Entries Open for 2025 NZ Cross Country Champs
For the first time in over a decade, Kiwi heptathletes will line up at the world’s most prestigious combined events meeting, the Götzis Hypo-Meeting.
Nestled between the Alps and the Rhine, a small stadium in Götzis, Austria, hosts the world’s most renowned multi-event meeting. In 2025, Kiwis return to the Mösle-Stadion with two of our brightest combined event stars: Maddie Wilson and Brianna Stephenson. For both athletes, this will be their first appearance at the meet, which ends a 13-year drought since a kiwi last toed the line in Götzis.
Since its founding in 1975, the Hypo-Meeting has earned a reputation as the pinnacle international competition for multi-event athletes outside the majors. It’s the combined events equivalent of cycling’s spring classics, or golf’s Players Championship. It’s where the world’s greatest multi-eventers come to compete, chase their best, and for some, chase history. It was in Gotzis that Daley Thompson broke the decathlon world record in 1980 and again in 1982. Roman Šebrle became the first man to surpass 9000 points in the decathlon here in 2001. Nafi Thiam made Götzis heptathlon history in 2017, becoming the first athlete to achieve over 7000 points at the meet.
New Zealand last had athletes at Götzis in 2012, when Sarah Cowley-Ross, Brent Newdick, and Scott McClaren competed. That 2012 meeting was a significant turning point in Cowley-Ross’s career. That weekend, she scored a heptathlon personal best of 6135 points, achieved four individual PBs, and hit the Olympic qualification standard. Her high jump clearance from the meet of 1.91m remains the second-equal-best all-time mark by a Kiwi woman.
That performance in 2012 propelled her onto the Olympic stage in London later that year. Her Olympic appearance came six years after making her global heptathlon debut at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
“I describe it as the Wimbledon of tennis,” says Cowley-Ross. “It’s got that history and the prestige. Gotzis also has a very knowledgeable crowd, and the crowd can be close to the action.”
That knowledgeable crowd is part of what makes Götzis so special. “People camp, and they just turn up with their beer steins at 10:00 AM, ready to watch the 100m hurdles, and they’re frothing… They’ll even come and try and watch the warm-up the day before. So they’re super engaged.”
“It was always an aspiration to go to Gotzis”, said Cowley-Ross. “In terms of the aura of the competition, which for me brought out the best in my performance… It’s quite an achievement to get a start, but then you want to do well. So for me, in an Olympic year, getting the start there was really great.”
“In a heptathlon or a decathlon, if you get a good roll on, then you can go on and do great things. And that’s exactly what happened for me. I turned up in great shape and used the energy of Gotzis to get me over high bars and to just keep the momentum going. It was a real pivotal competition in my life and changed the trajectory of my heptathlon progression.”
The Kiwi duo arrive in Austria, separated in rankings by only 5 points. Maddie Wilson sits in sixth all-time in New Zealand heptathlon history, her personal best of 5990 points coming in Dunedin in February 2024. Brianna Stephenson, who sits just behind Wilson on the all-time list at seventh, with her personal best of 5985 points, set recently at the 2025 New Zealand Combined Events Championships.
Stephenson is understandably excited to have arrived in Götzis earlier this week, “It’s incredible to be here and I’m glad I’ve had a couple of days to settle in. I’m excited to see how this quiet and quaint little town comes alive this weekend, especially given it’s the 50th anniversary of the event.”
It’s been an unconventional journey into multi-eventing for Stephenson, who grew up doing athletics but only dipped her toes into the Heptathlon when her coach suggested it during recovery from significant surgery.
“I was always quite diverse [in the events I competed in] through the Colgate Games and throughout school, but we didn’t have anyone in the Hawkes Bay to coach me for the heptathlon. I transitioned to my new coach in 2021, Matt Wyatt and I needed surgery at the beginning of 2022. He [Matt] had known I’d done some high jump back in the day and he asked if I wanted to train for heptathlon to spread the load across the body a bit more rather than rush back into the long jump runway.”
It was that pivotal question that saw Sephenson fly down the path of the heptathlon, and less than three years on she’s competing at one of the highest levels globally, “What started as a recovery tool was something that I never looked back from, and now two and a half years later I’m at Götzis one of the biggest heptathlons in the world.”
For Wilson, her trip to Austria is focused on embracing every part of her debut at the Hypo-Meeting. The Christchurch-based heptathlete is entering the competition with some strong results across the New Zealand domestic season. “The buildup has been really good,” shared Wilson. “Training has been going well, and we had a week in Nice last week acclimatising- Christchurch is a bit cold at this time of the year.”
Wilson has had a string of successes domestically over the last few years. Winning the national heptathlon title in 2024 with her career best of 5990 points. 2025 saw Wilson win the national long jump title and win silver in the high jump and heptathlon. Her domestic performances have set her on a strong path to chase international success.
Gotzis is a meet she’s dreamed about. “I’ve heard so much about this competition—it’s been one that I have watched for a number of years and have always wanted to go to. It’s a big milestone for any heptathlete getting invited here, so I’m soaking up the whole experience competing against the world’s best.”
“I’m focusing on enjoying the experience. I’m most excited to compete in front of the massive crowds. I’ve never really done that before, and the crowd here is known to be amazing.”
Wilson is joined in Austria by her partner Hamish Kerr, her coach James Sandilands, and her mum, a support crew she doesn’t take for granted. “It’s really nice having a team around me with Jimmy and Hamish and my mum,” she says.
For Maddie’s high-flying partner, Hamish Kerr, he’s excited, if not a bit nervous himself for the weekend. “I get to be a bit of a fan for the week, which will be super nice.” Kerr shared after his Diamond League win in Rabat the previous weekend.
Like many friends and family, supporting athletes can be a nerve-wracking experience, even for Hamish Kerr. “Even thinking about her competing next weekend makes me more nervous than I am right now,” he shared.
As expected, Wilson and Stephenson are lining up next to some of the best heptathletes in the world. Anna Hall of the USA is making her return to multi-eventing, and her best of 6988 looms over the field. Annik Kalin of Switzerland and Adrianna Sulek-Schubert of Poland both start with bests over 6600. Tori West of Australia joins the Kiwi pair to complete an Oceania trio in Götzis.
For Wilson and Stephenson, Götzis represents a milestone. A chance to make their mark on the international stage and to test themselves among global elites.
You can watch Götzis online via Eurovision Sport worldwide with a free registration. The live broadcast on Saturday will commence at 8:00 PM NZT, while on Sunday, the live coverage will begin at 7:45 PM NZT.
WATCH DAY 1 ON EUROVISION SPORT
WATCH DAY 2 ON EUROVISION SPORT
*Broadcast information may change for New Zealand audiences.