Which sports are in the heptathlon?
With seven disciplines to master, heptathletes are not like other athletes.
As the decathlon is to men’s athletics, the heptathlon serves as an ultimate test of all-round athleticism in elite women’s sport.
Skill, speed, strength and agility – heptathletes must have it all, across seven different track and field events, if they hope to make it to the top.
The heptathlon made its Olympic debut at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, replacing the five-event pentathlon that women had competed in at that level since the 1964 Olympics.
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Team GB has produced its fair share of world-class heptathletes over the years, from Sydney 2000 Olympic champion Denise Lewis to two-time bronze medal winner Kelly Sotherton, but two names will spring to the minds of many: Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
Before her retirement in 2016, Ennis-Hill captured three World Championship titles and a coveted Olympic gold at her London 2012 home Games.
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Johnson-Thompson, who ranks just ahead of her fellow Brit on the all-time heptathlon performer list, has won two World Championships of her own – including in 2023 – and heads into her fourth Olympics at Paris 2024 looking to clinch an elusive first Olympic medal.
RadioTimes.com explains the seven sports involved and how the heptathlon works.
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Which sports are in the heptathlon?
The heptathlon is made up of seven track and field events split across a two-day programme at the Olympics.
These are, in order:
Day One
- 100m hurdles
- High jump
- Shot put
- 200m
Day Two
- Long jump
- Javelin
- 800m
Like in the decathlon – the equivalent all-round showcase for men consisting of 10 events – heptathletes earn points based on how their performance in each event stacks up against a pre-determined "benchmark".
An athlete’s seven points scores are then tallied up to find the overall winner by way of who has accumulated the most points across all events combined.
A joint winner is declared if athletes end the competition tied on points, while there is a leeway of one false start in track events before you’re disqualified. Every athlete gets three attempts at each of the shot put, javelin and long jump.
When it comes to the all-time performances in women’s heptathlon, one athlete reigns supreme: Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
The American star still holds the women’s heptathlon world record with her mark of 7,291 points from the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, while she also currently owns the next five highest points scores in history as well, all from between 1986 and 1992 – truly ahead of her time.
Retired Swedish heptathlete and 2004 Olympic gold medallist Carolina Klüft has the second highest all-time personal best among heptathletes, followed closely by the current two-time reigning Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium.
Alongside Joyner-Kersee (1988 and 1992), Thiam is the only athlete in history with back-to-back Olympic heptathlon titles. She was also so good at the high jump en route to her Rio 2016 gold that she would have won the individual event that year, too.
The most recent entry in the rankings is Anna Hall from the US, who in May 2023 put together the best performance since Thiam in 2017 to place herself fifth all-time.
That sees Hall currently occupy top spot in the heptathlon world rankings as of April 2024, just ahead of Thiam (third) and GB household name Johnson-Thompson (second).
It’s worth noting that there also exists a men’s heptathlon, which is held indoors and at World Championship level - but it is not on the Olympic schedule, with men instead contesting the decathlon.
The men’s indoor heptathlon involves the following seven events, in order: (day one) 60m, long jump, shot put, high jump and (day two) 60m hurdles, pole vault, 1000m.
The world record holder for the men’s indoor heptathlon is Ashton Eaton, a two-time Olympic champion and former world record holder in the decathlon, with his score of 6,645 points back in 2012.
There’s plenty of crossover in the all-time rankings with that of the decathlon, with Canada’s reigning Olympic champion Damian Warner, Frenchman and decathlon world record holder Kevin Mayer, and former Czech world record holder Roman Šebrle all in the top seven in men’s heptathlon history.
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