The IAAF World Indoor Championships is a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the competition was inaugurated as the World Indoor Games in 1985 in Paris, France and were subsequently renamed in 1987 as they are known today.
The pentathlon or women's pentathlon is a combined track and field event in which each woman competes in five separate events over one day. The distance or time for each event is converted to points via scoring tables, with the overall ranking determined by total points. Since 1949 the events have been sprint hurdling, high jump, shot put, long jump, and a flat race. The sprint hurdles distance was 80 m outdoors until 1969 and thereafter 100 m; in indoor pentathlon the distance is 60 m. The flat race was 200 m until 1976 and thereafter 800 m. In elite-level outdoor competition, the pentathlon was superseded in 1981 by the heptathlon, which has seven events, with both 200 m and 800 m, as well as the javelin throw. Pentathlon is still contested at school and masters level and indoors.
The men's heptathlon at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships was held at the ASPIRE Dome on 12 and 13 March.
Thomas Van der Plaetsen is a Belgian decathlete. His biggest achievements are winning the Gold Medal for Decathlon at the 2016 European Athletics Championships, winning Bronze Medal for Heptathlon at the 2014 World Indoor Championships, and Gold Medal for Decathlon at the 2013 and 2015 Summer Universiade.
Kevin Mayer is a French athlete. He is the world champion (2017), Olympic silver medalist and world record holder in Decathlon.
The Men's heptathlon event at the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on March 2–3.
The 17th IAAF World Indoor Championships was held from 1 to 4 March 2018 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. This was the city's second hosting of the event as it previously did so in 2003.
The men's Heptathlon at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships took place on 7-8 March 2014.
The men's heptathlon event at the 1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships was held on March 8–9.
Pieter Braun is a Dutch athlete competing in the combined events. He won the gold medal at the 2015 European U23 Championships. He also competed in the decathlon in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Jorge Ureña Andreu is a Spanish athlete competing in the combined events. He won the silver medal at the 2015 European U23 Championships. In addition, he finished seventh at the 2015 European Indoor Championships.
Jérémy Lelièvre is a French athlete competing in combined events. He represented his country in the heptathlon at the 2016 World Indoor Championships finishing eighth.
Florian Geffrouais is a French athlete competing in the decathlon. He represented his country at four consecutive European Championships.
The men's heptathlon at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships took place on 2 and 3 March 2018.
Ruben Gado is a French athlete competing in the combined events. He represented his country at the 2018 World Indoor Championships finishing seventh. He earlier won a silver medal at the 2017 Jeux de la Francophonie.
Vitali Mikhailavich Zhuk is a Belarusian athlete competing in the combined events. He won a bronze medal in the decathlon at the 2018 European Championships.
Elmo Savola is a Finnish athlete competing in the combined events. He won a bronze medal in the decathlon at the 2017 European U23 Championships.
