Kevin Mayer

Mayer earned the gold medal in Octathlon at the World Youth Championships in 2009, at the age of 17. He won the gold medal in the decathlon at the 2010 World Junior Championships the following year. Mayer then clinched the gold medal in the decathlon event in 2011 in Tallinn, Estonia, at the European Athletics Junior Championships.

At the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships, he won silver in the heptathlon with a new personal best of 6297 points. Mayer won the silver medal in the decathlon at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich in 2014, with a personal best of 8521 points. With a new personal best score of 8834 points at the Summer Olympics 2016 in Rio, Mayer came in second place against world record holder and two-time gold medalist Ashton Eaton.

Mayer won the men’s heptathlon gold medal at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in 2017, which took place in Belgrade.  He broke Roman Šebrle’s record from Budapest in 2004 by 41 points, setting a new record for Europe with 6479 points. Mayer competed in his first decathlon of the year at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in London, finishing with a record-breaking score of 8768 points to win his first gold medal at a World Championships. Mayer won gold in the heptathlon with 6348 points in 2018 at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham. To win his first global indoor championship, Mayer narrowly defeated Canadian Damian Warner by five points.

Mayer underperformed in the Men’s Decathlon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, finishing fifth after the first five events. However, on the final day, he did well in a few events, including the hurdles and pole vault, as well as a personal best in the javelin throw, allowing him to advance in the rankings and earn silver behind Damian Warner of Canada. Mayer then reclaimed his world championship in the men’s decathlon at the global championships held in Eugene, Oregon, in July. He once again got off to a slow start, finishing in sixth place after the first day. Nevertheless, with time he improved and won on the final day with wins in the pole vault and javelin competitions.

Mayer was born to André and Carole Mayer on February 10, 1992 in Argenteuil, a commune in the northwest suburbs of Paris. His father was raised in the northeastern region of Lorraine, where his paternal family and German surname originated. Some of his ancestors still reside in the Moselle department, which is close to the German border. His parents stay in La Roche-de-Glun, a little village near the Rhône river in the southeast of the country, where he was raised with his three brothers, Thibault, Thomas, and Sébastien.

Mayer began his athletic career at the sports association EA Tain-Tournon in his hometown. After the club merged with two other Drôme-based athletics associations in 2013, Mayer continued to represent it through the new institution, EA Rhône Vercors 26-07. Since relocating to Montpellier in 2008, he was coached by Bertrand Valcin until the Covid-19 pandemic and trained at the CREPS Montpellier, a facility for high-performance athletes. At the University of Montpellier-Sète, he pursued a technological degree in physical measures, including metrology and instrumentation.