Kevin Mayer


Kevin Mayer is a French athlete. He is the world champion, Olympic silver medalist and world record holder in the Decathlon.

Career

2008–2010: Youth career: gold medals at Youth (under-18) and Junior (under-20) World Championships

He won the octathlon gold medal at the 2009 World Youth Championships and the decathlon gold medal at the 2010 World Junior Championships.

2011–2012: Gold medal at the Junior (under-20) European Championships and first Olympic Games

He competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics, finishing 15th.

2013–2015: First senior medals at back-to-back European Championships, fourth place at the 2013 World Championships

He won a silver medal in the heptathlon at the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships with a new personal best of 6297 points.
At the 2013 European Cup Combined Events he topped the podium and set personal bests in the 100 metres, long jump, shot put and the discus throw.
On 12 August 2015, Mayer announced his withdrawal from the 2015 World Championships because of a hamstring injury sustained in the end of July 2015.

2016: Second place at the Götzis Hypo-Meeting and Olympic silver medal, new personal best

On 6 March 2016, Mayer announced his withdrawal from the 2016 World Indoor Championships because of a heel injury sustained during the hurdles race at the French Indoor Athletics Championships held at the end of February in Aubière.
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Mayer earned a silver medal with a new personal best of 8834 points, finishing behind only two-time gold medallist Ashton Eaton, who was the world record holder at the time. Highlights of his campaign include equalling or improving personal outdoor bests in four events and performing seasonal bests in three others ; he was also the best decathlete in two disciplines and lead the standings at the end of the first day of the competition. Furthermore, this performance ranks as the sixth-best personal best score in the men's decathlon, and showed a marked improvement in form for Mayer, bettering his former personal best of 8521 points by 313 points and the French national record by 260 points.

2017: European Indoor Champion and World Champion

In the run up to the 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships, Mayer's first combined events competition of the year was an indoor track and field triathlon at the National Indoor Meeting of Paris on 8 February. Mayer didn't receive a score in the 60m hurdles, but finished first in the other two events against the other two remaining participants, Bastien Auzeil and Gaël Querin. Nevertheless, he finished last, with 1652 points. His first heptathlon was at the French Elite Indoor Championships in Bordeaux on 18–19 February. While Mayer didn't get marks in the long jump, he finished in first place in the other five events in participated in. He decided not to participate in the final 1,000 metres and therefore finished the heptathlon without a score.
At the 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade on 4–5 March, his first international competition of the year, Mayer won the gold medal in the men's heptathlon with a new European record, beating Jorge Ureña and Adam Helcelet. He achieved three indoor personal bests and finished third or best in six out of seven events and established personal indoor records in five. This score is also the second-best personal record score for a men's indoor heptathlon ; Mayer beat the previous European indoor record, set by Roman Šebrle at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Budapest, by 41 points.
On 15 April, he had his first outdoor competition at a triathlon in L'Étang-Salé, Réunion. Mayer won all three events, finishing in first place with 2642 points. Back in Europe, Mayer took part in his first decathlon of the year in his adopted hometown of Montpellier on 13–14 May. Despite not scoring a valid mark in two events in the first day, the long jump and the high jump, Mayer achieved a season best mark in the discus and the shot put. Afterwards, Mayer attended events in Valence and Paris over the next month and a half to prepare some disciplines for the summer season. He then took part in his last competition before the World Championships, the French Elite Outdoor Championships in Marseille, whose men's decathlon competition took place on 14–15 July. Mayer struggled with the rainy and windy conditions and the conditions of the track, eventually not finishing the competition after a few no marks.
At the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in London, Mayer completed his first decathlon of the year and won his first World Championships gold medal with a world-leading score of 8768 points, ahead of Germans Rico Freimuth and Kai Kazmirek ; this was also France's first international gold medal in the decathlon. Despite not coming first in any specific discipline, Mayer achieved new personal bests in the 100 metres, 400 metres, and the 110 metres hurdles. A setback in the pole vault – where he cleared his only mark at 5.10m only at the third and last try – 30 cm below his personal record – prevented him from breaking his personal record.
In 2018, he broke Ashton Eaton's world record, establishing a new mark of 9126 points in Talence, France.

Personal life

Mayer was born on 10 February 1992 in Argenteuil, a commune in the northwest suburbs of Paris, to André and Carole Mayer. His paternal family and German surname have their origin in the northeastern region of Lorraine, where his father grew up; some of his relatives still live in the Moselle department next to the border with Germany. He has three brothers: Thibault, Thomas and Sébastien; the family was raised in La Roche-de-Glun, a small town by the Rhône river in the southeast of the country, where his parents still live.
Mayer started practicing athletics at the sports association EA Tain-Tournon close to his hometown; after the club's merger with two other Drôme-based athletics associations in 2013, Mayer continued representing it through the new institution, EA Rhône Vercors 26-07. He trains at the CREPS Montpellier, a training center for high-performance athletes, since 2008; ever since moving to Montpellier, he has been coached by Bertrand Valcin. He studied for a :fr:Diplôme universitaire de technologie en mesures physiques at the University of Montpellier-Sète.

Achievements

Performance in major international events

Best results in combined events

List of senior decathlons with results over 8000 points

YearCompetitionLocationPositionPoints
2012Côte d'Azur Combined Events Regional ChampionshipsCannes-La Bocca, France1st8091
2012Brussels MeetingBrussels, Belgium1st8447
2013European Cup Combined Events – Super LeagueTallinn, Estonia1st8390
2013World ChampionshipsMoscow, Russia4th8446
2014Mehrkampf-MeetingRatingen, Germany2nd8323
2014European ChampionshipsZürich, Switzerland2nd8521
2015Arona Combined Events MeetingArona, Spain1st8469
2016Hypo-MeetingGötzis, Austria2nd8446
2016Olympic GamesRio de Janeiro, Brazil2nd8834
2017World ChampionshipsLondon, United Kingdom1st8768
20182018 Decastar MeetingTalence, France1st9126

List of senior heptathlons with results over 5800 points

YearCompetitionLocationPositionPoints
2013French Indoor ChampionshipsAubière, France2nd5983
2013European Indoor ChampionshipsGothenburg, Sweden2nd6297
2017European Indoor ChampionshipsBelgrade, Serbia1st6479

Personal bests

Outdoor

EventPerformanceLocationDateVirtual best performance
Decathlon9126 pointsTalence, France16 September 20189423 points
100 metres10.55Talence, France15 September 2018963 points
Long jumpTalence, France15 September 20181010 points
Shot putParis, France24 August 2019918 points
High jumpBrussels, Belgium30 June 2012887 points
400 metres48.26London, United Kingdom11 August 2017897 points
110 metres hurdles13.55Paris, France24 August 20191033 points
Discus throwRatingen, Germany17 June 2018921 points
Pole vaultTalence, France16 September 20181051 points
Javelin throwTalence, France16 September 2018918 points
1500 metres4:18.04Brussels, Belgium1 July 2012825 points

Indoor

EventPerformanceLocationDateVirtual best performance
Heptathlon6479 pointsBelgrade, Serbia5 March 20176656 points
60 metres6.85Birmingham, United Kingdom2 March 2018936 points
Long jumpBelgrade, Serbia4 March 2017945 points
Shot putAubière, France27 February 2016849 points
High jumpBelgrade, Serbia / Aubière, France4 March 2017 / 13 February 2010887 points
60 metres hurdles7.79Paris, France7 February 20181035 points
Pole vaultRouen, France2 February 20181100 points
1000 metres2:37.30Gothenburg, Sweden3 March 2013904 points