Ratingen’s combined events meeting began in 1997 with Olympic silver medallist Frank Busemann leading the way. His winning score of 8556 points set the standard for the inaugural decathlon, ahead of Klaus Isekenmeier’s 8310 and Stefan
A complete history of the Ratingen Mehrkampf celebrates all-time decathlon records and champions, showcasing the event’s finest performances and winners throughout the years.
Frank Busemann won Olympic decathlon silver in Atlanta 1996 with a personal best of 8706 points, including an 8. 07 m long jump and 13. 47 in the 110 m hurdles. The German decathlete followed that breakthrough with world bronze in Athens 1997,
Steve Fritz missed an Olympic medal by 20 points in Atlanta 1996. He had finished the best competition of his life, scoring 8644 points. That got him 4th place.
Stefan Schmid set his decathlon personal best of 8485 points in Ratingen in 2000 and finished ninth at the Sydney Olympics later that year. His career also included seventh ‐place finishes at the 1997 and 2001 World Championships, but his
Oleksandr Yurkov represented Ukraine in the decathlon, achieving a personal best of 8574 points in Götzis 2000. A European U23 silver medallist in Turku 1997, he went on to claim consecutive individual European Cup victories in Oulu 2000 and
Roman Šebrle became the first decathlete ever to achieve over 9000 points, setting the World Record at 9026 points (Götzis 2001), succeeding his compatriot, Tomaš Dvorak, who had scored 8994 points two years earlier (Prague 1999).
Lev Lobodin won three European decathlon bronze medals and world indoor heptathlon silver in Birmingham 2003. Having represented Ukraine before switching to Russia, he achieved a decathlon best of 8571 points in Budapest 1998 and set a Russian
Klaus Isekenmeier won the European U23 decathlon title in Turku in 1997, three years after taking silver at the U20 World Championships in Lisbon. The German decathlete set his personal best of 8310 points in Ratingen in 1997 and recorded nine
Jon Arnar Magnusson is the Icelandic record holder at 110m hurdles, long jump and decathlon. He set numerous national records, secured multiple international indoor medals in heptathlon, and consistently ranked among the world’s elite decathletes.
Kip Janvrin is the ultimate decathlete. What a remarkably enduring, high ‐quality career! Janvrin won the 1989 U. S. Olympic Festival, the 1995 Pan Am Games, the 2001 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships and a record 15 decathlons at
National decathlon records highlight the best performances ever achieved by athletes from each country, reflecting the global depth and diversity of the discipline.
How many ways can we say, “ Roman Šebrle of the Czech Republic is the world’s greatest performer ever in the century ‐old tradition of the decathlon? I can think of at least five: Šebrle’s uniqueness, longevity, consistency,
This project presents comprehensive all ‐time rankings of track and field athletes, evaluating their careers using criteria inspired by Track & Field News world rankings ‐ honors, records, consistency, and head ‐to ‐head
Rik Taam set his decathlon personal best of 8326 points in Ratingen 2023 and represented the Netherlands at the Paris 2024 Olympics. He also finished fourth at the Toruń 2021 European Indoor Championships with a heptathlon best of 6111 points.