RIAN archive 399455 1980 Summer Olympics Champion Nadezhda Tkachenko crop

The pentathlon or women's pentathlon is a combined track and field event in which each woman competes in five separate events over one day (formerly two days). The distance or time for each event is converted to points via scoring tables, with the overall ranking determined by total points. Since 1949 the events have been sprint

hurdling Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

, high jump,

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 ...

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 ...

, and a flat race. The sprint hurdles distance was 80 m outdoors until 1969 and thereafter 100 m; in

indoor Indoor(s) may refer to: *the interior of a building *Indoor environment, in building science, traditionally includes the study of indoor thermal environment, indoor acoustic environment, indoor light environment, and indoor air quality *Built envi ...

pentathlon the distance is 60 m. The flat race was 200 m until 1976 and thereafter 800 m. In elite-level outdoor competition, the pentathlon was superseded in 1981 by the heptathlon, which has seven events, with both 200 m and 800 m, as well as the

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 ...

. Pentathlon is still contested at school and masters level and indoors.

History

The word '' pentathlon'' is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''pente'' (five) and ''athlon'' (contest). The

ancient Olympic pentathlon The Ancient Olympic pentathlon ( gr, πένταθλον) was an athletic contest at the Ancient Olympic Games, and other Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. The name derives from Greek, combining the words ''pente'' (five) and ''athlon'' (compet ...

comprised a sprint, the javelin and discus throws, long jump, and wrestling. The modern pentathlon is a multi-sport event. In men's track and field, pentathlon competitions were held in the 20th century, but the ten-event

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 ...

became the standard multi-event contest. The

International Women's Sports Federation The Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale (FSFI) – or, in English, the International Women's Sports Federation – was founded in October 1921 by Alice Milliat because of the unwillingness of existing sports organisations, such a ...

was established in 1921 and the first reported pentathlon was in the 1922 Women's Olympiad in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

. The events were: 60 m, 300 m, high jump, two-hand javelin, and two-hand shot. In the late 1920s, the events were: shot and long jump on the first day, and 100 m, high jump, and javelin on the second day. The first world record recognised by the

IAAF 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 ...

was set at the 1934 Women's World Games by

Gisela Mauermayer Gisela Mauermayer (24 November 1913 in Munich – 9 January 1995 in Munich) was a German athlete who competed mainly in the discus. She won the gold medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, Germany Germany,, offic ...

. From 1949 the events were: shot, high jump, and 200 m on the first day; 80 m hurdles and long jump on the second. The scoring tables were changed in 1954, and again in 1971. In 1961, the order of the events was changed to: 80 m hurdles, shot, and high jump on the first day; long jump and 200 m on the second, in 1971 the 80 m hurdles were changed to 100 m hurdles. From 1977 all were contested in a single day. Pentathlon was contested at the

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for men ...

from 1950 to 1978, and at the Olympics from 1964 until 1980. The IAAF has not ratified

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

in outdoor pentathlon since replacing it in 1981 with the heptathlon.

Indoors

The pentathlon is still held indoors, where the heptathlon cannot be held as arenas are too small for the

. It was added to the

IAAF World Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

as an unofficial event in 1993 and officially in 1995. The indoor pentathlon is held over a one-day period. Each athlete completes one event at the same time, then there is a 30-minute break until the next event. The current world record is 5013 points by

Nataliya Dobrynska Nataliya Dobrynska ( uk, Наталія Добринська; born 29 May 1982) is a retired Ukrainian heptathlete. She is the 2008 Olympic champion and also holds the heptathlon best in the shot put. Her indoor pentathlon best of 5013 points ...

at the 2012 World Indoor Championships.

All-time top 25

(60 m hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump, 800m) *Correct as of March 2022.

Notes

Below is a list of scores equal or superior to 4867 pts: *

Katarina Johnson-Thompson Katarina Mary Johnson-Thompson (born 9 January 1993) is an English athlete primarily known as an elite multi-eventer, both as a heptathlete and an indoor pentathlete. She has been World Champion in both disciplines, and a double Commonwealth ...

also scored 4983 (2019). *

Carolina Klüft Carolina Evelyn Klüft (; born 2 February 1983) is a retired Swedish track and field athlete who competed in the heptathlon, triple jump, long jump, and pentathlon. She was an Olympic Champion, having won the heptathlon title in 2004. She was al ...

also scored 4944 (2007), 4933 (2003). *

Jessica Ennis-Hill Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill (born 28 January 1986) is a British retired track and field athlete from England, specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, ...

also scored 4937 (2010). * Natallia Dobrynska also scored 4880 (2012). *

Nafissatou Thiam Nafissatou "Nafi" Thiam (; born 19 August 1994) is a Belgian Sport of athletics, athlete specializing in multi-event competition. Thiam is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning the heptathlon event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016 and 2020 ...

also scored 4870 (2017). *

Tia Hellebaut Tia Hellebaut (; born 16 February 1978 in Antwerp) is a retired Belgian track and field athlete, as well as a chemist, who started out in her sports career in the heptathlon, and afterwards specialized in the high jump event. She has cleared 2.05 ...

also scored 4867 (2008).

Annulled marks

* Tatyana Chernova of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

's score of 4855 pts was annulled due to doping offence. *

Anastasiya Mokhnyuk Anastasiya Mokhnyuk ( uk, Анастасія Мохнюк, born 1 January 1991) is a Ukrainian athlete who specialises in the heptathlon. She competed in the 2015 World Championships in Athletics – Women's heptathlon, heptathlon event at the 20 ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

's score of 4847 pts was annulled due to doping offence.

World record progression

World records (WR) compared to Pentathlon Bests (PB)

Olympic medalists

World Indoor Championships medalists

Season's bests

Contemporary outdoor pentathlon

As well as indoor events at all levels, outdoor pentathlon is still common in

high school athletics Amateur sports are sports in which participants engage largely or entirely without remuneration. The distinction is made between amateur sporting participants and professional sports, professional sporting participants, who are paid for the time ...

. It is simply a smaller version of the

or a heptathlon. For girls, it is 100 m high hurdles, long jump, shot put, high jump, and an 800 m run. The pentathlon is used because it is less stressful on the athletes than a full multi and because many high school meets only last one day, it allows the event to be contested in the time limit.

References

External links

Women's indoor pentathlon rankings
from

IAAF list of Women's pentathlon records in XML

Women, Pentathlon/Heptathlon
''Track and Field Statistics'', including: {{Athletics events Pentathlon

Women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

Pentathlon Pentathlon Pentathlon Indoor track and field