Women's decathlon was officially introduced more than 20 years ago. And, after the initial enthusiasm and two great world records, World Athletics decided to forget about it. Was that due to pressure from short-sighted heptathlon coaches? Was that due to existing heptathlon champions who, in order to win another medal, were ready to sabotage the discipline? We'll never know. It remains that the most exciting event in all athletics remained, in a blatant display of anti-feminism, a men-only affair. And all this when World Athletics was speaking about men-women parity and even pushed for the inclusion of the 50 km race-walk for women in the official program.
A few women did fight for the right to compete in the decathlon, learning to throw the discus and pole vaulting, and thus perhaps compromising their chances at the official discipline, the heptathlon. Jordan Gray has been leading this fight, with her "Let Women Decathlon" and organizing decathlon competitions. And little by little things started to change (although the epidemic did complicate the situation).
In 2023 there have been several organisations, two of them taking place in France. And the one during the "Open de France" was a definite success. (Jordan Gray did participate but injured herself and could do no better than 7841 points). And the FFA, the French Federation of Athletics, decided to organise the first national championship of the event. It will be held in Talence (that was where Marie Collonville established the inaugural world record with 8150 points). It will be again during the Open de France in mid-July.
That will be the first time in the world that a national champion title will awarded to a woman decathlete. Will the french initiative pave the way for more official national organisations? Will the french success, in particular, if imitated worldwide, push World Athletics towards establishing an official competition for women's decathlon? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Not much is known concerning the technical details. However, as it was announced that if the number of female participants is not sufficient to warrant the creation of a specific group the women will compete together with the juniors, one can conclude that the order of the events will be the "normal" one, i.e. that of the men's decathlon. (And not the utterly stupid one where the field events were contested on the opposite days than those for men, penalising thus the women decathletes).
In preparation for this new event, two members of the documentation and history commission of the french federation compiled the list of the best french feminine decathlon performances. There are 41 entries in their list with performances above 5000 points. M. Collonville is, obviously, leading this list. But what I found interesting is the first performance by Corinne Truffault who in 1994 participated in a decathlon in Germany. The funny thing was that she had to run the 110 m hurdles, with the men's 9.14 m distance between the hurdles (but, at least, with the women's height of 0.84 m). Her score of 5465 points is, by rights, the first national record in the event. It was improved the following year by A.-S. Devillier with 6888 points, then J. Mezerette in 2001 with 7470, three years before the world record of Collonville.
But the news does not stop there. During the same meeting of the Federation it was (more or less) decided to organise a women's heptathlon, (following the men's model). During a competition that is part of the World Combined Events Tour. Having a women's indoor heptathlon included in an official, World Athletics-sanctioned, competition would be a great step forwards for the women's combined events. My only reserve is that I do not like the men's heptathlon. In a recent post of mine, I explained that a pentathlon would have been the perfect indoor combined event for men. And, since the pole vault is crucial for this event, one could imagine a pentathlon formula like the one for women, with the pole vault replacing the high jump. And, apply the same formula to a new women's pentathlon, with a 1000 m replacing the 800 m. The women's heptathlon is tentatively scheduled for January. I will certainly follow the event and report here.
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