Britain's Holly Mills has established a lead of more than 100 points at the halfway stage in Lana ©Getty Images

Norway’s Martin Roe and Britain’s Holly Mills lead the way after the opening day of the World Athletics Combined Events Challenge meeting in Lana in Italy.

Roe tops the standings in the decathlon on 4,154 points, while Mills is the frontrunner at the halfway stage in the heptathlon after notching 3,838.

After finishing 18th in the 100 metres, Roe produced his best performance in the long jump where he registered a leap of 7.51 metres to clinch top spot and collect 937 points.

He then backed that up by finishing second in the shot put after recording a distance of 14.88m - a mark only beaten by Sweden’s Marcus Nilsson.

Top eight finishes in the high jump and 400m saw Roe establish a 43-point lead ahead of Jorge Ureña of Spain who sits second on 4,110.

Martin Roe came out on top in the long jump as he moved ahead of his decathlon rivals ©Getty Images
Martin Roe came out on top in the long jump as he moved ahead of his decathlon rivals ©Getty Images

Seven men broke the 4,000-point mark after five events with Italian Dario Dester third on 4,054 and Belgium’s Benjamin Hougardy fourth on 4,037.

In the heptathlon, Mills came 15th in the 100m hurdles but her time of 13.21sec saw her pick up an impressive 1,093 points.

The 21-year-old then topped the high jump after clearing 1.83m to earn a further 1,016 points.

A sixth-placed finish in the shot put followed by another solid performance in the 200m where she came 16th helped Mills extend her lead to more than 100 points.

Marthe Koala of Burkina Faso lies in second position on 3,726 points, while just a point separates Ireland’s Kate O’Connor on 3,666 and Spain’s Maria Vicente on 3,665.

Competition is due to conclude tomorrow.