“I think Great Britain is about to have another 8000-point decathlete,” Simon Ehammer muttered to me between vaults at the Multistars decathlon in Brescia in April 2025.
He was right. A few hours later, Lewis Church stood on the top of the podium with a score of 8067 under his belt, and the English indoor champion returns to Sheffield this weekend to defend his title.
STANDING ALONGSIDE THE WORLD’S BEST
Church joined a list of previous Multistars winners which includes the Olympic champion, Markus Rooth.
That performance took Church to his first Götzis appearance, where he immediately grabbed the spotlight in the world’s best decathlon with a searing 100m best, winning the first heat of the first event in a PB of 11.00s. He went on to improve his overall score to 8093 and had a further appearance on the international circuit at Decastar, the competition at which Kevin Mayer set the current world record of 9126.
And Great Britain actually had three 8000-point decathletes in play at Götzis in 2025.
Sammy Ball, who won silver behind Church in Sheffield last January, was awarded the “Rookie of the Year” title following his mark of debut 8k score of 8100.
Jack Turner was the first of the trio to cross the threshold into world-class decathlon, and although his Götzis competition ended prematurely with some ill health, he has an 8013-point score from 2023.
The notable takeaways from British decathlon in 2025 were not only the step up to 8000 points, but how effortlessly the trio integrated into the best fields in the world.
“I didn’t have anything go wrong,” Church said after his 8067 in Multistars. His words capture the way in which so much of combined events is about constructing ten, or seven, events where nothing goes horribly wrong, and far less about individual stand-out disciplines.
In Götzis, Church and Ball placed 13th and 12th respectively, just ahead of Manuel Eitel of Germany, Kendrick Thompson of the Bahamas, and Jente Hauttekeete of Belgium, all of whom also scored over 8000 points, and all of whom represent their country regularly at national level. Further up the field were Sander Skotheim of Norway, Leo Neugebauer of Germany and Damian Warner of Canada, all of whom have scored over 8900 points. With Kyle Garland and Ayden Owens-Delerme also in the top ten, the entire Tokyo World Championships podium were a few places ahead of the British representatives.
They are not making up the numbers; British decathlon is now a relevant feature of global combined events competition.
ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS
While both Church and Ball were both originally due to compete in Sheffield this weekend, promising a repeat of the duel in 2025 where only 71 points separated the two in first and second respectively, Ball is a late withdrawal with a minor niggle. He will instead compete in Tallinn..
So, in theory, the way should be clear for Church to repeat his performance of 2025. Church’s indoor PB is 5831, achieved in 2025 with a series which included good improvements in the sprints, and a now-consistent shot over 15m.
But his training partners, particularly Stephen Simmons and Harry Kendall, may have other ideas. Simmons, who is 22, has been progressing steadily over the last two years, naturally fast, but improving his pole vault by 20cm in 2025, over 7m for the first time in the long jump in 2025, and steadily improving his senior shot. His heptathlon best stands at 5513, which does not yet take into account his improvements later in 2025. Kendall has had a lean few years since his stand-out performances in 2022, but at his best has achieved 5441.
After a hiatus from competition through injury, Harry Maslen is back too, bringing his lifetime best of 5559, set when placing third at this championships in 2023.
The English championships operate as an open event which means that the Scots are there too, including Craig Moncur and Alister MacKay. The field also includes Conrad Winter, Evan Campbell, Patrick Morgan and Sulaiman Ouiles.
COMMONWEALTH GAMES
The English title is the first shakeout of the year for British combined eventers, but several of those competing this weekend will also have their eye on the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow later this year. The whimsical constitutional arrangements within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland means that athletes can compete for their home nation, with places for England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
That opens up the opportunity for more athletes to compete alongside the likes of 2021 Olympic champion Damian Warner. The Commonwealth decathlon is no easy ride. Canada has the 2021 Olympic and 2023 World champions, Grenada has the 2023 World and 2024 Olympic bronze medallist, Australia has the 2021 Olympic bronze medallist and multiple 8k decathletes, and the Bahamas are a growing force.
Although both Church and Kendall secured the England Athletics qualification for Birmingham in 2022 (Church doing so at Multistars the year that Olympic champion Markus Rooth won with his first senior 8000 score), only Kendall was selected. Hopefully, there will be no such parsimony if multiple decathletes put themselves in contention this year.
WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
However, before then, there is the World Indoor championships in Poland in March. There is good news, and bad news, for British decathletes regarding the qualification for this competition.
The good news is that World Athletics have, again, taken on board feedback on the approach to qualification, and invited athletes to register interest by the end of 2025.
That solves the problem of “clogging up” places, a situation which arises when athletes who qualify automatically by way of their 2025 outdoor score do not indicate their intention to not compete until the last minute, by which time many others competing indoors will have assumed they won’t qualify and will end their season. The shortlist makes clear who is intending to compete, if qualified and selected.
Both Church and Ball are declared for that qualification, Church currently in 18th, and Ball in 23rd on the list. The field for the event continues to be 14 places, rather than 12, that increase a result of lobbying by the combined events community in 2021.
But the indoor season is much more unpredictable than the outdoor season, with athletes regularly choosing to end their activity earlier than planned, to avoid compromising the more important outdoor season.
So, there is every chance that the path to qualification for the Brits could become one they can follow as the season goes on.
The bad news is that World Athletics are, again, using a ranking- only system for the World Indoors for combined events, despite having been advised multiple times that it disadvantages, and disincentivises, those who are actually competing in the indoor season.
The exception is the option of a discretionary “Oh Shit” place for the 14th spot, to be used just in case the qualification throws up some silly situation. And it does throw up silly situations.
For example, Simon Ehammer scored over 6500 points in the heptathlon at the European Indoor Championships in 2025 but didn’t qualify for the World Indoors in Nanjing because he wasn’t ranked at the time (due to not having a decathlon score). Luckily, he was only planning to compete in long jump, or else that “Oh Shit” place would have been the only thing standing in the way of some major embarrassment for WA.
Decathlon and indoor heptathlon are completely different combined events, the latter removing the 400m, discus and javelin and therefore favouring the fast and the bouncy. While there are generous ranking placing points available at major indoor competitions, it is otherwise very hard to improve one’s ranking with an indoor score, since the top indoor meets in the world (e.g. Tallinn) are only ranked as a Category B meet.
The England championships competition this weekend is considered a regional meet (Category F) so doesn’t offer much by the way of placing points. At the time of writing, we are short of clarity on when the UK championships (with Category D points) will take place. The most likely candidate appears to be, as in 2025, the Scottish national championships at the end of February (Editor’s note: UKA confirmed this shortly after this article was published).
We shall continue to lobby to have the qualification amended to reinstate top scores from the current season, as they were in competitions before Nanjing.
But for now, there is merit in trying to place as high as possible in the 2026 heptathlon lists, including at the domestic UK meets in Sheffield and in Glasgow, even if it doesn’t improve a ranking position. When that 14th discretionary place is used transparently, it draws from the highest performer on the top list who hasn’t qualified by ranking.
And in 2026, Britain’s decathletes have every chance of being in that mix. Despite missing Sheffield, Ball’s outdoor ranking keeps him in World Indoors contention. And
Lewis Church has the opportunity to improve those chances in Sheffield this weekend.
The results will be on Roster.
