoors – Portland 2016 / Photo: LOC

According to the [link id=”175″ tax=”post_tag” text=”IAAF”], the size of the combined events fields for this year’s championships has also been increased.

“For the first time since 1997, the pentathlon and heptathlon will have 12 athletes in each competition.

“The invites for the combined events in Portland were based on the 2015 IAAF Combined Events Challenge, on last year’s outdoor world season lists, on this year’s indoor world season lists, plus one wild card,” the IAAF statement noted.

Heptathlon field

1. Curtis Beach (USA)
2. Larbi Bourrada (ALG)
3. Mathias Brugger (GER)
4. Ashton Eaton (USA)
5. Kurt Felix (GRN)
6. Adam Sebastian Helcelet (CZE)
7. Oleksiy Kasyanov (UKR)
8. Jeremy Lelievre (FRA)
9. Tim Nowak (GER)
10. Petter Olson (SWE)
11. Samuel Remedios (POR)
12. Jorge Urena (ESP)

Pentathlon field

1. Makeba Alcide (LCA)
2. Katerina Cachova (CZE)
3. Georgia Ellenwood (CAN)
4. Alina Fodorova (UKR)
5. Morgan Lake (GBR)
6. Celina Leffler (GER)
7. Anastasiya Mokhnyuk (UKR)
8. Barbara Nwaba (USA)
9. Salcia Slack (JAM)
10. Brianne Theisen-Eaton (CAN)
11. Kendell Williams (USA)
12. Gyorgyi Zsivoczky-Farkas (HUN)

Nigeria and South Africa to compete in 4x400m relays

Meanwhile, [link id=”815″ tax=”category” text=”Nigeria”] and [link id=”217″ tax=”category” text=”South Africa”] are set to compete in the men’s and women’s 4x400m. The nations that will be contesting that event are:

Men

1. Bahamas
2. Belgium
3. Guyana
4. Jamaica
5. Nigeria
6. South Africa
7. Trinidad and Tobago
8. United States

Women

1. Jamaica
2. Nigeria
3. Poland
4. Romania
5. Ukraine
6. United States