Photos: Cedric Dubler
Camryn Newton-Smith is not one to shy away from challenges: perhaps that's ingrained in athletes taking on the multi-events, arguably the toughest event on the athletics program?
After honing her skills and winning multiple underage titles, she decided to leave Australia and take on the best in the USA College system. Success came in different ways, most notably being awarded All-American three times and setting school records in pentathlon and heptathlon.
During this time, Camryn faced the challenge of living in the USA for the COVID period, and then coming out of that, suffered a crippling achilles injury. But after pushing through the gruelling one-year rehabilitation, she came back to PB and win the 2022 Queensland State Title.
With the 2024 Olympics on the horizon, Camryn took on the challenge of achieving the tough qualifying requirements. She won her first senior National title in a new PB of 6180 points, and then the Oceania Championship. This meant selection for Paris, along with Tori West, the first Australian heptathletes to go to the Olympics for 16 years.
Further Australian representation came in the World Championships and World Indoor Championships in 2025, but in 2026 Camryn faced a new challenge. Her bid for Commonwealth Games selection was unsuccessful.
A day later she receives an invitation: “I was invited to compete in the decathlon again a day after my non-selection email.”
The decathlon event is the Women’s Decathlon World Championships in the USA. Newton-Smith became aware of the event when invited in 2024 but couldn’t attend due to the Olympics. Now, with no other commitments, Camryn decides to take on this challenge: I’m huge on things happen for a reason and clearly as one door closes another one opens.
In a sport that has seemingly ironed out the differences it created between men and women and the assumptions around women's abilities to undertake arduous activities, it seems strange that in the multi-events there is still a sense of “less than”. Newton-Smith questions this, “multi-events is the only track and field event that isn’t equal. Every other event has been brought in line so why not the multis?”
With the introduction of the 3000m steeplechase for women at the 2008 Olympics, the IAAF President proudly noted “… there is no longer a discipline in athletics which is available to men but not to women”. Craftily worded - “a” discipline - may be true, but deceptively doesn’t cover multi-discipline events.
To be fair the IAAF had formerly approved women could compete in the decathlon in 2001 and established a world record for the event. Trouble being, there was no recommendation to replace the heptathlon, which continues to be programmed on national and international events and championships.
In theory women can compete in decathlon, in practice there are few chances to make this a reality. “I always wanted to do a decathlon just because my brother was a decathlete, but never had the chance growing up” reflects Newton-Smith.
And this is the missing link that a non-profit in the USA is attempting to fill by hosting the Women’s Decathlon World Championship. The organisation is appropriately named “World's Greatest Athlete” and is building the case that women belong in that conversation. Their annual championship, now in its third year, is crowning a champion, and growing the movement.
One challenge they, and Camryn face, is taking on the decathlon from a heptathlon training-base is not an easy one. There are additional running events, a 100m, 400m & 1500m replaces the 200m & 800m. And two new field events, the discus and perhaps most alarmingly the pole vault. Camryn understands the risks, “Training our whole life for the heptathlon means adaptations to that training load and changing that is where injuries happen” and that this means some heptathletes aren’t interested in the new event.
Luckily for her, one of her training partners Amber Nyssen is also travelling to Oberlin, Ohio to compete this weekend: this will be Amber’s third decathlon. No doubt there have been some helpful conversations on managing this additional training, although Camryn hasn’t “… made many changes other than add in a discus and vault session to brush up on the technique. There wasn’t enough time to train properly without spiking my training load so I’m really going in relying on my strong events.”
She also highlights one likely small win “I haven’t run a 1500 since I was 10 so I’m pretty much guaranteed a PB there!” But at the back of her mind is a larger goal. Currently there is no Australian women’s decathlon record, with 7000 points being set as the minimum to be achieved before someone can send in their record application. For Camryn: challenge accepted. “I think 7000 points is incredibly achievable and I do think I can be the first Australian record holder in the women’s decathlon”.
A new challenge but for Camryn not a distraction: “The heptathlon is my first love so I’ll continue to compete in it, but I’m excited for this new challenge and to be a small part of this important movement.”
Should this movement continue to grow, there could be repercussions close to home for Camryn. The aim of World’s Greatest Athlete is to see the decathlon introduced on the program at the Olympics for the first time in Brisbane 2032. Could Newton-Smith compete in the world’s first Olympic Decathlon in her hometown?
But thats in the future, best to take on one challenge at a time and this weekend Camryn has ten challenges rolled into one, and will be looking to successfully compete in the Women’s Decathlon World Championships.