Anna Hall wins the heptathlon at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 (© Getty Images)
As the year draws to a close, we look back at the key moments of 2025 in each area of the sport.
The series continues with a review of the combined events and will be followed over the coming days by reviews of the remaining event groups.
Women’s heptathlon
Season top list
| 7032 | Anna Hall (USA) | Gotzis | 1 June |
| 6714 | Kate O’Connor (IRL) | Tokyo | 20 September |
| 6581 | Katarina Johnson-Thompson (GBR) | Tokyo | 20 September |
| 6581 | Taliyah Brooks (USA) | Tokyo | 20 September |
| 6576 | Sofie Dokter (NED) | Gotzis | 1 June |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Anna Hall (USA) | 1459 |
| 2 | Kate O’Connor (IRL) | 1377 |
| 3 | Katarina Johnson-Thompson (GBR) | 1372 |
| 4 | Nafissatou Thiam (BEL) | 1355 |
| 5 | Taliyah Brooks (USA) | 1334 |
World Athletics Championships medallists
| 🥇 | Anna Hall (USA) | 6888 |
| 🥈 | Kate O’Connor (IRL) | 6714 |
| 🥉 | Katarina Johnson-Thompson (GBR) | 6581 |
| 🥉 | Taliyah Brooks (USA) | 6581 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Anna Hall (USA) 6888
World Indoor Championships (pentathlon): Saga Vanninen (FIN) 4821
World Combined Events Tour: Anna Hall (USA) 3781
South American Championships: Martha Araujo (COL) 6396
Asian Championships: Nandini Agasara (IND) 5941
Season snapshot
- Anna Hall became the first woman from the United States to win world heptathlon gold since 1993. Having earned world bronze in 2022 and silver in 2023, the 24-year-old completed her medal set with a total of 6888. Kate O'Connor set an Irish record of 6714 to take silver, while Britain's defending champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson shared bronze with Hall’s teammate Taliyah Brooks, both scoring 6581.
- Hall, who had joined the 7000-point club with her winning total of 7032 in Gotzis - which remained the best score of 2025 - took over first place after the second event and steadily extended her lead. She ran 13.05 in the 100m hurdles, cleared 1.89m in the high jump, threw a personal best of 15.80m in the shot, ran 23.50 in the 200m, jumped 6.12m in the long jump, threw a personal best of 48.13m in the javelin and finished emphatically by winning the 800m in 2:06.08. Belgium’s three-time Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam pulled out after five events.
- O’Connor’s achievement in earning silver concluded a breakthrough year. The 24-year-old earned pentathlon bronze at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, and later that month she took pentathlon silver at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing. In July she won gold at the World University Summer Games with a national record of 6487. In Tokyo she set personal bests in five of the seven events, recording 13.44 in the 100m hurdles, 24.07 in the 200m, 1.86m in the high jump, 53.06m in the javelin and 2:09.56 in the 800m.
- Saga Vanninen of Finland won pentathlon gold at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing with 4821, having won European indoor gold just two weeks prior with a world-leading 4922.
- The heptathlon title in the World Athletics Combined Events Tour went to Hall, who produced the three best heptathlon performances of 2025. Hall’s US compatriot Brooks finished second in the tour for the second year in a row, while Colombia’s Martha Araujo was third. She finished third in Gotzis with a South American record of 6475, then won the Decastar meeting in Talence with 6451.
Men’s decathlon
Season top list
| 8909 | Sander Skotheim (NOR) | Gotzis | 1 June |
| 8869 | Kyle Garland (USA) | Eugene | 1 August |
| 8804 | Leo Neugebauer (GER) | Tokyo | 21 September |
| 8784 | Ayden Owens-Delerme (PUR) | Tokyo | 21 September |
| 8575 | Niklas Kaul (GER) | Gotzis | 1 June |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Leo Neugebauer (GER) | 1433 |
| 2 | Ayden Owens-Delerme (PUR) | 1404 |
| 3 | Kyle Garland (USA) | 1390 |
| 4 | Sander Skotheim (NOR) | 1375 |
| 5 | Johannes Erm (EST) | 1366 |
World Athletics Championships medallists
| 🥇 | Leo Neugebauer (GER) | 8804 |
| 🥈 | Ayden Owens-Delerme (PUR) | 8784 |
| 🥉 | Kyle Garland (USA) | 8703 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Leo Neugebauer (GER) 8804
World Indoor Championships (heptathlon): Sander Skotheim (NOR) 6475
World Combined Events Tour: Sander Skotheim (NOR) 3754
South American Championships: Jose Fernando Ferreira (BRA) 7847
Asian Championships: Fei Xiang (CHN) 7634
NACAC Championships: Austin West (USA) 8038
Season snapshot
- Germany’s Leo Neugebauer emerged victorious at the World Championships after moving past long-time leader Kyle Garland of the United States with a 64.34m javelin throw in the penultimate event - a personal best by 5.35m. The 25-year-old Olympic silver medallist went on to earn his first global title with a season’s best of 8804 as Ayden Owens-Delerme set a Puerto Rican record of 8784 for silver and Garland secured bronze with 8703.
- Canada’s 2021 Olympic champion Damian Warner withdrew just before the World Championships decathlon got underway. His teammate Pierce LePage, the defending champion, pulled out after four events. Switzerland’s 2024 world indoor champion Simon Ehammer also went out after four events having failed to clear his opening height in the high jump. And Norway’s Sander Skotheim, whose winning total of 8909 at the Gotzis meeting three months earlier remained the best score of 2025, was disqualified for pushing one of the barriers in the 110m hurdles at the start of day two when he was second overall. It was the second successive time Skotheim had failed to complete a global decathlon after his failure to clear an opening pole vault height of 4.50m at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
- Neugebauer’s mighty javelin effort gave him a 15-point advantage over Garland going into the concluding 1500m. His 4:31.89 clocking in that discipline left him 20 points clear of his opponents. Owens-Delerme’s time of 4:17.91 was enough to move him up to silver as Garland finished in 4:45.45.
- Skotheim’s position as pre-event favourite in Tokyo had been bolstered by his superb early season form. In February the 23-year-old from Oslo set a European heptathlon record of 6484 in Tallinn. He won gold at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, raising his European heptathlon record to 6558 and moving to third on world all-time list. Later that month he added gold at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, where he totalled 6475. Skotheim’s Gotzis score surpassed the national record set by Markus Rooth at the 2024 Olympics.
- Skotheim’s outstanding season saw him confirmed in October as decathlon winner in the World Athletics Combined Events Tour. Garland, who produced three of the top six performances in the world during 2025, was second on 3719. He finished second to Skotheim in Gotzis with 8626, then won the US title with a lifetime best of 8869. Third place went to Owens-Delerme.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics
