Failing in just one event can end a decathlete's entire competition, with no points scored and no chance of recovery - no matter how well they've performed elsewhere.
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,
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.
Jiri Ryba achieved 6th place at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, Canada, scoring 8332 points. He secured a bronze medal at the 1995 European Junior Championships in Nyíregyháza, Hungary, with 7271 points.
Michael Schrader won the silver medal at the World Championships in Moscow 2013, becoming the first German decathlete to make it to the podium at the World Championships since Frank Busemann took the bronze medal in Athens 1997.
In April 2016, Karl Robert Saluri achieved a major breakthrough by scoring 8108 points ‐ a personal best that surpassed the Olympic qualifying standard (8100), improving his previous record by more than 600 points and earning him European
Niklas Kaul set a World record with U20 implements of 8435 points when winning the decathlon at the European Championships in Grosseto 2017. He became the youngest decathlon World champion in history at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in
In February 2025, Sander Skotheim scored 6484 points to break the European heptathlon record, scoring 6484. In March 2025, he won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships and broke his own European
The discipline and training applied by decathletes have always been regarded by me as the ultimate in athletic dedication. Whilst it is of course always a huge honour for any decathlete to achieve the ultimate status of World Champion, I cannot help but regard all those who dedicate themselves to this most gruelling of athletic disciplines as Champions - unknown person