Damian Warner and Anna Hall in Gotzis (© AFP / Getty Images)
More than a decade after he first won at the Hypo Meeting, Damian Warner will line up for the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting in Götzis this weekend (31 May – 1 June) looking to notch up another victory.
Warner, the 2021 Olympic decathlon champion, already holds the record for the most wins in Götzis, having racked up eight victories to date, stretching back to 2013. But world decathlon champion Pierce LePage is also back in the Austrian town, looking to repeat his win from two years ago.
The last time Warner contested a decathlon, it ended in disappointment. The Canadian was in contention for a medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, but failed to register a height in the pole vault, bringing an end to his title defence.
Three months prior to that, though, he won in Götzis with 8678, showing he is still very much a force in the combined events world. The 35-year-old will be aiming to prove a similar point at this year’s competition as part of his preparations for the World Championships later this year, where he’ll be targeting his first world decathlon title. He has started the year in good form, too, having clocked season’s bests of 21.31 over 200m and 4.85m in the pole vault.
Fellow Canadian LePage didn’t even make it to the Paris Olympics, as injury ruled him out of most of last year. The 29-year-old, who beat Warner to the 2023 world title with a PB of 8909, made a return to competition earlier this year, putting together a string of decent indoor performances before a similarly solid start to his outdoor campaign over the past month.
But the Canadian duo won’t be the only winners of global titles on the decathlon start line.
Norway’s Sander Skotheim has enjoyed a sensational start to 2025, setting two European indoor heptathlon records, the latter when winning the European indoor title (6558). Two weeks later, he added the world indoor title to his collection with a score of 6475.
Skotheim, who will turn 23 on the first day of competition this weekend, earned European silver last year with a PB of 8635, a mark that was a Norwegian record at the time. That mark was subsequently bettered by Markus Rooth with his gold-medal-winning performance of 8796 at the Paris Olympics, but Skotheim’s indoor form suggests that Rooth’s national record could be under threat in Götzis.
Rooth won’t be in Götzis, but the two men who joined him on the Olympic podium will be: silver medallist Leo Neugebauer and bronze medallist Lindon Victor.
Neugebauer will be making his Götzis debut. He turned professional last year after retaining his NCAA title with 8961, breaking the German record for the second year in a row. The 24-year-old has competed indoors and outdoors already this year, but hasn’t contested a decathlon since last year’s Olympics where he took silver with 8748.
Victor hasn’t competed at all since the Paris Olympics where he finished third, matching his finish from the previous year’s World Championships. The Grenadian was runner-up in Götzis in 2019 and 2022, so he’ll be looking to achieve his first victory, which would also make him the first athlete from the Caribbean to win at the Hypo Meeting.
Puerto Rico’s Ayden Owens-Delerme could also be in the running to achieve that. The 2022 NCAA champion, who has a PB of 8732, will be making his Hypo Meeting debut.
USA’s Kyle Garland, who has the exact same date of birth as Owens-Delerme (28 May 2000), will also be competing in Götzis for the first time. The 8720 performer hasn’t competed since winning the US indoor heptathlon title earlier this year.
Other contenders include 2019 world champion Niklas Kaul, 2024 world indoor champion Simon Ehammer, Estonia’s Karel Tilga and US duo Harrison Williams and Heath Baldwin.
Hall back for more
Anna Hall has fond memories of competing in Götzis. Two years ago, she put together a stunning series to win with 6988 and then went on to claim silver at the World Championships in Budapest. The 24-year-old had a delayed start to her 2024 campaign after undergoing surgery at the start of that year, but she managed to finish fifth at the Paris Olympics with 6615.
The 2025 season so far has been business as usual for Hall, who has competed several times already this year, recording season’s bests of 51.68 for 400m and 54.43 for the 400m hurdles.
World champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson, a two-time winner at the Hypo Meeting, had been set to compete this weekend but the Briton was a late withdrawal due to a minor injury. There'll be another past Hypo Meeting champion on the start line, though.
Hungary’s Xenia Krizsan, who won here in 2021 with a PB of 6651, will be making her seventh Hypo Meeting appearance. The 32-year-old finished seventh at last year’s Olympics and fourth at the 2023 World Championships.
Poland’s Adrianna Sulek-Schubert missed last year’s Hypo Meeting as it came just three months after she gave birth. She resumed competition in late June, though, and went on to compete at the Paris Olympics, where she set a season’s best of 6226.
In 2022, she earned world indoor silver, placed second in Götzis and went on to set a PB of 6672 when finishing fourth at the World Championships. With a full winter behind her and a solid indoor campaign, Sulek-Schubert hopes to get back to that kind of form this year.
Switzerland’s Annik Kalin was runner-up in Götzis last year before going on to place fourth at the European Championships and the Olympic Games, the latter with a national record of 6639. So far this year, she has focused more on individual events, taking European indoor and world indoor long jump silver. With PBs of 6.90m for the long jump and 7.92 for 60m hurdles now in her armour, it could translate to a big heptathlon score this weekend.
Sofie Dokter of the Netherlands took European indoor silver earlier this year with 4826, a 200-point improvement on her previous best. She, too, could now be set to revise her heptathlon PB (6452).
Versatile Spaniard Maria Vicente missed most of last year due to injury, and prior to that had been focusing on individual disciplines. She made a long-awaited return to competition earlier this month and now heads to Götzis hoping to complete her first heptathlon in almost four years.
Other leading competitors include South American champion Martha Araujo of Colombia and last year’s Hypo Meeting third-place finisher Michelle Atherley of the USA.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
Leading entries with PBs
Women’s heptathlon
Anna Hall (USA) 6988
Adrianna Sulek-Schubert (POL) 6672
Xenia Krizsan (HUN) 6651
Annik Kalin (SUI) 6639
Michelle Atherley (USA) 6465
Sofie Dokter (NED) 6452
Martha Araujo (COL) 6429
Timara Chapman (USA) 6339
Maria Vicente (ESP) 6304
Beatrice Juskeviciute (LTU) 6295
Tori West (AUS) 6245
Allie Jones (USA) 6234
Lovisa Karlsson (SWE) 6146
Marys Patterson (CUB) 6113
Mathilde Rey (SUI) 6086
Men’s decathlon
Damian Warner (CAN) 9018
Leo Neugebauer (GER) 8961
Pierce LePage (CAN) 8909
Lindon Victor (GRN) 8756
Ayden Owens-Delerme (PUR) 8732
Kyle Garland (USA) 8720
Niklas Kaul (GER) 8691
Karel Tilga (EST) 8681
Sander Skotheim (NOR) 8635
Harrison Williams (USA) 8630
Heath Baldwin (USA) 8625
Simon Ehammer (SUI) 8468
Manuel Eitel (GER) 8351
Rik Taam (NED) 8326
Jente Hauttekeete (BEL) 8268
Tim Nowak (GER) 8282
