Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic has broken the world decathlon record.

Competing at the IAAF's annual world combined events challenge in Goetzis, Austria, the 26-year-old finished with a points total of 9,026.

The previous best was held by compatriot Thomas Dvorak, who scored 8,994 points in Prague in July 1999.

Sebrle's previous best was the 8,757 points he accumulated in June last year at the same meeting.

Great 1500m

"It's just fabulous, what else can I say," said the 26-year-old Sebrle.

"After Saturday I could see a possibility of a world record but I was a bit bothered about my long-jump, my javelin and my 1500m.

"While my long-jump was nothing special I pulled out all the stops in the 1500m."

Sebrle's performances were: 10.64sec (100m), 8.11m (long-jump), 15.33m (shot-putt), 2.12m (high-jump), 47.79sec (400m), 13.92sec (110m hurdles), 47.92m (discus), 4.80m (pole vault), 70.16m (javelin) and 4:21.98 (1500m).

He claimed a silver medal at the Sydney Olympics in September and also won the heptathlon at the IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships in Lisbon in March.