Ashton Eaton

Early life and education Eaton was born in Portland, Oregon, on January 21, 1988, the only child of Roslyn Eaton and Terrance Wilson. His father is Black and his mother is White.

His maternal grandfather, Jim Eaton, played football at Michigan State University, and his father also played the sport. His mother was an athlete and a dancer. He has three paternal siblings, including Verice Bennett, a first sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, who received the Silver Star in December 2011 for serving with valor in Afghanistan.

Eaton's parents separated when he was two years old. His mother, Roslyn, moved to La Pine, Oregon. He was athletic from a young age, competing in football, basketball, track, soccer, and wrestling, and also earned a black belt in taekwondo. Interested in track and field, he was coached by Tate Metcalf and John Nosler. In 2006, he won the Oregon state high school 400 m championship in 48.69 seconds and the long jump championship with .

Only a few colleges recruited Eaton. He considered playing football at a Division III college. In the spring of 2006, Metcalf asked Eaton if he would consider the decathlon while in college.

In 2008, Eaton won the decathlon at the NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship.

In 2009, Eaton defended his decathlon title at the NCAA Championships to win with 8,241 points. He also won the heptathlon title at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships with 5,988 points. Eaton won the Division I field athlete of the year award in 2009.

At the 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships, Eaton broke the heptathlon world record with a score of 6,499, eclipsing Dan O'Brien's 17-year-old mark by 23 points. In June 2010, he won his third consecutive NCAA decathlon title by finishing first in the decathlon with a personal best of 8,457 points. He was the first male athlete to win 3 consecutive titles in the decathlon. In 2010, Eaton won The Bowerman, given annually to the best male and female U.S. collegiate track and field athletes. Eaton graduated from the University of Oregon the same year.

At the 2009 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Eaton placed second in the decathlon behind Trey Hardee with 8,075 points. This earned him a place at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, in Berlin, where he finished 18th with 8,061 points.

2011–2012

Eaton improved his own world record in the indoor heptathlon at the International Indoor Combined Events Meeting in Tallinn in February 2011. Despite under-performing in the high jump, he managed a score of 6568 points.

In August 2011, at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, Eaton won the silver medal in the decathlon competition with a final points tally of 8505, losing first place to his compatriot Trey Hardee.

In March 2012, at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships held in Istanbul, Eaton won the gold medal in the heptathlon competition with a new world record of 6645 points, winning five events (60 m, 60 m hurdles, long jump, pole vault and 1000 m) out of seven and finished third for the rest (high jump and shot put). His stand-out events were the Long Jump (scoring 1,102 points with a jump of 8.16m/26' 9-1/4") and the final event, the 1,000 m run, where he set a Championship record of 2:32.78 (only one-tenth of a second off his personal best time). He defeated silver medal winner Oleksiy Kasyanov by 574 points (6071).

Heptathlon6645 ptsAshton Eaton March 9–10, 20122012 IAAF World Indoor ChampionshipsIstanbul, Turkey

2012 Summer Olympics

Trials

At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials, the qualifying meet for the 2012 Summer Olympics, Eaton started day one of the decathlon competition with two world decathlon bests, the equivalent of a world record for athletes competing in a full decathlon. The first in the 100-meter (10.21), and then in the long jump . To emphasize the quality of Eaton's first two marks, the 100-meter time equaled the minimum (season wide) time required for men to qualify for the trials 100-meter race and only .03 short of the Olympic "A" standard. The long jump was farther than the top qualifier in the long jump preliminary round held that same day at the trials, beyond the "A" standard, and would have tied for second in the final. He went on to finish fifth in the shot put , first in the high jump , and first in the 400 m (46.70) held in a pouring rainstorm. After day one, Eaton's points total of 4728 was more than 300 points ahead of second-place competitor Trey Hardee. On the second day of competition, Eaton finished first in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.70. In the discus, however, he had an eighth-place finish. He bounced back in the pole vault, posting a height of , good enough for first place. In the javelin throw, Eaton had a distance of for fifth place. Going into the final event, the 1500 m run, Eaton held a 317-point lead over his closest competitor, Hardee. Eaton ran a new personal best in the 1500 m with a time of 4:14.48, finishing first. In the process, he brought his total score for the decathlon to 9039, breaking Roman Šebrle's previous world record of 9026 points. Eaton broke Dan O'Brien's American record of 8891 points set in 1992.

Olympics

At the 2012 Olympics, Eaton's primary rival was (now) teammate Trey Hardee. Eaton's 10.35 100 m was the top time of the day, with Hardee the next best. His 8.03 long jump was almost half a metre farther than any other competitor, building him a sizeable lead. His 14.66 shot put was just 12 cm short of his personal record, and his 2.05 high jump tied with several members of the field for second best. In the final first day event his 46.90 400 metres was over a full second faster than anybody else in the field. His first day total was 4661, with a 220-point lead over Hardee.

Day two started with a virtual tie between Hardee and Eaton, Eaton running a time of 13.56 in the 110m hurdles. Eaton's discus throw of 42.53 gave up almost 6 metres and 120 points to Hardee, but by that point, Eaton still had a 100-point lead. Eaton more than gained that back with a 5.20 pole vault, the third best competition. In the javelin throw Hardee pulled back 70 points with a good throw, but this advantage was limited by Eaton setting a new personal best of 61.96. With Eaton holding a 150+ point lead and a superior personal record in the 1500 m over Hardee, the medals were already determined. Nobody made a serious run at improving his position, and Eaton just went through the formality of completing the event in 4:33.59 to take the gold medal.

2013 World Championships

Eaton won the 2013 world title in the decathlon with an 8809-point performance in Moscow.

2014 World Indoor Championships

In a February 2014 interview with Track & Field News (Vol. 67, no. 3), Eaton - and his coach Harry Marra - said 2014 would be a "rest" year, with no decathlon competitions. His only multi-event would be the heptathlon at World Indoors, which he entered having broken the world record in his last 3 consecutive indoor competitions. Eaton won the gold medal in the Heptathlon at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships held in Sopot, Poland on 7 & 8 March 2014. As the defending champion he received an automatic entry and did not have to enter a qualifying meet. He opened the competition at the 15th world indoor championships at Ergo Arena with his fastest time ever for the 60 m, 6.66 seconds and never trailed. He followed that up with an excellent long jump, a good shot put and an excellent high jump (2.06m/6' 9") for a first day score of 3,653, which was just a single point less than when he set the Heptathlon record at the 2012 World Indoor meet. On Day 2, he opened with an outstanding time of 7.64 in the 60 m hurdles - a Championship meet record - and an excellent pole vault of 5.20m/17' 0-3/4". He won the 1,000 m by 3 seconds, however his time of 2:34.72 was 2 seconds slower than in 2012 and he fell 13 points short of his world record. His total of 6,632 points ranks as #2 all-time. Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus was 2nd with a new national record of 6,303 points, and Belgium's Thomas Van Der Plaetsen was 3rd with 6,259 (also a Belgian national record.)

Eaton told Track & Field News that during the 2014 outdoor season he planned to run some 400 m hurdles races for the first time in his career, as means of "doing something fun" while building his stamina for the 400 and 1,500 in future decathlon competitions. He also hoped to compete in some (world class) Diamond League meets in (variously) the 100 m, 110 m hurdles and/or the long jump. After resting from the grueling grind of decathlon training in 2014, Eaton would resume a program aimed at defending his titles at the 2015 Worlds in Beijing, China, the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon, and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

2015 World Championships

Eaton won the 2015 world title in the decathlon improving his own world record with a 9045-point performance in Beijing. Decathlon9045 ptsAshton Eaton August 28–29, 20152015 World Championships in AthleticsBeijing National Stadium, Beijing, China

Retirement

Eaton announced his retirement from the sport on January 3, 2017.

Personal life Eaton married his University of Oregon teammate, Canadian multi-event athlete Brianne Theisen, on July 15, 2013, one year after both competed in the London Olympics. The two first met in 2006 during Eaton's freshman year at Oregon and fell in love at the 2007 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, held in Brazil: Theisen won the gold medal for Canada and then followed Eaton to enroll at the University of Oregon. Ashton and Brianne have two children.

Honors and awards World Athletics Awards World Athlete of the Year (Men)：2015

Major competition record

Personal bests Outdoor +Individual events Event Performance Location Date Long jump Walnut April 21, 2012 Walnut April 16, 2016 High jump Burnaby June 10, 2012 Pole vault Portland August 8, 2015 100 meters 10.33 Berkeley May 16, 2010 10.19 Berkeley May 15, 2010 200 meters 20.76 Walnut April 19, 2013 400 meters 45.55 Atlanta August 1, 2015 110 meters hurdles 13.35 Eugene June 4, 2011 13.34 Eugene June 2, 2012 400 meters hurdles 48.69 Glasgow July 11, 2014 Shot put Palo Alto March 30, 2013 Discus throw Mörfelden July 13, 2012 Javelin throw San Luis Obispo March 16, 2013

+Combined events Event Performance Location Date Score Decathlon Beijing August 28–29, 2015 9,045 points 100 meters 10.21 Eugene June 22, 2012 1,044 points Long jump Eugene June 22, 2012 1,120 points Shot put Palo Alto March 30, 2013 814 points High jump Vancouver June 10, 2012 906 points 400 meters 45.00 Beijing August 28, 2015 1,060 points 110 meters hurdles 13.35 Eugene June 4, 2011 1,060 points Discus throw Chula Vista August 14, 2011 816 points Pole vault Portland August 8, 2015 1,035 points Javelin throw Moscow August 11, 2013 811 points 1500 meters 4:14.48 Eugene June 23, 2012 850 points Virtual Best Performance 9,516 points

Decathlon best

Indoor

+Individual events Event Performance Location Date Long jump Albuquerque February 26, 2012 High jump Seattle January 16, 2010 Pole vault Boston February 14, 2016 60 meters 6.69 Athlone February 26, 2014 300 meters 33.93 Seattle January 19, 2008 400 meters 47.97 College Station January 28, 2012 800 meters 1:55.90 Princeton January 22, 2011 60 meters hurdles 7.51 New York City February 14, 2015 Shot put Boston February 8, 2014

+Combined events Event Performance Location Date Score Heptathlon Istanbul March 9–10, 2012 6,645 points 60 meters 6.66 Tallinn February 5, 2011 1,007 points Long jump Istanbul March 9, 2012 1,102 points Shot put Sopot March 7, 2014 782 points High jump Fayetteville February 5, 2010 906 points 60 meters hurdles 7.60 Tallinn February 6, 2011 1,109 points Pole vault Tallinn February 6, 2011 1,035 points 1000 meters 2:32.67 Fayetteville March 13, 2010 957 points Virtual Best Performance 6,811 points

World record

World records