A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek ἑπτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.
There are two heptathlons – the men's and the women's heptathlon – composed of different events. The men's heptathlon is older and is currently held indoors, contested at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics. The women's heptathlon is held outdoors and was introduced in the 1980s, first appearing in the Olympics in 1984. It is currently contested in the athletics programme of the Olympics and at the World Athletics Championships.
Women's heptathlon Women's heptathlon is the combined event for women contested in the athletics programme of the Olympics and at the World Athletics Championships. The World Athletics Combined Events Tour determines a yearly women's heptathlon champion. The women's outdoor heptathlon consists of the following events, with the first four contested on the first day, and the remaining three on day two:
100 metres hurdles High jump Shot put 200 metres Long jump Javelin throw 800 metres
The heptathlon has been contested by female athletes since the early 1980s, when it replaced the pentathlon as the primary women's combined event contest (the javelin throw and 200 m were added). It was first contested at the Olympic level in the 1984 Summer Olympics. In recent years some women's decathlon competitions have been conducted, consisting of the same events as the men's competition in a slightly different order, and World Athletics has begun keeping records for it, but the heptathlon remains the championship-level combined event for women. Nafissatou Thiam, representing Belgium, is the 2024 Olympic Gold Medallist, after successfully defending her previous 2016 and 2020 titles. Anna Hall, representing USA, is the current World Champion. Kate O'Connor, representing Ireland, is the current European Champion and also the current Commonwealth Champion (representing Northern Ireland). Odile Ahouanwanou. Yekaterina Voronina, Kiara Reddingius, Luisarys Toledo and Ariana Ince hold the African, Asian, Oceanian, South American and NACAC (North American, Central American and Caribbean) titles respectively. Adriana Rodríguez, Marthe Koala, Swapna Barman and Elenani Tinai hold the Panamerican Games, African Games, Asian Games and Pacific Games titles respectively.Holders correct as of 2020. The European Games does not feature a heptathlon event.
There is also a Tetradecathlon, which is a double heptathlon, consisting of 14 events, seven events per day.
Points system The heptathlon scoring system was devised by Dr Karl Ulbrich, a Viennese mathematician. The formulae are constructed so that, for each event, a designated benchmark performance (for example, approximately 1.82 m for the high jump) scores 1000 points."London 2012: Jessica Ennis leads heptathlon after first day", The Guardian, 3 August 2012 Each event also has a minimum recordable performance level (e.g. 0.75 m for the high jump), corresponding to zero points. The formulae are devised so that successive constant increments in performance correspond to gradually increasing increments in points awarded.
The events are split into three groups, and the scores are calculated according to the three formulae:
Running events (200 m, 800 m and 100 m hurdles): ) Jumping events (high jump and long jump): ) Throwing events (shot put and javelin): )
P is points, T is time in seconds, M is height or distance in centimeters and D is distance in meters. INT is the integer function, also known as the floor function, signifying that the result is rounded down to the nearest lower (or equal) whole number. a, b and c have different values for each of the events, as follows:
Eventabc200 metres4.9908742.51.81800 metres0.111932541.88100 metres hurdles9.2307626.71.835High jump1.84523751.348Long jump0.1888072101.41Shot put56.02111.51.05Javelin throw15.98033.81.04
Benchmarks The following table shows the benchmark levels needed to earn 1000, 900, 800 and 700 points in each event.
Event 1000 pts 900 pts 800 pts 700 pts Unit 100 m hurdles 13.85 14.56 15.32 16.12 Seconds High jump 1.82 1.74 1.66 1.57 Metres Shot put 17.07 15.58 14.09 12.58 Metres 200 m 23.80 24.86 25.97 27.14 Seconds Long jump 6.48 6.17 5.84 5.50 Metres Javelin throw 57.18 52.04 46.87 41.68 Metres 800 m 2:07.63 2:14.52 2:21.77 2:29.47 Minutes:Seconds
Women's world records compared with heptathlon bests +World records (WR) compared with heptathlon bests (HB) Event Type Athlete Record Score Difference in points value Date Place Notes/ 100 m hurdles WR Masai Russell 12.09 s 1265 HB Jessica Ennis 12.54 s 1195 −70 3 August 2012 London High jump WR Yaroslava Mahuchikh 2.10 m 1373 HB Nafissatou Thiam 2.02 m 1264 −109 22 June 2019 Talence Shot put WR Natalya Lisovskaya 22.63 m 1378 HB Austra Skujytė 17.31 mIn 1977, Eva Wilms threw 20.79 m during a pentathlon event, which is sometimes referred to as the heptathlon best. 1016 −362 3 August 2012 London 200 m WR Florence Griffith Joyner 21.34 s 1251 HB Jackie Joyner Kersee 22.30 s 1150 −101 15 July 1988 Indianapolis Long jump WR Galina Chistyakova 7.52 m 1351 HB Jackie Joyner Kersee 7.27 m 1264 −87 24 September 1988 Seoul JavelinWomen's javelin was redesigned in 1999 and all records started afresh. Point allocation for Heptathlon remained the same, but the comparison is being made between the WR and Heptathlon best of the current model. WR Barbora Špotáková 72.28 m 1295 Current 1999 model HB Barbora Špotáková 60.90 m 1072 −223 16 September 2012 Talence Current 1999 model WR Petra Felke 80.00 m 1448 Old model HB Tessa Sanderson 64.64 m 1145 −303 Old model 800 m WR Jarmila Kratochvílová 1:53.28 min:s 1224 HB Anna Hall 2:01.23 min:s 1097 −127 1 June 2025 Götzis Total World record 9137 Heptathlon bests 8058 −1079
Indoor heptathlon
The other heptathlon discipline is an indoor competition, normally contested by men only. It is the men's combined event in the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics. The indoor heptathlon consists of the following events, with the first four contested on the first day, and remaining three on day two:
60 metres long jump shot put high jump 60 metres hurdles pole vault 1000 metres
The scoring is similar for both disciplines. In each event, the athlete scores points for their performance in each event according to scoring tables issued by World Athletics. The athlete accumulating the highest number of points wins the competition.
The indoor heptathlon is also rarely contested by women; at the 2024 indoor X-Athletics meeting, French combined events athlete Noémi Desailly won the indoor women's heptathlon with 5761 points while Jordyn Bruce set an unofficial American record in 2nd. It was labeled the first indoor women's heptathlon.
Benchmarks The following table shows the minimum benchmark levels required to earn 1000 points in each event.
Event 1000pts Units 60 m 6.67 Seconds Long jump 7.76 Metres Shot put 18.40 Metres High jump 2.21 Metres 60 m hurdles 7.92 Seconds Pole vault 5.29 Metres 1000 m 2:29.00 Minutes:Seconds
Men's world records compared with heptathlon bests +World indoor records (WR) compared with heptathlon bests (HB) Event Type Athlete Record Score Difference in points value 60 m WR Christian Coleman 6.34 s 1130 HB Chris Huffins 6.61 s 1026 −104 Long jump WR Carl Lewis 8.79 m 1268 HB Simon Ehammer 8.26 m 1128 −140 Shot put WR Ryan Crouser 22.82 m 1276 HB Aleksey Drozdov 17.17 m 924 −352 High jump WR Javier Sotomayor 2.43 m 1223 HB Derek Drouin 2.30 m 1091 −132 60 m hurdles WR Grant Holloway 7.27 s 1174 HB Simon Ehammer 7.52 s 1106 −68 Pole vault WR Armand Duplantis 6.31 m 1335 HB Alex Averbukh 5.60 m 1100 −235 1000 m WR Ayanleh Souleiman 2:14.20 min:s 1182 HB Curtis Beach 2:23.63 min:s 1064 −118 Total World record 8588 Heptathlon bests 7418 −1170
Area records Updated 20 May 2026.
+Women's heptathlon Area Score Season Athlete World 7291 1988 Area records Africa 6423 2005 Asia 6942 1996 Europe 7032 2007 North, Central Americaand Caribbean 7291 1988 Oceania 6695 1990 South America 6475 2025
+Men's indoor heptathlon Area Score Season Athlete World 6670 2026 Area records Africa 5911 2010 Asia 6229 2008 Europe 6670 2026 North, Central Americaand Caribbean 6645 2012 Oceania 6344 2022 South America 6010 2025
All-time top 25 Women
Heptathlon – women – senior – outdoor. IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-01-25. RankScoreAthleteDatePlace1729123–24 September 1988Seoul ( 12.69/+0.8 - 1.86 - 15.80 - 22.56/+1.6 / 7.27/+0.7 - 45.66 - 2:08.51 )2703225–26 August 2007Osaka ( 13.15/+0.1 - 1.95 - 14.81 - 23.38/+0.3 / 6.85/+1.0 - 47.98 - 2:12.56 )703231 May – 1 June 2025Götzis( 13.19/-1.0 - 1.95 - 14.86 - 23.37/+0.5 / 6.44/-0.1 - 46.16 - 2:01.23 )4701327–28 May 2017Götzis ( 13.34/-0.7 - 1.98 - 14.51 - 24.40/-1.6 / 6.56/+0.8 - 59.32 - 2:15.24 )5700710–11 June 1989Bryansk ( 13.40/+1.4 - 1.89 - 16.45 - 23.97/+1.1 / 6.73/+4.0 - 53.94 - 2:15.31 )6698530–31 May 1992Götzis ( 13.11/-0.4 - 1.93 - 14.84 - 23.65/+2.0 / 6.63/+2.9 - 51.62 - 2:12.67 )769812–4 October 2019Doha ( 13.09/+0.6 - 1.95 - 13.86 - 23.08/+1.0 / 6.77/+0.2 - 43.93 - 2:07.26 )869553–4 August 2012London ( 12.54/+1.3 - 1.86 - 14.28 - 22.83/-0.3 / 6.48/-0.6 - 47.49 - 2:08.65 )969465–6 May 1984Potsdam ( 12.64/+0.3 - 1.80 - 15.37 - 23.37/+0.7 / 6.86/-0.2 - 44.62 - 2:08.93 )10694225–26 May 1996Götzis ( 13.78/+0.3 - 1.87 - 15.64 - 23.78/+0.6 / 6.77/+0.6 - 54.74 - 2:13.61 )11693518–19 June 1983Moscow ( 13.42/+1.8 - 1.82 - 15.25 - 23.49/+0.5 / 6.79/+0.7 - 49.94 - 2:07.51 )1268894–5 June 2005Arles ( 12.62/+2.9 - 1.91 - 12.61 - 24.12/+1.2 / 6.78/+3.4 - 53.07 - 2:14.66 )13686717–18 July 2022Eugene ( 13.30/+0.7 - 1.80 - 16.25 - 23.73/+1.4 / 6.52/+0.3 - 58.29 - 2:20.09 )14685920–21 June 1984Kyiv ( 12.93/+1.0 - 1.83 - 13.66 - 23.57/-0.3 / 6.73/+0.4 - 46.26 - 2:04.60 )15685823–24 September 1988Seoul ( 13.20/+0.8 - 1.83 - 14.20 - 23.10/+1.6 / 6.68/ - 44.54 - 2:04.20 )1668451–2 August 1992Barcelona ( 13.25/-0.1 - 1.88 - 13.77 - 23.34/+0.2 / 6.82/ - 41.90 - 2:05.08 )17683627–28 May 2017Götzis ( 13.09/+1.0 - 1.86 - 14.76 - 23.36/+0.7 / 6.57/+0.9 - 49.80 - 2:14.73 )18683225–26 August 2007Osaka ( 13.25/+0.1 - 1.92 - 14.44 - 24.09/+0.3 / 6.88/+1.0 - 47.77 - 2:16.68 )19683129–30 July 2000Götzis ( 13.13/+1.0 - 1.84 - 15.07 - 24.01/+3.6 / 6.69/-0.4 - 49.42 - 2:12.20 )20681927–28 June 2026Ratingen( 12.60/+0.4 - 1.75 - 14.00 - 23.00/+0.2 / 6.75/-1.1 - 47.85 - 2:11.93 )21681527–28 May 2017Götzis ( 13.10/+1.0 - 1.77 - 13.53 - 23.49/-2.9 / 6.64/+0.8 - 56.17 - 2:11.76 )22680830–31 May 2015Götzis ( 13.05/-0.2 - 1.89 - 13.73 - 23.34/+1.4 / 6.72/+0.9 - 42.96 - 2:09.37 )23680315–16 September 1984Talence ( 13.27/+1.2 - 1.87 - 15.49 - 24.15/+1.6 / 6.43/+0.2 - 51.74 - 2:13.55 )24677830–31 July 2010Barcelona ( 13.59/-1.6 - 1.86 - 15.88 - 24.23/-0.2 / 6.56/+0.3 - 49.25 - 2:12.06 )25676522–23 July 2000Tula ( 13.54/-2.8 - 1.82 - 14.30 - 23.37/-0.2 / 6.72/+1.0 - 43.40 - 2:04.27 )
Notes Below is a list of all other scores equal or superior to 6875 pts: Jackie Joyner-Kersee also scored 7215 (1988), 7158 (1986), 7148 (1986), 7128 (1987), 7044 (1992), 6979 (1987), 6910 (1986) and 6878 (1991). Carolina Klüft also scored 7001 (2003), 6952 (2004) and 6887 (2005). Anna Hall also scored 6899 (2025), 6988 (2023) and 6888 (2025). Nafissatou Thiam also scored 6947 (2022) and 6880 (2024). Jessica Ennis also scored 6906 (2012). Sabine Paetz also scored 6897 (1988). Larisa Nikitina also scored 6875 (1989).
Annulled marks Tatyana Chernova scored 6880 (2011), this performance was annulled due to doping offences.
Men
Heptathlon – men – senior – indoor. IAAF. Retrieved on 2023-01-31.