Coming into the U.S. Olympic Trials, there was a sense that for the first time in a long time, Ashton Eaton may be vulnerable.
The 2012 Olympic gold medalist and decathlon world record holder strained his quad at a Diamond League meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in late May and his training was limited from that point on.
Eaton’s coach, Harry Mara, stated before the trials that the prime age window for a decathlete is 26 to 28 years old. Eaton, now 28, found himself battling a major injury for the first time in his career.
The track and field world may never know how much the injury limited Eaton this weekend — he said he was performing at 90 percent health and insisted that every decathlete is dealing with some sort of injury at this point. At the end of the day, none of the speculation mattered.
Eaton, relying on experience more than pure athleticism this time around, expertly navigated his way to a winning score of 8750 points to capture his fifth U.S. title at Hayward Field on Sunday. The final score fell well short of the 9045 he posted in Bejing last summer, but Eaton picked his spots and won or tied in five of the ten events.
“Physically, I’m a bit older,” Eaton said to reporters. “I’ve seen a lot and been in a lot of situations. So in that sense, if I’m in a situation in the decathlon, I have confidence that I’ll know how to handle it, because I’ve been in a lot of them.
“I was just a little more confident in this one.”
Jeremy Taiwo of Brooks finished second at 8,425, and recent Wisconsin graduate Zach Ziemek took third with 8413. Oregon junior Mitch Modin soared up the leader board on the final day and hit hit a 229 point lifetime-best to finish seventh at 7785.
Eaton tallied the most points in the long jump (25 feet, 8 1/4 inches) and the 110 meter hurdles (13.60 seconds) and fought off some early jitters in the discus to distance himself from a field of young competitors. During his record-setting performance in Bejing last summer, he ran the 1,500 4:17.52 and then collapsed in exhaustion. With no record on the line this time, he cruised to a 4:25.15 finish, good for fourth.
When it was all over, Eaton took time to enjoy the moment. While celebrating, he jumped into the steeplechase pool and turned his victory lap into a victory bath.
In a press conference that took place two days before the start of the trials, Eaton said that he began taking track seriously when he attended the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward and watched athletes such as Justin Gatlin and Allyson Felix compete.
“I had no idea track could be like this,” Eaton said at the press conference. “I think it was at that point that I realized that’s what I wanted to do; I wanted to be like these athletes.”
On Sunday, he found himself on the opposite end of that scenario.
Modin also spent his prep career at Mountain View and grew up idolizing Eaton. Tate Mecalf coached both athletes during their prep careers, and was in attendance on Sunday to celebrate another world title for Eaton and a massive PR for Modin.
“It’s been my dream to compete with him since high school,” Modin said. “So it was kind of a dream fulfilled to do a victory lap with Ashton Eaton after he qualified for the Olympics. …He’s far and above any athlete ever. To be able to break the world record over and over again is insane.”
On Sunday, Eaton proved that he is still one of the few constants in the event as he watches his field of competitors rapidly evolve. Of the top seven finishers, only Eaton and Taiwo were competing under professional contracts. The other five athletes all wore college jerseys and were age 23 or younger. Trey Hardee, the 32 year old former Olympic silver medalist who finished as runner-up to Eaton at the 2012 Olympic games in London, withdrew after five events due to foot and hamstring injuries.
Mara has already said that this will be his last Olympics coaching Eaton, and by the time 2020 rolls around, Eaton will be 32, well past what Mara considers to be his prime years. For now, the elder statesmen and unquestioned king of the decathlon gets to enjoy one last run to Rio.
“The Olympic games are so much different than anything else,” Eaton said. “You don’t even talk about world records, in a way. I mean, if it’s there at the very end, I’m sure I’ll try to run and get it.”
Follow Jarrid on Twitter @jarrid_denney