This is a post for true track and field fans. We put the decathlon against the toughest sports and count down the top 5 reasons why it might be the hardest of them all. You’ll see the ridiculous training decathletes endure, the sheer amount of gear they travel with, and relive the glory days of Bruce Jenner and Daley Thompson. Learn what it takes to survive two grueling 13-hour days that could be over at any moment — from the risk of injury to the crushing pain of no-heighting in the pole vault. If you love track and field, you won’t want to miss this deep dive into the sport’s most underappreciated test of all-around athleticism. By the end, you’ll understand why the decathlon stands as one of the most demanding and revered competitions in all of sports.

Who is the world’s greatest athlete? There’s nothing more challenging or grueling than doing a decathlon. It’s the purest form of competition. It’s the ultimate measuring stick for all-around capability of the human body.

Decathlon vs Other Sports

So what are the elements that make a sport hard?

Your first instinct might be duration. The longest track event is the 10,000  M. It takes around 27 minutes at the Olympic level. The fastest marathoners take just over 2 hours.  Elite triathletes complete an Iron Man in around 8 hours. So what about the decathlon? You’re looking at 24 hours or more over 2 days at the Olympic level. To be fair, it’s not 24 non-stop hours, but  the constant warming up, warming down and shifting focus creates relentless physical and mental fatigue. Of course there are longer challenges like the tour to France, but unlike the decathlon, it’s an extremely focused test of endurance and speed.

What about technique and complexity? When it  comes to extreme skill and technical mastery, golf checks a lot of boxes on the difficulty chart.

Add endurance, speed and reacting to an opponent that is metaphorically trying to destroy you and tennis is right up there. But when it comes to the sheer diversity of technique required in the pole vault, jumps, throws and sprints, the decathlon is on an entirely different level.

What about the risk of pain and injury? If you take all of the challenging elements of tennis and add in the pain from an opponent that is literally trying  to destroy you and boxing stands out as one of the most difficult sports on the planet. So is American football where injuries average 30.8 per 100 players. For the decathlon, a non-contact sport, the injury rate is roughly the same.

Instead of comparing the decathlon directly to other sports, we’re going to count down the top five reasons that make it so uniquely grueling. By the end you can decide if it ranks as the most difficult sport on the planet.

Body Optimization

If we analyze the average height and weight of medalists across five Olympics in the same 10 events as the decathlon, we can observe there are obvious physical differences because much of the training is at completely opposite ends of the spectrum.

• Discus throwers train for mass, power and technique. Aerobic capacity and power to weight ratio isn’t a factor.
• If you’re a 1500 meter runner it absolutely is. These athletes work to get as light as possible and routinely run over 100 miles a week to maximize their aerobic capacity.
• If you’re a 100 meter sprinter you might not even run a lap to warm up. However muscle mass, power and speed is critical.
• In the vertical jumps every extra pound of body weight is one more you have to clear the bar with.

Each each event demands specific physical attributes tailored to its unique challenges. So what is the ideal body type for an athlete that does all of these events? Is it a chunky one like Harrison Williams’ or a thinner one like Kyle Gardan’s? The answer is both. Harrison Williams and Kyle Garland are two of the top US decathletes right now despite being remarkably different in their talents and body type. It’s one of the most fascinating aspects of the event. Putting on 5 to 10 more pounds of muscle might boost their score in the throwing events but hurt them in the jumps. A decathlete has to find their own balance which makes body composition a challenge in its own.

The Gear & Traveling

Right one of the great things about track and field is the minimal gear required. But when you multiply that by 10 event it gets complicated. The result is a lot of gear a decathlete needs to compete. Now think about what it’s like flying to a track meet with poles, shots, javelins and a mini foot locker of shoes. You can see that just traveling to a competition is an event unto itself. It’s an additional stressor and mental challenge that decathletes endure before they even step foot on the track.

Lack of Glory

Who is the current world record holder in the decathlon? Who won the last Olympics? Can you name one decathlete?

For a sport where the winner is unofficially declared the world’s greatest athlete, it has all but disappeared from the public spotlight. But it wasn’t always this way. There was a time when track and field and even the decathlon was a much bigger deal.

Athletes like Jenner and Thompson became household names. Their victory landed them on wedy boxes and late night talk shows. Daley Thompson even had his own video game which looks awesome. And then there was reebox Dan versus Dave Campaign which brought massive attention to the sport leading up to the 1992 Olympics.

There is something special about athletes who put in that much work for so little external rewards. It’s not about fame or fortune. It’s about the challenge, the discipline and the passion for pushing their limits.

Decathlon Training

This is no part-time job. They spend 6 or 7 hours a day on the track. Linder Victor once said: “If an average person tried to train and do what we do, it would kill them. Literally their bodies could not go through the training that they do day in and day out.”

Topic athletes can train for 40 hours a week or more, and that’s not including additional rehab prehab and film review. Most of their training  focuses on power and speed. But unlike other events there isn’t a common training template to follow. It’s highly individualized based on each athlete’s strengths and weaknesses requiring constant planning and adjustments far more than in other track events. Because decathletes walk the razor’s  edge of what the human body can take, they must continually balance the risk of injury against the potential for improvement.

Another unique aspect is that decathletes need to train while tired. Fatigue is the baseline from which they operate. The demands of training are intense and complex, adding another reason why the decathlon is one of the most grueling and unforgiving challenges in all of sport.

Decathlon Competition

And finally we get to the big one. The competition itself: 10 events over a grueling 2 days.

• Day 1: 100 m – Long jump – Shot put – High jump – 400 m
• Day 2: 110 m hurdles – Discus – Pole vault – Javelin – 1500 m

This is what that schedule is like.

Because decathletes compete based on a scoring table, they have to perform consistently across all 10 events. With that comes the persistent threat that your decathlon could be over at any moment. Decathletes push their bodies to the very very limit. Injuries are a constant risk. Decathlon has the highest injury rate among all events with 30% of athletes not finishing.

Not recording a mark in an event can also end dreams instantly. The pole vault is notorious for this. Remember Dan O’Brien’s failed attempt. He’s not alone in that experience.

Now if you successfully make it through all nine events, your reward is the 1500 M. Because of the intense speed and power demands of the other events, decathletes don’t train for it as much. They rely on general fitness and sheer determination to finish. It’s a brutal end where they carry the weight of 24 hours of mental and physical fatigue around the track. This is an event that tests mind and body.

Perseverance is often called the 11th event. Every athlete who crosses that finish line regardless of their rank achieves something extraordinary. There’s a unique honor, if not a medal, for all who complete the decathlon.

Bibliographic references:

• Outperform. (2024). Is the Decathlon really the HARDEST SPORT in the World? [Video file]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/MyHNs878w5I?si=pFmst3QvrJJVnSl0
• Edouard, P., Kerspern, A., Pruvost, J., & Morin, J.B. (2012). Four-year injury survey in heptathlon and decathlon athletes. Science & Sports, 27, 345-350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scispo.2012.04.002