Kevin Mayer added 81 points to the 2015 world record of Ashton Eaton on 16 September 2018. This, in fact, was the second world record of the day, as Eliud Kipchoge had just run 26.2 miles at 4:38 per mile.
Kevin Mayer breaks World record with his 9,126 score, photo by Getty Images/IAAF
If one believes that sport is like great theater, then, Kevin Mayer spent his summer in a bit of a French tragedy. His decathlon in Berlin in early August started well. But that second event, the LJ, was well, no mark. Mayer was probably humiliated, but he focused, and, over the past two days, in front of his countrymen, had two great days of performances, and his world record came down to the 1,500 meters, which he ran in 4:36.
Congrats to Kevin Mayer on his decathlon world record. Ashton Eaton had told runblogrun over 18 months ago that he was impressed with Kevin Mayer.
Prompted by a question from @KatharineMerry, here’s a rough outline of what Mayer’s and Eaton’s WRs would look like head to head.
Eaton would lead the first 3 events, then there’d be a bit of back-and-forth for the next 4 events before Mayer pulls away in the final 3 events. pic.twitter.com/723nvAcO1r
— Jon Mulkeen (@Statman_Jon) September 16, 2018
World champion Kevin Mayer broke the decathlon world record* at the Decastar meeting in Talence on Sunday (16), scoring 9126 at the final IAAF Combined Events Challenge fixture of 2018.
Coming just seven hours after Eliud Kipchoge clocked 2:01:39 at the Berlin Marathon, Mayer’s performance was the second world record of the day.
The world indoor champion headed to Talence in pursuit of redemption, having crashed out of last month’s European Championships when recording three fouls in the long jump, the second discipline of the decathlon.
Performing in front of a home crowd, Mayer led from the outset, sprinting to 10.55 in the 100m, leaping 7.80m in the long jump, throwing 16.00m in the shot put, clearing 2.05m in the high jump and covering 400m in 48.42 to end the first day with 4563 points.
His momentum continued on the second day, speeding to 13.75 in the 110m hurdles, throwing 50.54m in the discus, clearing 5.45m in the pole vault, throwing 71.90m in the javelin before running the 1500m just a shade outside 4:36, bringing his winning tally to 9126.
Mayer’s performance adds 81 points to the world record set by USA’s Ashton Eaton at the IAAFWorld Championships Beijing 2015.
IAAF
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