Preview: Ehammer, Neugebauer and Warner Headline 2026 Hypo Meeting in Götzis
The 51st edition of the Hypo Meeting in Götzis, part of the prestigious World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold series, is set to bring together many of the world’s best decathletes and heptathletes this weekend, May 30–31, at the iconic Mösle Stadium in Austria. Olympic and world medallists including Simon Ehammer, Leo Neugebauer, Damian Warner, Pierce LePage and Niklas Kaul headline a stacked men’s decathlon field, while Sofie Dokter, Tallyah Brooks, Saga Vanninen and Annik Kälin lead a high-quality women’s heptathlon competition. Widely regarded as one of the premier combined events meetings in the world, the Hypo Meeting once again promises two days of world-class performances and dramatic battles across all disciplines.
Men's Decathlon Preview
Simon Ehammer will face Leo Neugebauer and Damian Warner in a star-studded men’s decathlon competition at the 51st edition of the Hypo Meeting at the legendary Mösle Stadium in Götzis.
Ehammer regained the world indoor title in Torun 2026 by setting a world indoor record of 6670 points in the men’s heptathlon. The Swiss star added 25 points to the previous world record of 6645 set by US legend Ashton Eaton at the 2012 World Indoor Championships in Istanbul.
Ehammer’s performance was highlighted by a leap of 8.15m in the long jump, just one centimetre shy of the championships record, a world heptathlon best of 7.52 in the 60 metres hurdles, and a personal best of 6.69 in the 60 metres. He also cleared a seasonal best of 2.02m in the high jump, vaulted 5.30m in the pole vault, and clocked a PB of 2:41.04 in the 1000 metres.
Ehammer reached the podium at the World Indoor Championships for the third time in his career following his victory in Glasgow 2024 with 6418 points and his silver medal in Belgrade 2022 with 6363 points.
The Swiss star has competed five times in the decathlon in Götzis, placing third on two occasions. He set a then-Swiss record of 8377 points in 2022 and produced a world decathlon best of 8.45m in his favourite long jump discipline during that competition. Last year he shared third place with Germany’s Niklas Kaul on 8575 points.
Ehammer opened his outdoor season with victory in the decathlon at Multistars in Brescia, scoring 8361 points. He won the long jump with 8.18m and the 110 metres hurdles in 13.71, while also throwing 42.22m in the javelin at Zofingen in preparation for Götzis.
The Swiss contingent will also feature Andrin Huber, European Under-23 champion in Bergen 2025 with a PB of 8188 points and European Under-20 bronze medallist in Jerusalem 2023, alongside Finley Gaio, fifth-place finisher at the European Championships in Munich 2022.
Warner holds the record for the most victories in Götzis with eight wins from eleven appearances at the meeting. His remarkable record at the Mösle Stadium includes an unprecedented six-year winning streak from 2016 to 2022. The Canadian decathlon star set a national record of 8995 points in 2021, the fourth-highest score in history. That performance featured two world decathlon bests of 8.28m in the long jump and 13.36 in the 110 metres hurdles. He secured his record-extending eighth Götzis title in 2024 with 8678 points. One of Warner’s most memorable achievements in Götzis came in 2019 when he clocked a meeting record of 10.12 in the 100 metres on his way to his fifth victory with 8711 points. In last year’s edition, Warner finished sixth with 8527 points.
Leo Neugebauer won world gold in Tokyo 2025 with 8804 points and Olympic silver in Paris with 8748 points, becoming the first German Olympic decathlon medallist since Frank Busemann claimed silver in Atlanta 1996.
Neugebauer set German records in both the decathlon with 8961 points at the NCAA Championships in Eugene and the indoor heptathlon with 6347 points at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2024. He became a three-time NCAA champion and broke multiple collegiate records during his outstanding collegiate career.
Niklas Kaul won world gold in Doha 2019 with a personal best of 8691 points, where he also produced a personal best of 79.05m in the javelin throw, and later captured the European title in Munich 2022 with 8545 points. Kaul finished third in last year’s edition of the Hypo Meeting with 8575 points. After ending the first day in thirteenth place, he staged an extraordinary comeback thanks to victories in the javelin throw with 72.13m and the 1500 metres in 4:16.40.
Pierce LePage earned his first major international victory in Götzis in 2023 when he scored a world-leading 8700 points, missing his PB by just one point. In doing so, he ended Warner’s historic six-year winning streak at the Hypo Meeting. LePage’s performance featured PBs of 10.28 in the 100 metres and 63.09m in the javelin throw. Later that season, LePage won world gold in Budapest and improved his PB to 8909 points. The Canadian also finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 with 8604 points.
Heath Baldwin leads the US contingent. Baldwin won the decathlon at the US Olympic Trials with a PB of 8625 points, producing the third-best collegiate performance of all time. The American athlete claimed world indoor silver in the heptathlon in Torun 2026 behind Ehammer with a PB of 6377 points. He also finished second at the 2025 US Outdoor Championships with 8407 points.
The other US athletes in the field are Harrison Williams, US outdoor champion in 2023 with a PB of 8630 points, and Hakim McMorris, national indoor champion in the heptathlon with 6255 points and winner of this year’s Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut with a PB of 8420 points.
France will be led by Mackenson Gletty, who made his major breakthrough in 2024 when he won bronze at the European Championships in Rome and improved his PB to 8606 points. Gletty also finished fifth at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow 2024 with 6187 points. The French contingent also includes Antoine Ferranti, winner of the Arona Combined Events meeting in Spain in 2025 with a PB of 8221 points and European Under-23 bronze medallist in Bergen last year with 8032 points.
Sven Roosen of the Netherlands will make his comeback from injury. Roosen finished fourth at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with a national record of 8607 points and won two European Under-23 medals, silver in Tallinn 2021 and bronze in Espoo 2023. The Dutch team will also be represented by Jeff Tesselaar, European Under-23 silver medallist in 2025.
The strong Estonian contingent will feature Karel Tilga, fourth at the World Championships in Budapest with a PB of 8661 points and winner of the World Athletics Combined Events Tour in 2023, Rasmus Roosleht, winner of the Tallinn Combined Events indoor meeting in 2026 with 6045 points in the heptathlon, and Risto Lillemets, European indoor bronze medallist in Istanbul 2023 with 6079 points in the heptathlon.
Yuma Maruyama will compete in his second decathlon of the season after finishing runner-up at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut with a Japanese record of 8321 points.
The line-up is completed by Tomas Järvinen of Czechia, world Under-20 champion in Lima 2024 with a championships record of 8245 points, the second-best mark on the world all-time list, José Fernando Ferreira of Brazil, two-time South American champion in 2023 and 2024, and Lewis Church of Great Britain, who won Multistars in Brescia in 2025 with 8067 points before improving his PB to 8093 points at last year’s Hypo Meeting.
Women’s Heptathlon Preview
Sofie Dokter returns to Götzis one year after finishing second with 6576 points. A few months later, the Dutch athlete placed sixth at the World Championships in Tokyo. She claimed her first major international title at the World Indoor Championships in Torun 2026 with a world-leading and national-record score of 4888 points in the pentathlon. Dokter also finished second at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn 2025 and third at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow 2024.
Tallyah Brooks shared the bronze medal with Katarina Johnson-Thompson at the World Championships in Tokyo 2025 after setting a PB of 6581 points. Brooks added another bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships in Torun 2026 with a PB of 4669 points. She hopes to finally post a complete result in Götzis after failing to finish in 2022 and 2023 and suffering an injury during training at the Mösle Stadium in 2024 shortly after arriving in Götzis.
The other US athletes in the field are Allie Jones, third at the 2025 US Championships with 6164 points, and Timara Chapman, NCAA champion in 2024 with 6339 points.
Annik Kälin won silver medals in the long jump at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn with 6.90m and at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing with 6.83m. She also finished fourth in the heptathlon at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with a Swiss record of 6639 points, narrowly missing the podium by just 68 points after sitting in bronze-medal position before the final event.
Saga Vanninen won gold medals at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn with a Finnish record of 4922 points and at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing in 2025 with 4821 points. Vanninen also claimed two world Under-20 titles in Nairobi 2021 and Cali 2022, as well as two European Under-23 titles in Espoo 2023 and Bergen 2025, where she set a PB of 6563 points.
Germany’s leading athlete in the field is Sophie Weißenberg, European Under-23 bronze medallist in 2023 and seventh at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 with 6438 points. Weißenberg suffered a complete rupture of her Achilles tendon while warming up for the 100 metres hurdles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and will make her comeback in Götzis.
The other German athletes in the field are Vanessa Grimm, who finished third in Götzis in 2022 with a PB of 6323 points, Sandrina Sprengel, fifth at the World Championships in Tokyo 2025 with 6424 points, and Emma Kaul, fourth at the European Under-20 Championships in Tampere 2025 and younger sister of Niklas Kaul.
Italy’s Sveva Gerevini finished fourth at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow 2024 with a national indoor record of 4559 points in the pentathlon and sixth at the European Championships in Rome on home soil with a national record of 6379 points in 2024. Gerevini also placed sixth at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn 2025.
The newcomer in the field is Sarolta Krizs, double silver medallist at the European Under-18 Championships in Jerusalem 2022 and the European Under-20 Championships in Tampere 2025. She finished tenth at the age of 18 in her only previous appearance at the Hypo Meeting in 2025 with the Hungarian Under-20 record of 6225 points and was named “Rookie of the Year”. Krizs set four individual PBs in the 100 metres hurdles with 13.50, the 200 metres with 23.46, the shot put with 14.17m, and the 800 metres with 2:10.88.
