The icosathlon, also called double decathlon, is an ultra combined events of track and field competition consisting of 20 events. The word "icosathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "decathlon", from Greek εἴκοσι (eíkosi, meaning "twenty") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "contest" or “prize”).

Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not by the position achieved.

The icosathlon is contested mainly by male athletes, while female athletes mostly compete in the tetradecathlon. The event is overseen by the International Association for Ultra Multievents (IAUM), which also holds the tetradecathlon based on the women's heptathlon.

The men's world record for the standard icosathlon of 14,571 is held by Joseph Detmer of the United States.World Records – I A U M : International Association for Ultra Multievents The women's world record of 11,653 is held by Lauren Kuntz from the United States.

Format Men's icosathlon The vast majority of men's icosathlons are divided into a two-day competition, with the track and field events held in the order below.

Day 1 100 metres Long jump 200 metres hurdles Shot put 5000 metres pause of 1 hour 800 metres High jump 400 metres Hammer throw 3000 metres steeplechase

Day 2 110 metres hurdles Discus throw 200 metres Pole vault 3000 metres pause of 1 hour 400 metres hurdles Javelin throw 1500 metres Triple jump 10000 metres

Each event is scored according to the decathlon scoring tables or, for non-decathlon events, the World Athletics points tables. At the conclusion of each icosathlon, the competitor with the highest point total is declared the winner.

Women's icosathlon At major championships, the women's equivalent of the icosathlon is the fourteen-event tetradecathlon. Women's disciplines differ from men's in the same way as for standalone events: the shot, hammer, discus and javelin weigh less, and the sprint hurdles use lower hurdles over 100 m rather than 110 m, over 400m hurdles and 3000m steeple. The points tables used are the same as for the heptathlon and women's decathlon in the shared events. The schedule of events is identical to the men's icosathlon.

One day icosathlon One-day icosathlons also exist, with the same program of events succeeding each other more quickly, but respecting the one hour pause of midday between the 3000m steeple and the 110m hurdles.

The world record holder is the Belgian athlete Frederic Xhonneux, who achieved 12,363 points at a meeting in Heiloo, Netherlands, the 27th of June 2015.One-day icosathlon Results Heiloo 2015

As a woman, the British athlete Kelly Rodmell established the best performance of all-time with 10,275 points at a meeting in Helsinki, Finland, the 25th of May 2005.

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, American Kip Janvrin in the M35 division has set his score at 14,793 points.

World records Men Icosathlon : 14571 points – – 2010 (Lynchburg, USA)

Women Icosathlon : 11653 points – – 2023 (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA)

+ World records details Day 1 100m Long jump 200m H Shot put 5000m 800m High jump 400m Hammer throw 3000m SC ♂ 10.93 7.30m 24.25 12.27m 18:25.32 2:02.23 1.98m 50.43 31.82m 11:22.47 – ♀ 13.55 4.82m 30.27 8.36m 20:45.64 2:24.64 1.49m 61.37 24.18m 12:48.28 – Day 2 110m H Discus throw 200m Pole vault 3000m 400m H Javelin throw 1500m Triple jump 10000m Total ♂ 15.01 40.73m 22.58 4.85m 10:25.49 53.83 51.95m 4:26.66 13.67m 40:27.26 14571 pts ♀ 16.23 23.46m 28.35 3.50m 11:39.05 70.16 20.71m 5:22.77 9.91m 46:26.39 11653 pts

This table of records is not officially acknowledged by the World Athletics but is considered by the International Association for Ultra Multievents (IAUM) as the best performance of all time since the foundation of the discipline in 1981.International Association for Ultra Multievents

Area records ContinentScoreAthleteDatePlace North America 14571Joseph Detmer25–26 September 2010Lynchburg, USA Europe 13906 Indrek Kaseorg 12–13 September 1992 Turku, Finland Asia 12393Kouki Someya11–12 October 2014Katsuura, Japan Oceania 12088David Purdon4–5 June 2005Vienna, Austria Africa 11014Seck Leyti 7–8 October 2005Lynchburg, USA South America –

World Championships

Edition Year City Country Date Winner Score 1990 Espoo 22–23 September 13213 1991 Punkalaidun 21–22 September 14086 1992 Punkalaidun 12–13 September 14274 1993 Punkalaidun 11–12 September 12509 1994 Punkalaidun 10–11 September 12378 1995 Punkalaidun 9–10 September 12023 1996 Punkalaidun 7–8 September 12111 1997 Punkalaidun 6–7 September 11774 1998 Punkalaidun 5–6 September 11929 1999 Punkalaidun 4–5 September 11722 2000 Hexham 23–24 September 12409 2001 Hexham 22–23 September 11275 2002 Turku 7–8 September 14185 2003 Sankt Pölten 4–5 October 11672 2004 Gateshead 21–22 August 12784 2005 Lynchburg, Virginia 7–8 October 11682 2006 Bendigo 14–15 October 11931 2007 Jyväskylä 25–26 August 12004 2008 Scheeßel 2–3 August 11877 2009 Delft 12–13 September 11605 2010 Lynchburg, Virginia 24–25 September 14571 2011 Lisse 20–21 August 10824 2012 Turnhout 30 June – 1 July 11316 2013 Yeovil 24–25 August 11550 EC 2014 Lodi 6–7 September 12196 WI 2014 Delft 13–14 September 13099 2015 Tartu 22–23 August 11763 EC 2016 Cambridge 27–28 August 11464 WI 2016 Delft 10–11 September 10729 2017 Turnhout 26–27 August (U23) 11769 11356 2018 Delft 25–26 August 11981 2019 Helsinki 24–25 August 10101 * 2021 Épinal 21–22 August 11342 10941 WI 2022 Delft 10–11 September 8822 10148 2023 Turnhout 8–9 July 12042 WI+ 2023 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 22–23 July 11653

EC – European Championships (non-World Championship year)

WI – World Invitational (non-World Championship year)

* Inaugural Icosathlon World Championship for Women

+ In response to women being barred from competition at the 30th World Championships, an additional invitational event, "Ico For All", was organized.

World Championship medal totals

NOTE: Only medal totals for senior men since 1990.

Indoor equivalent For indoor ultra-multievent meetings, all competitors compete in an indoor tetradecathlon, spanning 14 events over 2 days. Unlike in outdoor ultra multi event competitions, the number and order of events is the same for both genders.

Competitions The IAUM sponsors an icosathlon and tetradecathlon every year at the IAUM World Championships. The 2012 World Championships were held in Turnhout, Belgium.International Association for Ultra Multievents In addition, a variety of other icosathlon events are held, most notably the annual Dutch Double Decathlon, held in Delft, Netherlands. The 2015 event was held 19–20 September. The 5th European Championships were held on 6 and 7 September 2014 in Lodi, Lombardy, Italy (near Milan). The last European Championships was held the 27–28 August 2016 in Cambridge, England. The 2017 event was held in Turnhout, Belgium and 2018 in Delft, Netherlands. The 2021 World championship (29th) was held for the first time in France in Épinal. The last World championship (30th) was held again in Turnhout, Belgium, the 8–9 July 2023.

References

External links International Association for Ultra Multievents (IAUM official website)