Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee finished with gold and silver respectively in Thursday's decathlon. (Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports)
American Ashton Eaton won gold in the Olympic Decathlon Thursday night in London, scoring 8,869 points to take home yet another gold medal for the U.S. He won the decathlon by 198 points.
Eaton bested two time champion, fellow American Trey Hardee, whom he managed to out last in the 1,500 meter finale. There was some drama at the start when a rare false start was called. But Eaton not only held off Hardee and Cuba’s Leonel Suarez, he built on his 151-point lead heading into the finale and mounted an insurmountable 198 point lead.
The finale was a chance for Eaton to set a new world record and all Eaton needed to do was shave a mere six second off his previous time to do so. But Eaton chose to play it conservative and coast to ensure he take home the gold medal.
During qualifying in June, Eaton set a new world record, the mark he was set to break had be powered through the 1,500 meter finale.
His final time of 4 minutes, 33.59 seconds wasn’t good enough for a new world record but it was good enough to get Eaton the gold. Trey Hardee took the silver with 8,671 points and Suarez won the bronze with a point total of 8,523.
