Decathlon


The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word was formed in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek and . Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged not by the position achieved but rather on a points system in each event. The decathlon is contested mainly by male athletes, while female athletes typically compete in the heptathlon.
Traditionally, the title of "World's Greatest Athlete" has been given to the person who wins the decathlon. This began when Gustav V of Sweden told Jim Thorpe, "Sir, you are the world's greatest athlete" after Thorpe won the decathlon at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912.
The event is similar to the pentathlon held at the ancient Greek Olympics, and also similar to a competition called an "all-around", which was contested at the United States amateur championships in 1884. Another all-around was held at the 1904 Summer Olympics. The modern decathlon first appeared at the 1912 Games.
In modern athletics, the 10 events are: 100 metres, 400 metres, 1500 metres, 110 metre hurdles, long jump, high jump, pole vault, discus throw, javelin throw, and shotput. The current official decathlon world record holder is French athlete Kevin Mayer, who scored a total of 9126 points at the 2018 Décastar in France.

Historical background

The decathlon developed from the ancient pentathlon competitions held at the ancient Greek Olympics. Pentathlons involved five disciplines – long jump, discus throw, javelin throw, sprint and a wrestling match. Introduced in Olympia during 708 BC, this competition was extremely popular for many centuries.
A ten-event competition known as the "all-around" or "all-round" championship, similar to the modern decathlon, was first contested at the United States amateur championships in 1884 and reached a consistent form by 1890. While an all-around event was held at the 1904 Summer Olympics, whether it was an official Olympic event has been disputed.
The modern decathlon first appeared in the Olympic athletics program at the 1912 Games in Stockholm.

Format

Men's decathlon

The vast majority of international and top-level men's decathlons are divided into a two-day competition, with the track and field events held in the order below. Traditionally, all decathletes who finish the event, rather than just the winner or medal-winning athletes, do a round of honour together after the competition. The current world record holder is Kevin Mayer from France with 9126 points which he set on 16 September 2018, in Talence, France.
; Day 1
;Day 2
At major championships, the women's equivalent of the decathlon is the seven-event heptathlon; before 1981 it was the five-event pentathlon. However, in 2001, the IAAF approved scoring tables for a women's decathlon; the current world record holder is Austra Skujytė of Lithuania, with 8358 points. Women's disciplines differ from men's in the same way as for standalone events: the shot, discus, and javelin weigh less, and the sprint hurdles use lower hurdles over 100 m rather than 110 m. The points tables used are the same as for the heptathlon in the shared events. In some women's decathlon competitions, the schedule differs from the men's decathlon, with the field events switched between day one and day two. This rule was initially instituted to avoid scheduling conflicts when men's and women's decathlon competitions take place simultaneously, however by 2024 the rule was revised to allow conducting the women's decathlon using the men's event order. The inaugural Women's Decathlon World Championships used the men's ordering of events.
; Women's decathlon reversed field event order
; Day 1
  • 100 metres
  • Discus throw
  • Pole vault
  • Javelin throw
  • 400 metres
;Day 2
The one-hour decathlon is a special type of decathlon in which the athletes have to start the last of ten events within sixty minutes of the start of the first event. The world record holder is Czech decathlete Robert Změlík, who achieved 7897 points at a meeting in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, in 1992.

Masters athletics

In Masters athletics, performance scores are age graded before being applied to the standard scoring table. This way, marks that would be competitive within an age division can get rated, even if those marks would not appear on the scale designed for younger age groups. Additionally, like women, the age divisions use different implement weights and lower hurdles. Based on this system, German Rolf Geese in the M60 division and American Robert Hewitt in the M80 divisions have set their respective world records over 8000 points. Using the same scale, Nadine O'Connor scored 10,234 points in the W65 division, the highest decathlon score ever recorded.

Points system

EventABC
100 m25.4347181.81
Long jump0.143542201.4
Shot put51.391.51.05
High jump0.8465751.42
400 m1.53775821.81
110 m hurdles5.7435228.51.92
Discus throw12.9141.1
Pole vault0.27971001.35
Javelin throw10.1471.08
1500 m0.037684801.85

The 2001 IAAF points tables use the following formulae:
,, and are parameters that vary by discipline, as shown in the adjacent table, while is the performance by the athlete, measured in seconds, metres, or centimetres.
The decathlon tables should not be confused with the scoring tables compiled by Bojidar Spiriev, to allow comparison of the relative quality of performances by athletes in different events. On those tables, for example, a decathlon score of 9006 points equates to 1265 "comparison points", the same number as a triple jump of 18 m.

Benchmarks

Split evenly between the events, the following table shows the benchmark levels needed to earn 1000, 900, 800, and 700 points in each sport.
Event1000 pts900 pts800 pts700 ptsUnit
100 m10.39510.82711.27811.756Seconds
Long jump7.767.366.946.51Metres
Shot put18.4016.7915.1613.53Metres
High jump2.202.101.991.88Metres
400 m46.1748.1950.3252.58Seconds
110 m hurdles13.8014.5915.41916.29Seconds
Discus throw56.1751.446.5941.72Metres
Pole vault5.284.964.634.29Metres
Javelin throw77.1970.6764.0957.45Metres
1500 m3:53.794:07.424:21.774:36.96Minutes:Seconds

Calculator

EventScorePoints
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Records

The official men's decathlon world record holder is Kevin Mayer of France, with a score of 9126 points set during the 2018 Décastar in Talence, France, which was ratified by World Athletics.
The previous record from Ashton Eaton :

Decathlon bests

Men

The total decathlon score for all world records in the respective events would be 12,676. The total decathlon score for all the best performances achieved during decathlons is 10,669. The Difference column shows the difference in points between the decathlon points that the individual current world record would be awarded and the points awarded to the current decathlon record for that event. The relative differences in points are much higher in throwing events than in running and jumping events.
Decathlon bests are only recognized when an athlete completes the ten-event competition with a score of over 7000 points.

Women

All-time top 25 men

  • Correct as of September 2025.

    All-time top 25 women

  • Correct as of November 2025.

    Competitions

Olympic medalists

World Championships medalists

Men

Women

Continental competitions