A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek hepta (seven) 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.
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60 m. The flat race was 200 m until 1976 and thereafter 800 m. In elite-level outdoor competition, the pentathlon was superseded in 1981 by the heptathlon, which has seven events, with both 200 m and 800 m, as well as the javelin throw.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.
Siegfried "Siggi" Wentz is a German former track and field athlete who competed in the decathlon. He is the 1984 Olympic bronze medallist, and a two-time World Championship medallist.
Christian Plaziat is a retired French decathlete. During his career he won the European Championships, the European Indoor Championships and the World Indoor Championships.
In track and field, wind assistance is the benefit that an athlete receives during a race or event as registered by a wind gauge. Wind is one of many forms of weather which can affect sport.
Ashton James Eaton is a retired American decathlete and two-time Olympic champion, who holds the world record in the indoor heptathlon event. Eaton was the second decathlete to break the 9,000-point barrier in the decathlon, with 9,039 points, a score he bettered on August 29, 2015, when he beat his own world record with a score of 9,045 points. His world record was broken by Frenchman Kévin Mayer on September 16, 2018 with a total of 9,126 points, who became the third man to pass the 9,000-point barrier.
Athletics records progressions outline the lineage and improvement of the best ratified marks in a particular athletics event.
The 29th edition of the annual Hypo-Meeting took place on 31 May and 1 June 2003 in Götzis, Austria. The track and field competition, featuring a decathlon (men) and a heptathlon (women) event, was part of the 2003 IAAF World Combined Events Challenge.
The 27th edition of the annual Hypo-Meeting took place on May 26 and May 27, 2001 in Götzis, Austria. The track and field competition, featuring a decathlon (men) and a heptathlon (women) event, was part of the 2001 IAAF World Combined Events Challenge. Roman Šebrle set a world record in the men's decathlon with 9026 points.
The 25th edition of the annual Hypo-Meeting took place on May 29 and May 30, 1999 in Götzis, Austria. The track and field competition, featuring a decathlon (men) and a heptathlon (women) event, was part of the 1999 IAAF World Combined Events Challenge. Tomáš Dvořák set a new meet record with a total number of 8738 points in the men's decathlon.
Aleksandr Nevskiy is a retired male decathlete from the Soviet Union. He set his personal best when finishing as runner-up at the annual Hypo-Meeting in Götzis on 20 May 1984. He took part in the World Championships in Athletics on two occasions, with his best result of sixth place coming at the inaugural event in 1983.
Robert Jacob "Jake" Arnold is a decathlete from the United States. He represented the United States in the decathlon at the 2007 and 2009 World Championships ranking 13th and 24th respectively. He became the first athlete to win back-to-back NCAA decathlon titles in over twenty years after winning the event in both 2006 and 2007.
The men's heptathlon at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships took place March 9 and 10 at the Ataköy Athletics Arena. 8 athletes from 7 countries participated. American Ashton Eaton won with a world record points total of 6645, breaking his own previous record of 6568.
The following table shows the women's heptathlon world record progression starting in 1978 and ratified by the IAAF from June 1981. The first score in the table indicates the score using the tables in use at the time, the second score is based on tables currently in use.
Viktor Gruzenkin is a retired Soviet decathlete. His personal record in the decathlon is 8356 points, set in Kiev in 1984. On February 17–18, 1979 he set the world record in the Indoor Heptathlon at 5934 points, which he held for over a year, surpassing the record of Guido Kratschmer who had recently won the silver medal in the 1976 Olympics behind Bruce Jenner.
Combined events at the Summer Olympics have been contested in several formats at the multi-sport event. There are two combined track and field events in the current Olympic athletics programme: a men's decathlon and a women's heptathlon.
