Australian Olympian Camryn Newton-Smith captured gold and the title of “World’s Greatest Athlete” at the 2026 Women’s Decathlon World Championships held recently in Ohio. Smith, in her decathlon debut, set an Australian national record and secured fourth place on the all-time world list. The event was organized by the nonprofit World’s Greatest Athlete Inc. with the goal of pushing for gender equity in track and field, as there’s no international decathlon competition. Event leaders say they view the championship as a critical step toward adding a women’s decathlon to the 2032 Olympics. A decathlon has 10 different events, and a point system decides the winner. Smith called her win “a statement that women belong in the decathlon. This is about creating more opportunities for women.”
