Toni Minichiello explains why the Hypo-Meeting in Austria is the best combined events competition outside of the global championships

There are many iconic athletics meetings around the world, when it comes to combined events – the decathlon and heptathlon – there is one that is held up above all others.

In 1975, a small town in Austria started an event which is now closing in on its 50th year and has provided sustained excellence during that time. To find out more I spoke to Walter Weber, the Sporting Director who started in 1979 as a spectator before being asked to help at his first meeting in 2003.

For 47 years Götzis, as its called, or simply the Hypo-Meeting, has been the one meeting all combined events athletes have wanted to do at least once in their careers. To compete at Götzis is like gaining an international vest at a major championships. To win at Götzis adds to your global status as a combined events athlete.

Like so many showpieces around the world, the long-standing Götzis streak was broken by the pandemic, but this year sees a welcome return of this special meeting that means so much to a special group of athletes and their supporters.

It is testimony to the status of the event that not one single sponsor or supporter has withdrawn their support or reduced the amount of money they donate to the Hypo-Meeting.

Even with its big event status and the television trucks that turn up every year, it still has its family run feeling, which is shown by the fact that everyone who works on the meeting does so as a volunteer. Every single euro generated goes back into the meeting and for the benefit of the athletes.

The town of Goetzis, as it is spelt, is situated just two kilometres from Zurich, 20km from Germany and two hours from Italy. Just prior to 1975 the town was thinking of building a new stadium for football. Konrad Lerch, the then Austrian national coach for combined events, persuaded them to put on a small national meeting for combined events.

Konrad was well aware that the competition opportunities were few and far between for Austrian combined events athletes and required most to have to travel to other countries to be able to find meetings – a situation not to unfamiliar for combined events athletes in the UK.

In 1975 the first meeting took place, with 19 decathletes and 21 pentathletes taking part in an occasion which set the tone for all future meetings to come. The crowd played its part then and, though things will be different in 2021, it is the thousands who come from all corners of the globe, the athlete fan clubs with painted banners and signs that crowd in close to the six-lane track, who make it so special.

With the Mosle Stadium being open on three sides it allows the fans to literally follow the action and get the best vantage point. You can watch the wave of people moving from the shot put circles situated at the 200m start and 100m start to the high jump beds at the finish line end.

On a personal note my running from the inside long jump pit where I was watching Jessica Ennis-Hill to the outside second discus cage where John Lane was competing at least amused and entertained the late Jack Miller and members of the British Athletics Supporters’ Club that had come to Götzis that year. Standard coaching practise for all combined events coaches.

So we’ve established that a large knowledgeable and fanatical crowd is what makes it a great meeting but what about the athletics itself? The beauty about combined events is the numbers. It’s full of numbers!

The crowd have witnessed some iconic performances over the years. There was the first ever 9000-point score, with Roman Sebrle achieving 9026 in 2001, while Daley Thompson set two world records in 1980 and 1982 there, as well as a world junior record in 1977.

A total of 924 athletes from 64 countries have competed in the Hypo-Meeting, setting a total of 50 national records. There have been 370, 8000+ point decathlons by 148 men, while 180 women have scored over 6000 points 449 times in the heptathlon.

A total of 23 British athletes have competed over the years with some great success, chalking up eight wins thanks to Daley Thompson in 1980 and 1982, Denise Lewis in 1997, Jessica Ennis-Hill in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and Katarina Johnson-Thompson in 2014 and 2019.

I asked Walter “what’s next?” for this fabulous meeting and his reply was a message for every promoter. “We treat every competitor and coach who comes to Goetzis as a guest,” he says. “We always try to listen to what the athletes want in order for them to produce top performances.”

For that reason, having listened to the athletes, the field has been limited to 30 athletes in both the heptathlon and decathlon – not because of Covid or cost but because the athletes found that the field event groups were becoming too big and waiting times between becoming too long. Interestingly World Athletics have reduced the combined events groups at World Championships and Olympics to 24, a number considered by athletes and coaches alike to be too small.

And for the spectators? “Combined events spectators are people who like a 10-course meal, not fast food,” says Walter, before going on to add that Götzis will keep its traditions going . “More information and improving the spectator experience is important, they know it’s not the first person crossing the line that may be the overall winner. Information is about improving the story.”

Götzis is one of the gems in the athletics calendar and, if possible, I would encourage any true athletics fan to take the time to go and see it, just once. I’m pretty sure you’ll go back again.