Women's decathlon (15)

• Women’s decathlon all-time list >6000 points
  updated 12 Apr 2026 • by Erkki Kiilunen
• Finnish women’s decathlon all-time list >4500 points
  updated 09 Oct 2023 • by Erkki Kiilunen
• Women’s decathlon World Championships 2025 – Geneva, Ohio
  updated 18 Aug 2025 • by Erkki Kiilunen

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At major championships, women’s combined events are contested primarily as the heptathlon, while the pentathlon was previously used before 1980.

Women’s decathlon overview

The women’s decathlon is a combined events athletics discipline in which athletes compete across ten track and field events over two days. It follows the same structural principles as the men’s decathlon and is designed to test speed, strength, endurance, technique, and overall athletic versatility across multiple disciplines.

The women’s decathlon is contested in selected international competitions and special events, and it forms part of the evolving development of combined events athletics alongside the heptathlon and pentathlon.

Events in the women’s decathlon

The women’s decathlon consists of ten disciplines over two days:

• Day 1: 100 metres, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 metres
• Day 2: 100 metres hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, 1500 metres

Each performance is converted into points using standardized combined events scoring tables, with final rankings determined by the total accumulated score across all ten events.

Competition format and scoring

The women’s decathlon uses the same standardized scoring system as other combined events disciplines, allowing performances across different events to be compared on a common points scale. This ensures balanced evaluation of sprinting, jumping, throwing, and middle-distance performances within a single competition format.

Equipment and discipline differences

Compared to men’s combined events, the women’s decathlon uses lighter implements in throwing events such as the shot put, discus, and javelin. Sprint hurdles are also adjusted, with lower hurdle heights in the 100 metres hurdles event.

Although the women’s ten-event decathlon has been officially recognised by World Athletics since 2004, it has not yet replaced the heptathlon at the Olympic Games and World Championships.

The first women’s decathlon world record was recognised in 2004.

Marie Collonvillé (FRA) was the first World Athletics-recognised world record holder in the women’s decathlon. Her mark of 8160 points, set in Talence on 26 September 2004, was surpassed by Austra Skujytė on 15 April 2005.

Austra Skujytė is a Lithuanian athlete who has competed in both the heptathlon and the decathlon. On 15 April 2005 in Columbia, Missouri, she set a new women’s decathlon world record with 8358 points.

Her individual performances included: 100 m – 12.49, long jump – 6.12 m, shot put – 16.42 m, high jump – 1.78 m, 400 m – 57.19, 100 m hurdles – 14.22, discus – 46.19 m, pole vault – 3.10 m, javelin – 48.78 m, 1500 m – 5:15.86.