History

The Décastar is an international combined-events meeting that welcomes the world’s best athletes to Talence’s Pierre Paul Bernard stadium every year.

On September 4, 1976, all eyes were on Talence. After having won the gold medal for France in the 110m hurdles at the Montreal Olympics, Guy Drut, at the end of his historic race and to everyone’s surprise, invited the media and television viewers to Talence for a major international Combined Events meeting.

The Talence meeting, which would later become the DECASTAR, was born!

In 1991, the event changed its name to “Décastar, les Dieux du Stade”.

In 1998, the event was included in the IAAF World Challenge for Combined Events, becoming its final stage. After the Talence event, the final ranking is established, rewarding the 8 best Decathlon and Heptathlon athletes of the season.

For almost 50 years, the greatest names in combined events have contributed to the history of our meeting.

One of them will always be remembered: the 42nd edition. In 2018, Kévin Mayer took revenge for the European Championships in Berlin by shattering the decathlon world record with 9126 pts, giving the Talence public an extraordinary memory!

With feats of all kinds, revenges from the Olympics or the World Championships, records broken, the Décastar has become a must for athletes and, according to many, remains their favorite event for the warmth and welcome of the public.

Over the years, the Décastar has also become a great human story. Partners, media, spectators and volunteers all come together after the summer vacations to cheer on the athletes and round off a busy season.

THE EARLY YEARS OF DECASTAR

1976: first edition with the participation of Guy DRUT, recent Olympic Champion in the 110 m hurdles. He came to take up the challenge of a decathlon, finishing 5th and setting a stadium record in the 110 m hurdles, never equalled to this day.

Late 80s, early 90s: 5 victories for Christian PLAZIAT, world n°1 in 1987, 1988, 1989, multiple Champion, French Recordman and European Champion in Split in 1990.

1992: The world record is broken by American Dan O’BRIEN, triple World Champion and Olympic Champion in Atlanta.

1994: German long jumper Heike DRESCHLER achieves the best world performance of the year.

1996: 20th anniversary of Décastar, with the participation of Jean GALFIONE, Olympic Champion in Atlanta. He achieves the world’s best pole-vault performance in a decathlon.

1999: Eunice BARBER, World Champion in Seoul, wins the IAAF World Challenge, after a hard-fought victory at Décastar. Tomas DVORAK, then World Recordman, wins the decathlon.

THE 2000S

2002: Roman SEBRLE, new world record-holder (in the footsteps of Dan O’BRIEN and Tomas DVORAK) and recent European Champion in Munich, comes to Talence to consolidate his position as world leader. But it was Tom PAPPAS who prevailed, taking away 1st place in the IAAF Challenge.

2003: Our French athletes outdid themselves, with three of them reaching the top of the podium. Laurent HERNU won, followed by Romain BARRAS and Lionel MARCENY. Never before seen in Talence!

2004: The 1st women’s decathlon becomes official, won by Marie COLLONVILLE, who becomes the first World Champion in this discipline. On the men’s side, the Olympic podium is confirmed with Roman SEBRLE, Bryan CLAY and Dimitry KARPOV.

2005: Return of Eunice BARBER, recent World Vice-Champion. Despite injury, she wins the heptathlon. Roman SEBRLE, still a world record-holder, wins the decathlon. He finishes first at the IAAF World Challenge, dethroning Bryan CLAY, absent through injury.

2006: Décastar celebrates its 30th anniversary. Ladji DOUCOURE is the patron of this year’s event. An exceptional line-up, but also the presence of great legends of combined events such as Christian PLAZIAT, Alain BLONDEL and Heike DRESCHLER. To mark the anniversary, a souvenir book is published.

2007: After the World Championships in Osaka, 21-year-old Belarusian Andrei KRAUCHANKA puts in a superb performance to win the event.

2008: After the Beijing Olympics, Talence welcomes almost all the Olympic medallists. Silver medallist Andreï KRAUCHANKA wins the Décastar for the 2nd year running. American Hyléas FOUNTAIN wins the heptathlon.

2009: After the World Championships in Berlin, Talence once again plays host to the big names in combined events. Olympic champion Nataliya DOBRYNSKA and Oleksyi KASYANOV win the heptathlon and decathlon respectively.

THE DECASTAR SINCE 2010

2011: First Belgian victory. Hans VAN ALPHEN wins the decathlon, beats the Belgian record and achieves the minimum requirements for the London Olympics. Natalya DOBRYNSKA wins the women’s heptathlon.

2012: After the London Olympics, Hans VAN ALPHEN wins the event and ranks first in the World Challenge. Czech Barbora SPOTAKOVA, twice Olympic champion in her discipline, breaks the stadium record in the javelin.

2013: After the World Championships in Moscow, Ashton EATON, Olympic Champion, World Champion and world record-holder (9039 points in 2012) and Renaud LAVILLENIE, who successfully competed against the decathletes, are present. Damian WARNER and Hanna MELNYCHENKO win this edition.

2014: Victories for Carolin SCHÄFER and Mikk PAHAPILL. Antoinette NANA DJIMOU IDA, recently crowned European Champion in Zurich, and Kévin MAYER, silver medallist, are also present.

2015 : Although the athletes are all exhausted from the recent World Championships in Beijing, or are already looking ahead to the Rio Olympics, Talence nevertheless brings together many of today’s top combiners. After 2 days rich in emotion (records and withdrawals), Gyorgyi ZSIVOCZKI-FARKAS (6306pts) and Willem COERTZEN (8187pts) took first place. Young Dutchwoman Nadine VISSER breaks the 100m hurdles stadium record.

2016 : Décastar celebrates its 40th anniversary. With Guy DRUT as guest of honor and a number of former athletes, this year’s event is all about sport, celebration and remembrance. There was a great duel among the athletes, but we had to wait until the end of the last race, in both the men’s and women’s categories, to find out who had won. Oleksiy KASYANOV finished first after a hard-fought battle with the young Canadian Pierce LEPAGE, who had been in the lead since the start of the competition. In the women’s category, Nadine BROERSEN won after a superb duel with Cuba’s Yorgelis RODRIGUEZ (4 points difference).

2017 : Décastar 2017 took place in very rainy weather conditions, nevertheless the public was very present during these two days of competition. Canadian winner Damian WARNER took the lead from the second event and never relinquished first place until the end of the decathlon, finishing with 8252 points. The podium was completed by Germany’s Kai KAZMIREK and third place went to Ukraine’s Oleksiy KASYANOV. In the women’s heptathlon, first place went to Anouk VETTER, who was neck and neck throughout the heptathlon with Hungary’s Xénia KRIZSAN and Cuba’s Yorgelis RODRIGUEZ. Anouk VETTER wins the heptathlon with 6363 points.

2018 : The 2018 edition brought together 29 international athletes, attracting over 15,000 people over two days. After two days of competition, Kevin MAYER became the first Frenchman to break the world record for the discipline with 9126 points, 81 more than the record previously held by American Ashton EATON. In the women’s heptathlon, Carolin SCHÄFER (GER) won with 6457 points.

2019: Exceptionally held in June due to the World Championships in Doha, this year’s edition once again brought together exceptional athletes and an enthusiastic public! Belgium’s Nafissatou THIAM won the heptathlon, achieving a total of 6819 points in her first appearance at Décastar: the second-best performance of her career! After a magnificent first day (personal bests in height and weight), she also achieved her personal best and the Belgian record in the long jump on Sunday. Pierce LEPAGE climbed to the top of the decathlon podium with 8453 points, bringing home a fine victory for Canada. Leading the competition throughout the first day by surpassing his best time in the 100m (10″31), he had an impressive contest in the pole vault where he broke the 5m25 barrier, shattering his personal best.

In 2021, World Athletics (formerly IAAF) has honored Décastar by positioning it at “Gold” level within the “Combined Events Tour”. We are also registered in the highest “GL” category of organization. We’re very proud to be one of only two meetings on the Tour to achieve this “GL” distinction, and we’ll be doing all we can to keep Décastar at the highest level.

2022: On the men’s side, Lindon VICTOR (GRN) 5th at the World Championships in Eugene (USA) came to Talence for the first time and won the competition with 8550 pts, followed by Manuel EITEL (GER) with 8193 pts and Risto LILLEMETS (EST) with 8149 pts, the first Frenchman Makenson GLETTY finished 4th with 8141 pts. In the women’s category, Emma OOSTERWEGEL (NED) and Ivona DADIC (AUT) tied on 6233 pts, with Sweden’s Bianca SALMING third on 6028 pts.

2023 saw the victory (for the 2nd year running) of Emma OOSTERWEGEL, who qualifies for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games thanks to her score of 6495, ahead of Annik KALIN (SUI) with 6390 pts and American Taliyah BROOKS with 6181 pts. On the men’s side, rising French decathlon star Makenson GLETTY won this year’s event with 8443 pts (Olympic qualification virtually assured thanks to ranking), ahead of Manuel EITEL (GER) and Lindon VICTOR (GRN) with 8193 pts and 7980 pts respectively.