Kevin Mayer

2.1. Birth and background

Mayer was born on 10 February 1992 in Argenteuil, a commune located in the northwest suburbs of Paris, France. His parents are André and Carole Mayer. His paternal family and German surname originate from Farschviller in the northeastern region of Lorraine, where his father grew up. Some of his relatives still reside in the Moselle department, close to the German border. Kevin has three brothers: Thibault, Thomas, and Sébastien. The family was raised in La Roche-de-Glun, a small town situated by the Rhône river in the Drôme department in southeastern France, where his parents continue to live.

2.2. Education and training

Mayer began his athletics journey at the sports association EA Tain-Tournon, near his hometown. Following the club's merger with two other Drôme-based athletics associations in 2013, Mayer continued to represent the new institution, EA Rhône Vercors 26-07. Since 2008, he has trained at the CREPS Montpellier, a dedicated training center for high-performance athletes in Montpellier, where he has been coached by Bertrand Valcin. He pursued higher education at the University of Montpellier-Sète, where he studied for a Diplôme universitaire de technologie en mesures physiques^French, a technology-based degree focusing on physical measurements, including metrology and instrumentation.

3.1. Junior and youth career

Mayer's talent was evident from his early years. In 2009, at the age of 17, he secured the gold medal in the octathlon at the 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics held in Brixen, Italy, with 6478 points. The following year, he continued his ascent by winning the gold medal in the decathlon at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics in Moncton, Canada, scoring 7928 points. In 2011, at the 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, Mayer claimed another decathlon gold with 8124 points.

3.2. 2012: First Olympic Games

Mayer made his Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. He competed in the decathlon, finishing in 15th place with a score of 7952 points.

3.3. 2013-2015: European Championships medals

In 2013, Mayer earned his first senior international medal, a silver, in the heptathlon at the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, setting a new personal best of 6297 points. Later that year, at the 2013 European Cup Combined Events in Tallinn, Estonia, he topped the podium and set personal bests in several individual events: the 100 metres (11.04 seconds), long jump (25 ft ^{(7.63 m)}), shot put (49 ft ^{(14.95 m)}), and discus throw (147 ft ^{(44.89 m)}). He also competed at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow, Russia, where he finished 4th in the decathlon with 8446 points.

In 2014, at the 2014 European Athletics Championships in Zürich, Switzerland, Mayer achieved a personal best of 8521 points in the decathlon, securing a silver medal. However, in 2015, he announced his withdrawal from the 2015 World Championships in Athletics due to a hamstring injury sustained in late July.

3.4. 2016: Olympic silver medal

Mayer's 2016 season began with a setback as he withdrew from the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships due to a heel injury sustained during a hurdles race at the French Indoor Athletics Championships in Aubière in late February.

Despite this, Mayer achieved a significant milestone at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He earned a silver medal in the decathlon with a new personal best of 8834 points, finishing only behind the then-world record holder and two-time gold medalist, Ashton Eaton. During this competition, Mayer equaled or improved his outdoor personal bests in four events: the 100m, shot put (52 ft ^{(15.76 m)}), 400m, and pole vault (18 ft ^{(5.4 m)}). He also achieved seasonal bests in three other events: the long jump, high jump, and 1500m. Mayer was the top decathlete in the shot put and shared first place in the pole vault with Thomas van der Plaetsen. He led the standings at the end of the first day of competition (after 5 of 10 events). This performance was the sixth-best personal best score in the men's decathlon at the time and marked a substantial improvement for Mayer, bettering his previous personal best by 313 points and the French national record by 260 points.

3.5. 2017: European Indoor Champion and World Champion

Mayer's 2017 season started with an indoor track and field triathlon in Paris on 8 February, where he finished last after failing to score in the 60m hurdles. However, he quickly rebounded.

At the 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, on 4-5 March, Mayer won the gold medal in the men's heptathlon. He set a new European record of 6479 points, surpassing the record set by Roman Šebrle in 2004 by 41 points. This score also ranked as the second-best performance in men's indoor heptathlon history at the time, trailing only Ashton Eaton's world record. During this event, Mayer achieved two new indoor personal bests in the 60m hurdles and pole vault.

On 15 April, Mayer competed in his first outdoor triathlon of the year in L'Étang-Salé, Réunion, winning all three events and finishing first with 2642 points. He then participated in a decathlon in his adopted hometown of Montpellier on 13-14 May, where he achieved season bests in the discus and shot put. Later, at the French Elite Outdoor Championships in Marseille on 14-15 July, he struggled with rainy and windy conditions, resulting in several no-marks.

At the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in London, United Kingdom, Mayer completed his first decathlon of the year and secured his first World Championships gold medal with a world-leading score of 8768 points. He finished ahead of Germans Rico Freimuth (silver, 8564 points) and Kai Kazmirek (bronze, 8488 points). This victory marked France's first international gold medal in the decathlon. Although he did not win any specific discipline, Mayer achieved new personal bests in the 100 metres (10.70 seconds, 929 points), 400 metres (48.28 seconds, 897 points), and 110 metres hurdles (13.75 seconds, 1007 points). A setback in the pole vault, where he only cleared 17 ft ^{(5.1 m)} on his third attempt (12 in ^{(30 cm)} below his personal record), prevented him from breaking his overall personal record.

3.6. 2018: Indoor heptathlon gold and world decathlon record

In 2018, Mayer continued his success at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, United Kingdom, where he won the gold medal in the heptathlon with 6348 points. In a tightly contested competition, he narrowly defeated Damian Warner of Canada by five points to claim his first world indoor title, achieving indoor personal bests in the 60m and long jump.

However, at the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany, Mayer faced a setback, failing to register a valid mark in the long jump with three fouls, which led to his withdrawal from the decathlon competition.

Following this disappointment, Mayer participated in the Décastar combined events meeting held in Talence, France, in September 2018. There, he achieved a historic feat by breaking Ashton Eaton's decathlon world record, establishing a new mark of 9126 points. Mayer started strongly on the first day, accumulating 4563 points, though he was still 140 points behind Eaton's first-day total. On the second day, he delivered exceptional performances, including his best-ever distance of 236 ft ^{(71.9 m)} in the javelin throw and his best-ever height of 18 ft ^{(5.45 m)} in the pole vault during a competition. He also won the 110m hurdles and discus events, enabling him to break the world record by 81 points.

3.7. 2019-2020

Mayer did not defend his European heptathlon title at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships. At the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, Mayer was forced to withdraw from the decathlon event due to an Achilles injury. Despite leading the competition after seven events and achieving personal bests in the 100m and shot put, he withdrew before the pole vault. In 2020, Mayer competed at the Meeting de la Réunion in Saint-Paul, France, winning the decathlon with 8552 points.

3.8. 2021: Tokyo Olympics silver

In 2021, Mayer competed at the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland, where he won the men's heptathlon event with 6392 points.

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021), Mayer's performance in the men's decathlon started below expectations, placing him in 5th after the first five events. However, he demonstrated remarkable resilience on the final day, performing strongly in events like the hurdles and pole vault, and setting a personal best in the javelin throw. These efforts allowed him to climb in the rankings and secure a silver medal with 8726 points, finishing behind Damian Warner of Canada.

3.9. 2022: Second World gold

Mayer did not compete in the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships due to an issue with his Achilles tendon, which followed a bout of COVID-19.

Despite this, at the 2022 World Athletics Championships held in Eugene, United States, in July, Mayer regained his world title in the men's decathlon. During this competition, Damian Warner, a key rival, withdrew due to a hamstring injury. Mayer again started slowly, finishing 6th after the first day, but steadily improved his position. He ultimately won the competition on the final day with strong performances, including first-place finishes in the pole vault and javelin, scoring 8816 points.

Later in 2022, he withdrew from the decathlon at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich, Germany, after suffering a thigh injury during the first event.

3.10. 2023: Third European indoor gold

Kevin Mayer participated in the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships held in Istanbul, Turkey, in March 2023. On the first day of competition, he equaled his personal best in the 60m (6.85 seconds), achieved 24 ft ^{(7.41 m)} in the long jump, reached 52 ft ^{(15.81 m)} in the shot put, and cleared 6.5 ft ^{(1.98 m)} in the high jump. This placed him second in the general classification, 67 points behind Norway's Sander Skotheim. On the second day, he won the 60-meter hurdles (7.76 seconds) and the pole vault (17 ft ^{(5.3 m)}). Despite a slower time than his Norwegian opponent in the 1000m (2 minutes 44.20 seconds compared to Skotheim's 2 minutes 37.82 seconds), Mayer managed to maintain a 30-point lead in the standings, finishing with 6348 points. This victory marked his third European indoor heptathlon champion title, following his wins in 2017 and 2021, equaling the record held by Czech athlete Roman Šebrle for the most titles in this event.

Mayer entered the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, suffering from pain in his left Achilles tendon. He eventually withdrew after the second event, the long jump, to prioritize his recovery and focus on the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

3.11. 2024: Olympic withdrawal

In 2024, Mayer competed at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome, Italy, where he finished 5th in the decathlon with 8476 points. However, just days before the start of the athletics events at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in August 2024, Kevin Mayer announced his withdrawal from the decathlon competition due to an injury, preventing him from competing in his home country's Olympic Games.

4.1. Outdoor personal bests

4.2. Indoor personal bests

5.1. World record in decathlon

On 16 September 2018, at the Décastar meeting in Talence, France, Kevin Mayer set a new world record in the decathlon with a score of 9126 points. This performance surpassed the previous record of 9045 points held by Ashton Eaton, which Eaton had achieved at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing. Mayer's record-breaking achievement, which exceeded Eaton's mark by 81 points, solidified his position as the world's greatest decathlete.

5.2. European records

Mayer also holds the European record in the indoor heptathlon. He set this record on 5 March 2017, at the 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, with a score of 6479 points. This performance broke the previous European record set by Roman Šebrle in 2004.

6.1. Performance in major international events

6.2. Best results in combined events

Mayer's career includes numerous high-scoring performances in both decathlon and heptathlon.