The icosathlon, also called the double decathlon, is an ultra multi-event of

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

competition consisting of 20 events contested over two days. There is an extra rule, that each day should contain a pause of one hour. Mostly the competition is held over two days, but one-day icosathlons also exist. The first day of the standard icosathlon includes: *

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

Long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

* 200 metres hurdles *

Shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

* pause *

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

High jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

Hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...

* 3000 meter steeplechase On the second day of the standard icosathlon, the following events are contested: *

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hur ...

Discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

Pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

* pause *

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

Javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

Triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

* 10000 m Each event is scored according to the

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

scoring tables or, for non-decathlon events, the

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

points tables. At the conclusion of each icosathlon, the competitor with the highest point total is declared the winner. The event is overseen by the

International Association for Ultra Multievents International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

(IAUM), which also holds the

tetradecathlon The tetradecathlon is a 14-event form of athletics. The International Association for Ultra Multievents (IAUM) is in charge of it and runs the World Championships for it alongside the Icosathlon. The event is also called the double heptathlon. The ...

based on the women's

heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

. The men's world record for the standard icosathlon of 14,571 is held by

Joseph Detmer Joseph "Joe" Detmer (born November 3, 1983) is an American athlete, competing in the icosathlon, decathlon and heptathlon. Career In 2010, after he won the Thorpe Cup and became third at the USA national championships decathlon, Joe Detmer c ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The women's world record of 11,091 is held by Kelly Rodmell.

World Championships

EC – European Championships (non-World Championship year) WI - World Invitational (non-World Championship year) '*Inaugural Icosathlon World Championship for Women

World Championship Medal Totals

NOTE: Only Medal totals since 1990.

Indoor equivalent

For indoor ultra-multievent meetings, all competitors compete in an indoor tetradecathlon, spanning 14 events over 2 days. These events are as follows: Day 1 * 60m dash *

* 800m *

* 400m *

3000m The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

Day 2 * 60m hurdles *

* 1500m *

Weight throw Two sports have events that fall under the name of weight throw one being the track and field event and the other being the Scottish highland games events. The track and field event is most popular in the United States as an indoor equivalent t ...

200m The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a Sprint (running), sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run th ...

5000m The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Athletics at the Summer Olympics, Olympic Games and the World Championships in At ...

Unlike in outdoor ultra multi event competitions, the number and order of events is the same for both genders.

Records

Men * Icosathlon : 14571 points - - 2010 (Lynchburg, USA) * Indoor Tetradecathlon : 8478 points - - 2018 (Helsinki, Finland) Women * Icosathlon : 11091 points - - 2004 (Melbourne, Australia) * Outdoor Tetradecathlon : 10798 points - - 2002 (Turku, Finland) * Indoor Tetradecathlon : 7925 points - - 2016 (Helsinki, Finland) This table of records is not officially acknowledged by the

but is considered by the International Association for Ultra Multievents (IAUM) as the best performance of all time since the foundation of the discipline in 1981.

Competitions

The IAUM sponsors an icosathlon and tetradecathlon every year at the IAUM World Championships. The 2012 World Championships were held in

Turnhout Turnhout () is a Belgium, Belgian Municipalities in Belgium, municipality and city located in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the city of Turnhout proper. ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. In addition, a variety of other icosathlon events are held, most notably the annual Dutch Double Decathlon, held in

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The 2015 event was held 19–20 September. The last European Championships were held on 6 and 7 September 2014 in Lodi,

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

(near

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

). The upcoming European Championships was held from 27–28 August 2016 in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The 2017 event was held in Turnhout, Belgium and 2018 in Delft, Netherlands. The 2019 championship was held in Helsinki, Finland and the 2021 event was held in Épinal, France.

References

{{Reflist

External links

International Association for Ultra Multievents (IAUM official website)
Combined track and field events