Ashton Eaton Hold both Multi-event WR's

A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events.^[1] The name derives from the Greek hepta (seven) and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "feat"). A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.

There are two heptathlons – the women's heptathlon and the men's – composed of different events. The men's heptathlon is older and is held indoors, while the women's is held outdoors.

The men's indoor competition, is the men's combined event in the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics. The men's indoor heptathlon consists of the following events, with the first four contested on the first day, and remaining three on day two:

• 60 metres

• long jump

• shot put

• high jump

• 60 metres hurdles

• pole vault

• 1000 metres

In each event, the athlete scores points for his/her performance in each event according to scoring tables issued by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).^[7] The athlete accumulating the highest number of points wins the competition.

EATON TOTALS 6645 POINTS HEPTATHLON WORLD RECORD IN ISTANBUL!

Ashton Eaton came into these championships knowing he was in the best shape of his life and so it proved when the 24-year-old concluded his Heptathlon with a superb tally of 6645 improving his own World record by 77 points.

Coming into the final event of the day, Eaton had to run the 1000m in 2:39.54 or less in order to break his 6568-point standard. Owing to his personal best 2:32.66 the whole Atakoy Arena was expecting Eaton to treat them to their second World record in two days, yet all was down to the man from Eugene as he could count on no other man in the field to help him set the pace.

Just like he had done in all previous events, Eaton competed virtually on his own such was his standard and he eventually crossed the line in 2:32.77, the next best across the line being Ilya Shkurenev almost nine seconds behind!

It was Eaton’s third World record in three years after he first set the global mark in Fayetteville in 2010 and still there remains a big margin of improvement!

In an incredible competition, Eaton won five individual events, improved his Long Jump and Shot Put personal bests and amassed a huge 574 points lead over silver medal winner Oleksiy Kasyanov, which is by far the biggest ever winning margin in the history of these championships.

Other superlatives which will read next to Eatons’ name include the longest ever Long Jump and fastest ever 1000m recorded in a Heptathlon World champ; incidentally he already held the fastest 60m Hurdles time!

A World silver medallist in Daegu last year, Eaton describes himself as more suited for the Indoor Combined Events but gives himself another couple of years before he can be “as good a decathlete.”

Interestingly the last time that the Pentathlon and Heptathlon World records were broken at the same competition was back in 1990 when Odile Lesage and Christian Plaziat scored 4215 and 6273 points respectively in Nogent sur Oise.

From now on the names to remember are those of Natallia Dobrynska and Ashton Eaton!

Men's World Indoor Championships medalists [edit]

Men's World Indoor Championships medalists[edit]

The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin, from δέκα (déka, meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "feat"). Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not by the position achieved.

Traditionally, the title of "World's Greatest Athlete" has been given to the person who wins the Olympic decathlon.

Ashton Eaton breaks his own decathlon world record; wins gold

Olympic champion Ashton Eaton broke his own decathlon world record by six points to defend his crown with a 9,045 point total at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing.

Eaton, 27, set his previous world record at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore. with a 9,039 point total to break Roman Sebrle's 11-year-old record by 13 points. Eaton won gold in London less than eight weeks later with an 8,869 point total.

“I think the point of life is just trying to improve,” Eaton said. "Do something. Get inspired to do something and then try to do better."

Eaton is the first man to win back-to-back world championship titles since compatriot Trey Hardee won in 2009 and '11. Eaton won the 2013 world championships with an 8,809 point performance to improve upon his silver medal from '11.

The decathlon consists of 10 events over two days: the 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400-meter run on the first day, and 110-meter hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw and 1,500-meter run on the second.

On the first day of competition, Eaton raised eyebrows to confirm a world-record attempt by setting a decathlon world championship best by clocking a 10.23 in the 100-meter dash and setting a decathlon world record with his 45.00-second performance in the 400-meter run.

He finished the first day with 4,703 points and a 173-point lead over Damian Warner of Canada.

Eaton went into the final event on Saturday night needing to run 4:18.25 to set a new world record. He ran 4:17.52 and collapsed to the ground before celebrating his new accomplishment.

When Eaton first set the world record, he joined an elite club that includes Bruce Jenner, Dan O'Brien and Rafer Johnson as American decathletes who have held the world record.

“I was just thinking about sitting on the couch when I was little watching somebody like Michael Johnson or Carl Lewis jump and run – that's the reason why I'm here today,” Eaton said. “I thought maybe there's a kid on a couch somewhere and if I break this world record, they may be inspired to try and do something or get excited, so yeah I did it for them."

Americans have won six of the last seven gold medals in the decathlon at world championships and have won nine titles since the first multi-event contest at the 1983 championship in Helsinki.

Watch Eaton's 1,500-meter finish below:

Since 2012, Eaton has cleared 5.40 meters in the pole vault, tossed 15.40 meters in the shot put and recorded a 66.64-meter throw in the javelin for personal bests.

World Record progression