By Keeler McJunkin
Athletes like Ashton Eaton don’t come along very often. When they do, all eyes are upon them. On a day when decathlon events began at 10 a.m. and ended just before 6 p.m., there were many fans in the stands for the entire eight hours hoping to see as much of Eaton as they possibly could.
As he walked along the track from the west grandstand to the starting line of the 1,500 meters, the final decathlon event, each section of fans he passed by stood to clap and yell his name.
The reigning Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in the decathlon eased his way to fourth place in that 1,500, crossing the finish line to a standing ovation while cruising to victory at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials at Hayward Field on Sunday posting a score of 8,750 to win by 325 points.
“My review today was pretty good,” Eaton said. “The goal was just to be smooth. Man, on the throws I was very jittery. That’s the only thing I was frustrated with, but to me in the decathlon if you don’t leave with something frustrated, you should quit because it was perfect.”
Eaton becomes the fourth athlete in history to win two consecutive Olympic trials decathlon titles. It was also his fourth national championship, good for second all-time, behind only Bill Toomey, Tom Pappas and Dan O’Brien, who all own five national titles.
“I learned a lot here,” Eaton said. “I competed very smoothly, not too aggressively and still scored very well. If I train good and do the same thing just at a higher level, I’ll be confident going into the games.”
Joining Eaton on the U.S. team heading to Rio will be Jeremy Taiwo, who came in second place with 8,425 points, and third-place finisher Zach Ziemek of Wisconsin, who scored 8,413 points.
Nike had enough confidence in Eaton’s ability to return to the Olympics that the company sent an email Saturday citing the push to repeat gold. An Ashton Eaton retrospective played on the big screen at Hayward Field when he still had two events left in the competition.
That’s how dominant he currently is. Eaton led the decathlon after nine of the 10 events, dropping to second briefly Saturday afternoon after the shot put. But his victory was never in question.
Sunday morning, Eaton knocked over three hurdles and clipped another in the 110-meter hurdles, but still ran a time of 13.60 to win the event.
The hurdles didn’t slow him down or break his stride. He powered through them with grace and speed, similar to Reggie Bush sidestepping would-be tacklers at USC, LeBron James rising above the rim for a thunderous slam dunk, or Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout scaling the outfield wall to make a leaping catch.
World class decathletes like Eaton have the ability to make difficult things look easy, whether it’s running the curve in the 400-meters, vaulting over a bar more than 17 feet high, or throwing a javelin almost 190 feet.
An Oregon alum, Eaton had the Hayward Field crowd behind him for two days. The fans clapped in unison before every attempt and cheered after a good mark, jump or time. During his victory lap, Eaton took the time to high-five, shake the hand or take a selfie with as many supporters he possibly could.
Prior to the start of the trials, news broke that Eaton had been nursing a quad injury suffered in late May at Ostrava Golden Spike in the Czech Republic. After the first day of events, he walked through the mixed zone with a heavy wrap on the injured quad, but never showed any lingering effects during competition.
“I feel like I was about 90 percent this week,” Eaton said. “The little things I was having out there, it’s nothing too significant. My hamstring was tender to the touch, but that was about it.”
Eaton has a chance to become the third decathlete ever to repeat as Olympic champion and first since Daley Thompson of Great Britain won back-to-back titles in 1980 and ‘84.
“It would be cool,” Eaton said. “That’s awesome company to be in with Bob Mathias and Daley Thompson.”
In just over a month, a top threat to take Eaton’s crown at the Olympics will be Damian Warner of Canada, the homeland of his wife, heptathlete Brianne Theisen-Eaton.
“He’s awesome,” Eaton said. He’ll put up a fight. There’s a lot of other athletes who will put up a fight in Rio.”
