Hall scores meeting record of 7032 in Götzis, Skotheim claims decathlon

Anna Hall moved up to equal second on the world all-time list when winning the heptathlon at the Hypo Meeting with a meeting record of 7032 on Sunday (1). Meanwhile, world indoor champion Sander Skotheim continued his remarkable 2025 campaign by winning the decathlon at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting in Götzis with 8909.

Hall jumped into the lead after the second heptathlon discipline and maintained it to the end, setting PBs in the high jump, shot put, javelin and 800m en route to her winning score. She finished 456 points ahead of Sofie Dokter of the Netherlands, who took second place with a PB of 6576 while Colombia’s Martha Araujo set a South American record of 6475 in third.

Skotheim put together a similarly stunning series across the two days of competition to smash his PB and reclaim the Norwegian record from Olympic champion Markus Rooth, setting PBs in the 100m and discus. He now sits at equal seventh on the world all-time list with his score here, which gave him victory ahead of USA's Kyle Garland (8626) and Switzerland's Simon Ehammer and Niklas Kaul (8575).

Hall back on top

US duo Erin Marsh and Michelle Atherley were the fastest in the opening discipline of the heptathlon, both clocking 12.93 to win their respective heats of the 100m hurdles. Two other women – Abigail Pawlett (12.94) and Sienna MacDonald (12.97) – finished inside 13 seconds.

Somewhat surprisingly, Annik Kalin wasn’t one of the four women to better 13 seconds, but her 13.03 clocking was still one of her fastest to date. Similarly, Hall’s 13.19 run was her best since the 2023 World Championships.

Hall then leaped into the lead – quite literally – in the high jump. She was the only athlete to get over 1.89m, which was a season’s best, but she then went on to equal her PB of 1.92m before setting a lifetime best of 1.95m, giving her an overall lead of 163 points.

European indoor silver medallist Sofie Dokter moved into second place overall, thanks to a high jump clearance of 1.86m, while USA’s Timara Chapman climbed up to third overall after jumping 1.83m.

Hall’s momentum continued into the shot put, where she unleashed a PB of 14.86m. It was 32 centimetres farther than anything she’d achieved previously in a heptathlon and put her 38 points ahead of PB pace. Dokter consolidated her second-place position overall with a PB of 14.17m.

Hall ended the first day with a 23.37 run in the 200m, her fastest time in two years, and giving her a first-day score of 4161, just 11 points shy of her pace from her 2023 Hypo Meeting victory.

Pawlett was comfortably the fastest 200m sprinter, smashing her PB with 23.06 to jump up to fourth in the overall standings (3867). Dokter and Kalin ran 23.46 and 23.42 respectively, putting them in second (3942) and third (3868) overall.

The second day started well for Hall, who sailed out to a season’s best of 6.44m in the long jump. As expected, Kalin – a world indoor and European indoor medallist in this discipline – topped the group with a leap of 6.77m, backed up by jumps of 6.73m and 6.76m.

It was also a good event for Araujo, who went out to a PB of 6.63m. Dokter (6.42m), Pawlett (6.42m) and Vicente (6.41m) all remained in contention at the top of the leaderboard, while Germany’s Serina Riedel moved up thanks to her leap of 6.46m.

A PB of 46.16m in the javelin kept Hall on pace to not only win, but to break her heptathlon PB of 6988. Australia’s Tori West produced the best throw of the day with 50.48m, while Araujo also excelled, throwing 49.42m.

Going into the final discipline, Hall knew that she needed to run 2:03.33 in the 800m to join the heptathlon’s elusive 7000-point club. In a perfectly paced effort, she ran a world heptathlon best of 2:01.23 to bring her winning score to 7032, putting her joint second on the world all-time list alongside Carolina Kluft.

Dokter ended with 2:10.88 in the 800m to give her a score of 6576 in second place while Araujo clocked 2:15.89 to take third place overall with 6475. USA’s Michelle Atherley was fourth (6425), ahead of Kalin (6395), Allie Jones (6367) and Riedel (6322).

“The last heptathlon I did before this broke my heart,” said Hall, referring to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where she finished fifth, 92 points shy of a medal. “But I feel like this heptathlon healed it.

“I haven’t run an 800m this year so I was a bit scared. I knew I was fit, but I didn’t know how I’d feel in the race. When came through the first lap in 58 seconds, I was like, ‘oh no’. But this is what you train for and thankfully I was able to hold on. I’m really pleased with it.

“It means so much to break the meeting record on the 50th anniversary of this competition,” she added. “To have all these past legends here – some of them met with my family, some gave me words of encouragement – makes it all the more special.”

Supreme Skotheim

In the opening event of the men’s decathlon, much of the focus was on the sixth and final 100m heat, and it duly delivered the fastest time of the day thanks to Ayden Owens-Delerme’s 10.33 clocking. Damian Warner, holder of the world decathlon best in this discipline, was second in 10.39 ahead of Germany’s Manuel Eitel (10.46).

But while the other heats weren’t quite so fast, they were just as significant. Kyle Garland won his in a PB of 10.50, while world indoor champion Sander Skotheim ran a lifetime best of 10.70.

Soon after, Simon Ehammer produced one of the standout performances of the day. The 2024 world indoor champion sailed out to 8.34m in the long jump. It was notable not only for the distance – it was just 11 centimetres shy of the world decathlon best he set here three years ago – but also because it came in the first round. The Swiss decathlete had acquired an unfortunate record of no-jumps in past decathlons, but his huge first-round leap here could go some way in boosting his confidence for future competitions.

Skotheim also went beyond eight metres, leaping 8.06m, while Leo Neugebauer was just shy of the barrier, jumping 7.91m. Owens-Delerme jumped 7.65m while Warner was some way short of his best, recording 7.51m.

It meant that after two events, Ehammer had a 103-point lead over Skotheim. Owens-Delerme reclaimed the lead after the shot put, though, producing the best mark of the day with 16.19m. Garland, who shared a birthday with Owens-Delerme earlier this week, almost matched the Puerto Rican’s mark with 16.14m, moving him up to fourth in the overall standings.

Neugebauer moved up to second place overall with a throw of 15.93m. Ehammer was near the bottom of the pack in the shot put with his 13.60m but it was enough to keep him in the top three overall. Eight-time Hypo Meeting winner Warner threw 14.41m to move up to seventh, two places behind Skotheim.

World and Olympic bronze medallist Lindon Victor was a non-starter for the high jump, while Germany’s Tim Nowak withdrew after one attempt. Garland and Skotheim were the last men standing as both cleared 2.15m to jump further up the standings. USA’s Heath Baldwin also moved up the leaderboard after clearing 2.12m.

World champion Pierce LePage (2.03m), Neugebauer (2.00m) and Warner (2.00m) finished further down the event standings.

Owens-Delerme ended the first day the same way he started it – by producing the best time of the day. He blazed around the Mosle Stadium track in 46.20 to break the meeting record and regain the overall lead. Harrison Williams was second in 46.86, while Ehammer clocked a PB of 47.18. Skotheim clocked 47.47, marginally quicker than Warner’s 47.57.

It meant that at the end of the first day, Owens-Delerme had accrued 4652 points, giving him the lead ahead of Ehammer (4620) and Skotheim (4611).

The 110m hurdles at the start of the second day went much to the form book with Ehammer (13.57) and Warner (13.76) producing the best marks of the event, moving Ehammer into the lead overall. Garland (14.04), Owens-Delerme (14.09) and Skotheim (14.12) were just the other side of the 14-second barrier.

Skotheim moved into the lead for the first time after the discus, thanks to a PB of 49.18m. It made him the third-best thrower of the day behind Neugebauer and Estonia’s Karel Tilga, who both threw 51.47m. Garland also performed well, throwing a PB of 49.10m to move into second place overall behind Skotheim.

Skotheim consolidated his lead in the pole vault, as he was one of three men – alongside Neugebauer and Ehammer – to produce clearances of 5.10m. Garland’s vault of 4.90m kept him in second place ahead of Ehammer and Neugebauer. Owens-Delerme (4.80m) and Warner (4.70m) ended the discipline in fifth and sixth place overall respectively.

As expected, 2019 world champion Niklas Kaul was the standout performer in the javelin. The German sent his spear out to 72.13m to move up the leaderboard into seventh overall. A 61.46m throw from Skotheim kept the Norwegian in the lead, giving him a score of 8124 with the 1500m still to come. Garland threw 58.77m and Ehammer managed 55.30m. Neugebauer was just behind with 54.28m while Warner crept up the standings into fifth with 62.30m.

Kaul went out hard in the second 1500m heat and held on to win in 4:16.40. Skotheim followed a few seconds later in 4:23.88, bringing his winning tally to 8909 - the third-best score ever achieved at the Hypo Meeting. He eventually won by almost 300 points from Garland (8626) while Ehammer and Kaul shared third place with 8575, 20 points ahead of Neugebauer (8555). Eight-time winner Warner had to make do with sixth place, though the Canadian still scored a highly respectable 8527.

"I couldn't be happier," said Skotheim. "I thought a score like this was possible, but I definitely didn't expect to do it. I wanted to push through 8800 but not 8900. I'm super happy with myself, and thanks to the crowd cheering us on - that gave us 10 seconds in the 1500m."

Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics