Eaton wins gold, breaks own world record
Fred Jeter | 9/4/2015, 4:52 a.m.
BEIJING, China Dubbed “the world’s greatest athlete,” American Ashton Eaton broke his own world record in winning the gold medal in the grueling, 10-event decathlon at the World
Championships that ended Sunday.
The son of a black father and white mother, Eaton of
Eugene, Ore., continued his dominance of the multievent competition regarded as the pinnacle in track and field by defending the world title he won in 2013.
The winner of decathlon gold at the 2012 Olympics, Eaton also holds the world record in the five-event heptathlon.
In his latest triumph, he racked up 9,045 points in the two- day decathlon, outdistancing the field and his previous world record of 9,039 points that he set at the 2012 Olympics.
He clinched the win with a heroic run in the final event, the 1,500 meters, which he finished in 4 minutes 17.52 seconds.
The other events include runs of 100 meters, 110-meter hurdles and 400 meters, a long jump, a high jump, a pole vault and throws with the discus, javelin and shot put.
Meanwhile, Jamaican Usain Bolt added to his laurels at the games by winning the 200 meter and anchoring Jamaica’s winning 4x100 team. Earlier in the games, he won the 100 meters to hold onto his title as the “world’s fastest human.
