On 28 July 2026 in Ratingen, Dutch athlete Sven Jansons and Germany's Moritz Bartko became the 499th and 500th decathletes in history to surpass the legendary 8,000-point barrier. Reaching this benchmark remains one of the greatest achievements in the sport and represents a defining moment in any decathlete's career.

For combined events athletes, the 8,000-point mark carries the same prestige as clearing 8.00 metres in the long jump or running the 100 metres in under ten seconds. Only a select group of athletes worldwide have ever achieved it.

Global distribution

The United States continues to lead the all-time rankings with 97 decathletes above 8,000 points. Germany follows with 89, while Russia ranks third with 45 athletes.

Estonia occupies an impressive sixth place with 20 athletes. Considering the country's population of only 1.4 million people, Estonia stands as the world's most successful nation relative to population size.

A milestone more than six decades in the making

Using today's scoring tables (introduced in 1985), the first athlete ever to exceed 8,000 points was American Phil Mulkey, who scored 8,050 points in Memphis on 17 June 1961.

Two years later, Taiwan's Yang Chuan-kwang became the second athlete to join the exclusive club with 8,010 points. Another three years passed before Americans Russell Hodge and Bill Toomey pushed the number of athletes above the barrier to four.

Since then, the growth has accelerated dramatically, reflecting both the worldwide expansion of the men’s decathlon and continuously improving performance standards.

Youngest and oldest athletes to reach 8,000 points

The youngest athlete ever to surpass the mark remains Estonia's Valter Külvet, who scored 8,104 points at only 17 years of age in Viimsi on 23 August 1981. His exceptional career was tragically cut short when he passed away at the age of 34.

At the other end of the spectrum stands Czech legend Roman Šebrle, who became the oldest athlete to exceed 8,000 points at 37 years old, scoring 8,052 points during the 2012 European Championships in Helsinki.

Hand-timed performances

Before fully automatic timing became universal, many outstanding performances were recorded using hand timing. A total of 32 athletes achieved their personal bests under these conditions.

Among them, Russia's Aleksandr Grebenyuk recorded the highest score with 8,400 points.

New nations join the 8,000-point club

The list of nations producing an 8,000-point decathlete continues to grow.

In 2026, Nigeria joined the list through Jami Schlueter, who scored 8,024 points, while India celebrated its first athlete above the barrier when Tejaswin Shankar achieved 8,057 points, including a personal best of 2.29 metres in the high jump.

The total number of nations represented has now reached 53.

Distribution of 8,000-point decathletes by nation

Additional Nations

Growth of the 8,000-point club

The steady growth of athletes surpassing the 8,000-point barrier demonstrates the remarkable worldwide development of the men’s decathlon over the past six decades.

Explore the complete all-time rankings of 8,000-point decathletes for the six most successful nations. Each page includes every athlete who has surpassed the 8,000-point barrier, along with their best score, year of achievement, complete event-by-event results, and wind information.

• USA all-time 8,000-point decathlon rankings (97 decathletes above 8,000 points)
• Germany all-time 8,000-point decathlon rankings (89 decathletes above 8,000 points)
• Russia all-time 8,000-point decathlon rankings (45 decathletes above 8,000 points)
• France all-time 8,000-point decathlon rankings (28 decathletes above 8,000 points)
• Ukraine all-time 8,000-point decathlon rankings (21 decathletes above 8,000 points)
• Estonia all-time 8,000-point decathlon rankings (20 decathletes above 8,000 points)

Source: Jens Schulze