This was predicted to be a struggle between Rosendahl and Pollak in
repeat of the 1971 European Championships won by Rosendahl by just
24 points. Tikhomirova was expected to take the bronze medal. Bodner
led after the first event with 966 points, the surprise being Peters with
a personal best 13.29. In the shot, Peters moved into the lead with 16.20
to duplicate her first event score of 960 points. The Northern Irish
woman then took the high jump by clearing 1.78, and proceeded to set
personal bests with 1.80 and 1.82 to win over the crowd and end the
first day with 2969 points, 97 ahead of Pollak, and 301 clear of
Rosendahl, who was in fifth place.
At the start of day two, Peters jumped 5.98 but lost 180 points to
Rosendahl’s excellent 6.83, further than her winning mark in the indi-
vidual event. Rosendahl finished off with a superb 200m in 22.96, as
Pollak and Peters crossed the line well behind. Rosendahl fell just 10
points short of catching Peters, whose 4801 constituted a new world
record. The German effectively held the world record herself for 1.12
seconds.