Rio Olympics 2016: American Ashton Eaton halfway to a repeat in the decathlon
An incredible 10-event competition is halfway done; can Eaton repeat his London greatness?
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1 min read
With a cruising win in the 400-meter dash on Wednesday night, American Ashton Eaton is now halfway to a repeat of his 2012 Olympic decathlon title.
The decathlon is the 10-event, mega competition that determines the best athlete in the world. Eaton ran the fifth and final event on Wednesday, the 400 meters, in 46.07. He beat Germany's Kai Kazmirek (46.75) for first place. Eaton earned 1,005 points with that win, distancing his first-place lead.
Heading into Thursday, Eaton has 4,621 points. Kazmirek is in second at an even 4,500. In third place, Canada's Damian Warner with 4,489. Rounding out the top five: Kevin Mayer of France (4,435) and American Jeremy Taiwo (4,419).
"Just trying to be tough, be smooth," Eaton said on TV of his first five events. "These Olympic and world decathlon, are not like the others ones. It's 10 now, started at 10 this morning, so it's kind of like, you try to let it flow."
In terms of energy, Eaton has to give it a real go on all events, but not completely gas himself.
"You really just have to try to be smooth and treat each attempt with 90 percent effort in a way," Eaton said. "But so far it's OK today."
The first five events took place over the course of 12 hours.
And they'll do it again tomorrow. Eaton started Wednesday by taking second in the 100 meters, then won the long jump competition with a leap of 7.94 meters. The shot put was a 10th-place finish for Eaton (14.73 meters). The high jump was his weakest event, a tied for 14th place, but the great 400 run was enough to keep him on top. All decathletes will compete on Thursday in the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and, the final event of the competition, the 1,500 meters.
