World champion Leo Neugebauer will be aiming to become the third German winner of the decathlon title from the last four editions of the European Athletics Championships after Arthur Abele in 2018 and Niklas Kaul in 2022.
Neugebauer, who holds the German record with 8961 points, arrives in Birmingham having amassed two solid decathlons in 2026. He finished second at the Götzis Hypo-Meeting with 8730 points before winning in Ratingen one month later with 8573 points.
European record - Kevin Mayer (FRA) 9126
European lead - Simon Ehammer (SUI) 8778
Championship record - Daley Thompson (GBR) 8811
Roma 2024 medallists
Johannes Erm (EST) 8764
Sander Skotheim (NOR) 8635
Makenson Gletty (FRA) 8604
Five to watch
- Leo Neugebauer (GER)
- Sander Skotheim (NOR)
- Niklas Kaul (GER)
- Makeson Gletty (FRA)
- Johannes Erm (EST)
And Neugebauer’s prospects have been further heightened with world leader and world indoor heptathlon champion Simon Ehammer from Switzerland, who defeated Neugebauer in Götzis, opting to focus on the individual long jump in Birmingham.
With Ehammer focusing solely on the long jump, who will be the main threats to Neugebauer?
One of Neugebauer’s biggest threats will come from Niklas Kaul who produced his trademark final day flourish in the javelin and 1500m to reel in Ehammer for victory in a engrossing and captivating decathlon in front of 55,000 spectators at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich.
The ultra-consistent Kaul has finished no lower than fourth in the decathlon in his three European Athletics Championships appearances. He also finished third behind Ehammer and Neugebauer in Götzis with 8528 points.
The field also includes Norway’s European indoor heptathlon champion Sander Skotheim who was arguably the world’s best combined eventer last year despite disaster striking at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo where he fell in the 110m hurdles and was subsequently disqualified.
An ankle surgery in the winter delayed Skotheim’s start to the season but the 24-year-old, who won decathlon silver in Rome two years ago, produced a promising series of individual results at the Norwegian Championships: 45.85m in the discus, 2.08m in the high jump, 7.47m in the long jump and 5.00m in the pole vault.
The winner of the 2024 European decathlon title was Johannes Erm from Estonia although the 28-year-old has even less in the way of quantifiable form. He competed for the first time this season at the Estonian Championships at the end of July but was a long way adrift of his lifetime bests in both the shot put (13.87m) and high jump (1.95m).
France’s Makenson Gletty will be targeting back-to-back podium finishes after winning bronze in Rome. Gletty finished second to Neugebauer in Ratingen with 8458 points which puts him fourth on the 2026 European list. The likes of Sven Roosen from the Netherlands and Italian record-holder Dario Dester will be targeting their first senior medals.
The decathlon field also includes two of the event’s most exciting prospects who could also push for their first senior medals.
The German triumvirate is completed by European U18 and U20 champion Amadeus Gräber, 21, who has improved to 8345 points while the Czech challenge is led by 20-year-old reigning world U20 champion Tomas Järvinen who scored 8400 points in Götzis to break the Czech U23 record.
As well as Ehammer, other notable absentees from the decathlon field include 2024 Olympic champion Markus Rooth from Norway and world record-holder Kevin Mayer from France.
The championship record is one of the enduring books on the books. The record still begins to Daley Thompson who scored 8811 points for gold ahead of Jürgen Hingsen at the 1986 European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart.