Sander Skotheim at the World Indoor Championships (© Getty Images)
The incredible domestic rivalry between Norwegian duo Markus Rooth and Sander Skotheim has been one of the key storylines in the men’s combined events in recent years.
Last year, Rooth was unable to finish at both the World Indoors and the European Championships and could only look on as his teammate Skotheim claimed silver medals in both competitions, setting national records of 6407 in the heptathlon in Glasgow and 8635 in the decathlon in Rome.
Their fortune was reversed at the Olympic Games, though, as Skotheim failed to register a mark in the pole vault while Rooth went on to claim gold with 8796, improving on his teammate’s national record.
Fast forward to 2025, and this season has been all about Skotheim – partly because Rooth is skipping the indoor season entirely, but also because Skotheim has been in sensational form.
In Tallinn last month, he broke Kevin Mayer’s European indoor heptathlon record with 6484. He went on to add 74 points to that mark when taking gold at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn with 6558, moving him to third on the world indoor all-time list.
He has set PBs in almost every discipline this year, including a national indoor long jump record of 8.19m. With weapons like that in his artillery, he’ll be tough to beat.
But as every combined eventer knows – especially Norwegian ones – competitions don’t always go to plan. And if Skotheim has any slip-ups in Nanjing, there’ll be plenty of opponents poised to capitalise.
Germany’s Till Steinforth has added almost 200 points to his PB this year, scoring 6388 to take European indoor bronze earlier this month.
European champion Johannes Erm finished just shy of the medals at the European Indoors, despite setting a PB of 6380, so he’ll be motivated to make it on to the podium in Nanjing and at least match his bronze medal from Glasgow last year. He’s joined on the Estonian team by Risto Lillemets, the 2023 European indoor bronze medallist.
World University Games champion Vilem Strasky of the Czech Republic is fresh from a 6162 PB at the European Indoors, making him the fourth-best entrant on season’s bests.
Heath Baldwin and Harrison Williams, the US decathlon champions in 2024 and 2023 respectively, haven’t contested an indoor heptathlon this year, but both are capable of scoring in excess of 8600 for the decathlon so cannot be discounted.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
Timetable | 2025 world list | world all-time list | world rankings
