Ashton Eaton breaks heptathlon world record in Tallinn

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.athleticsweekly.com/news/eat ... n-tallinn/


Eaton breaks heptathlon world record in Tallinn
Ashton Eaton scores 6568 to improve on his own world indoor record

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Jon Mulkeen


Living up to his promise of breaking his own world record for the heptathlon, USA’s Ashton Eaton added 69 points to his best with a score of 6568 in Tallinn.

Eaton got off to a great start yesterday with three indoor PBs. He started with 6.66 in the 60m – the third-fastest 60m ever in a heptathlon, followed by 7.77m in the long jump, taking off way behind the board.

He then threw 14.45m in the shot – the event in which he used to struggle is now rapidly improving as he has added more than a metre to his pre-2011 best.

The day ended with a slight disappointment as he cleared just 2.01m in the high jump (compared to his 2.11m best), but he ended the day 17 points ahead of world record pace.

Day two started with another big PB, this time in the 60m hurdles. His 7.60 is easily the fastest ever sprint hurdles mark in a heptathlon (the previous best being Bryan Clay’s 7.74) and would have been good enough to win an individual medal at the 2008 World Indoor Championships!

At this stage Eaton needed just a 5.00m pole vault and a 2:35.2 clocking in the 1000m to break the world record, but he did not want to simply improve it – he wanted to smash it.

He cleared 5.20m in the pole vault – his second best ever – and finished off with 2:34.74 in the 1000m to add 69 points to his world record score. Andres Raja of Estonia finished second with 6114.

» Click here for results

World all-time indoor heptathlon top 10

1. 6568 Ashton Eaton (USA) Tallinn 06/02/2011
(6.66, 7.77m, 14.45m, 2.01m / 7.60, 5.20m, 2:34.74)

- 6499 Eaton, Fayetteville 13/03/2010
(6.71, 7.73m, 13.12m, 2.11m / 7.77, 5.10m, 2:32.67)

2. 6476 Dan O’Brien (USA) Toronto 14/03/1993
(6.67, 7.84m, 16.02m, 2.13m / 7.85, 5.20m, 2:57.96)

3. 6438 Roman Šebrle (CZE) Budapest 07/03/2004
(6.97, 7.96m, 16.28m, 2.11m / 7.95, 4.80m, 2:39.67)

4. 6424 Tomáš Dvorák (CZE) Gent 26/02/2000
(6.92, 7.81m, 16.82m, 2.04m / 7.78, 5.00m, 2:45.68)

- 6420 Šebrle, Lisbon 11/03/2001
(7.00, 7.88m, 15.75m, 2.08m / 7.86, 4.90m, 2:37.86)

5. 6418 Christian Plaziat (FRA) Genoa 29/02/1992
(6.83, 7.58m, 14.53m, 2.13m / 7.97, 5.20m, 2:40.17)

6. 6415 Sebastian Chmara (POL) Valencia 01/03/1998
(7.12, 7.65m, 15.70m, 2.17m / 7.98, 5.20m, 2:42.31)

7. 6412 Lev Lobodin (RUS) Moscow 08/02/2003
(6.88, 7.45m, 16.67m, 2.07m / 7.82, 5.20m, 2:46.35)

- 6386 Chmara, Maebashi 07/03/1999
(7.14, 7.62m, 15.89m, 2.11m / 8.05, 5.20m, 2:37.86)

8. 6374 Erki Nool (EST) Maebashi 07/03/1999
(6.83, 7.80m, 14.87m, 1.93m / 8.16, 5.50m, 2:38.62)

9. 6371 Bryan Clay (USA) Valencia 09/03/2008
(6.71, 7.75m, 16.21m, 2.09m / 7.86, 5.00m, 2:55.64)

- 6365 Clay, Budapest 07/03/2004
(6.65, 7.78m, 14.84m, 2.08m / 7.77, 4.90m, 2:49.41)

10. 6362 Mikk Pahapill (EST) Turin 08/03/2009
(7.09, 7.97m, 15.45m, 2.12m / 8.03, 5.10m, 2:45.69)

[AVC Coach]

Wow! Congrats to Ashton!

[Decamouse]

This is a Pv web site - but - gosh - his marks in the other events is insane -

[rainbowgirl28]

This is a Pv web site - but - gosh - his marks in the other events is insane -

We can talk about other events as well Decathletes are part of the family!

[VaultPurple]

Anybody that jumps 5.20 for their 6th event in two days deserves a spot in the elite pole vault thread!

[rainbowgirl28]

Quotes courtesy of USATF:

"I'm so happy! I had a great day. I think this was a great experience. I am most proud of the way I competed, after some bad events I was able to come back and perform well today. I made some bars in the pole vault on third attempt when I really needed them. I also think this shows that I have a lot of room to improve.

“I had a bad high jump, I took off way behind the board in the long jump, I could have run better in the 1,000m, and although the shot put was a big personal best, I know I can keep getting better.

“These fans here in Estonia are great. They have such a great tradition of decathletes and really support the event. Ever since I stepped off the plane I liked this place. I felt like the crowd was really behind me the whole way, they were pushing for me and I think that is why I did so well. I did not want to disappoint my new fans. Nothing quite compares to my home crowd in Eugene, but Tallinn was a close second. Now it's time to go home and get some rest before we start our preparations for outdoors. First I need to make the U.S. team, then it's onto Daegu where I hope to make the medal stand and hopefully be on top."