From Phil Mulkey to Risto Lillemets - 3000th performance in decathlon history to surpass the magical 8000‑point barrier (0)

3000 times over 8000 points in decathlon history

Last weekend in Tallinn, Estonian decathlete Risto Lillemets became the 3000th decathlete performance to surpass the magical 8000‑point barrier – according to the current (1985) scoring tables. This milestone was first achieved by American Phil Mulkey on 17 June 1961 in Memphis, when he scored 8050 points. Since that day, 483 different decathletes have exceeded this dream mark a combined 3000 times, with the following national breakdown:

On the all‑time list, Roman Šebrle (CZE) leads with 49 over‑8000 performances, ahead of Tomaš Dvorak and Romain Barras with 35 each. In Germany, the national record is shared by former East German all‑rounders Christian Schenk and Uwe Freimuth (24 each), with Kai Kazmirek close behind (23).

There have been 120 decathlons over 8000 points with hand timing – the best of these exactly 50 years ago, when Bruce Jenner scored 8429h points on 10 August 1975 at the legendary USA–USSR–Poland Decathlon Meet in Eugene.

Interestingly, the exact score of 8000 points has been recorded most often – 22 times – followed by 8002, 8004, 8032, and 8037 points, each of which has occurred 17 times.

Jens Schulze for Decathlon 2000