In the same day that the world record was shattered in the marathon, history was made on the track when Kevin Mayer broke the decathlon world record in Talence, France.
Mayer’s performance over 10 events at the IAAF Combined Events Challenge totaled 9,126 points, 81 points higher than the previous world record set by two-time Olympic gold medalist Ashton Eaton in 2015.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” Mayer told the IAAF. “We live for moments like this that are simply incredible. I couldn’t cry. I don’t have any more tears left because I was crying so much before the 1500 meters.”
The Frenchman’s momentum began on Saturday when he set personal bests in the 100 meters and long jump for a point total of 4,563. After the first day of competition, Mayer was 140 points behind Eaton’s record.
The record was secured on day two with standout performances in the last three events. He jumped a combined events competition best of 5.45 meters in the pole vault, threw 71.90 meters in the javelin, and ran 4:36.11 in the 1500 meters. He needed to run 4:49 or faster in the final event to break the record and he did just that.
The 2017 world champion and 2018 world indoor champion achieved redemption on Sunday after fouling out of the long jump at the European Championships in August. Mayer is now the third athlete in history to score above 9,000 points in the decathlon. Before Sunday, his previous career best was 8,834 points from the 2016 Olympic Games when he earned a silver medal against Eaton.
Now retired from track and field, Eaton was keeping an eye on his rival’s progress and wrote a congratulatory tweet after Mayer broke the world record.
As LetsRun.com pointed out, Mayer is the second athlete to break the world record in Talence. American Dan O’Brien scored 8,891 points at the same meet in 1992, another exciting comeback from a disappointing performance. O’Brien’s world record took place after he no-heighted in the pole vault at the U.S. Olympic Trials.
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According to track statistician Jon Mulkeen, the last time that two world records were broken by two different people in one day was at the 2016 Stockholm Indoor Grand Prix. Genzebe Dibaba broke the world record in the mile and Ayanleh Souleiman ran a new 1,000-meter world best.
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
