A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά and ἄθλος. A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.
Carolina Evelyn Klüft is a retired Swedish track and field athlete who competed in the heptathlon, triple jump, long jump, and pentathlon. She was an Olympic Champion, having won the heptathlon title in 2004. She was also a three-time World and two-time European heptathlon champion. She is the only athlete ever to win three consecutive world titles in the heptathlon, and was unbeaten in 22 heptathlon and pentathlon competitions from 2002 to 2007, winning nine consecutive gold medals in major championships.
Kelly Jade Sotherton is a British former heptathlete. In the heptathlon she was the bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics and, following the disqualification of two other athletes, also at the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as being part of the bronze medal-winning team in the Women's 4x400m relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics. As such she is one of only five women to win multiple medals in Olympic heptathlon. She also won a bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, and was the heptathlon gold medallist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. As the scale of her accomplishments at global level became clear in hindsight, Sotherton was increasingly recognised as part of the line of world class British pentathletes/heptathletes that included Mary Rand, Mary Peters, Judy Simpson, Denise Lewis, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, her multiple global medals between 2004 and 2008 bridging the gap between the Olympic triumphs of Lewis and Ennis-Hill.
Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill is a British retired track and field athlete from England, specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion, and the 2010 European champion. She is also the 2010 world indoor pentathlon champion. A member of the City of Sheffield & Dearne athletic club, she is a former British national record holder for the heptathlon. She is a former British record holder in the 100 metres hurdles, the high jump and the indoor pentathlon. Today, Ennis-Hill commentates for the BBC and runs Jennis, a fitness app specialising in women's health. Her latest product launch is CycleMapping, which helps women map their training to their menstrual cycles.
Tia Hellebaut is a retired Belgian track and field athlete, as well as a chemist, who started out in her sports career in the heptathlon, and afterwards specialized in the high jump event. She has cleared 2.05 metres both indoors and outdoors.
Antonietta Di Martino is a retired Italian high jumper. She currently holds the Italian national women's high jump record at 2.03 metres for outdoor events and 2.04 metres for indoor events. She also currently holds the women's all-time highest jump-differential, meaning she has jumped the highest more than her own height.
Ida Marcussen is a Norwegian heptathlete. She represents IK Våg, having changed clubs from Kristiansands IF in 2006.
Mariya Aleksandrovna Lasitskene is a Russian athlete who specialises in the high jump. She is the 2020 Olympic champion and three-time world champion. With her victory in Tokyo, Lasitskene became the fourth female high jumper in history to win gold at both the Olympic Games and the World Championships.
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.
Brittany Borman is an American track and field athlete who competes primarily in the discus and the javelin throw. She is a four-time NCAA Track and Field Champion, winning the javelin in 2010, 2011, and 2012, and the discus in 2010. In 2012, she won the US Olympic Trials in the javelin and represented the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She also represented the US at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Nadine Broersen is a Dutch track and field athlete, specializing in the heptathlon and high jump. She holds the current national record in the high jump with 1.94m. She is the 2014 World Indoor pentathlon champion. She competes for the track and field club AV Sprint in Breda.
Kevin Mayer is a French athlete. He is two-time world champion, two-time Olympic silver medalist and world record holder in the decathlon. He is also a world and European champion in indoor heptathlon.
Nafissatou "Nafi" Thiam is a Belgian athlete specializing in multi-event competition. Thiam is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning the heptathlon event at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. She is the only Belgian athlete, male or female, to successfully defend an Olympic title and only the second woman after Jackie Joyner-Kersee to win back-to-back Olympic titles in the event.
Morgan Lake is a British track and field athlete, specialising in heptathlon and the high jump. She is the 2014 World Junior champion in heptathlon and high jump, and the 2015 European Junior champion in high jump.
Ana Camila Donatella Pirelli Cubas is a Paraguayan track and field athlete who competes in the heptathlon. She is the Paraguayan record holder in the event with her personal best score of 5733 points. Pirelli holds more than a dozen national records in events as varied as the 100 metres hurdles, shot put and the indoor women's pentathlon. Pirelli was the heptathlon silver medallist at the 2013 South American Championships in Athletics. She won the gold medal at the 2013 Bolivarian Games and the 2014 South American Games, breaking games records at both competitions. Pirelli is tied to Paraguay Marathon Club and competes in Paraguay's national competitions under the Federación Paraguaya de Atletismo.
Janieve Russell is a Jamaican track and field athlete who competes mainly in the 400 metres hurdles and the 400 metres sprint. She won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4×400m relay in Tokyo 2021, where she also finished fourth in the 400m hurdles final in a personal best of 53.08 secs. She is a four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, winning the 400m hurdles title in 2018 and 2022, and the 4×400m relay in 2014 and 2018. She has also won two relay silvers at the World Championships and a relay gold at the World Indoor Championships.
Cedric Nolf is a Belgian athlete specialising in the long jump. Earlier in his career he competed in the decathlon.
Colleen Felix is a Grenadian former track and field athlete who competed in the heptathlon. In 2009, she set the national record in that event. She is also a former national record holder in the Javelin Throw with a distance of 47.62m at Arizona State Invitational on 26 March 2011. This record was subsequently broken by Candesha Scott in 2016 at the Carifta Games. After an absence from competition, Colleen returned to competition in 2017. She took part in the revived Whitsuntide games and then the OECS Track and Field Championships which were both held at the Kirani James Athletic Stadium in Grenada.
Simone Cairoli is an Italian male decathlete, who won six national championships. In 2017 with his personal best had reached the 5th place in the national all-time lists and 52nd place in the seasonal world lists.
Noor Vidts is a Belgian athlete competing in the combined events. She is the 2022 World Indoor pentathlon champion, with the current Belgian national record of 4929 points. Vidts placed fourth in the heptathlon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She won the bronze medal in the event at the 2017 Summer Universiade.
