Published in Athletics Weekly on August 25
ASHTON EATON only finished 18th at the last World Championships but the American came to international prominence when he set a world heptathlon record at the NCAA Indoor Championships last year. Not only is he predicted to win the world title, he is also tipped to become the second athlete to break the 9000-barrier.
After a lucrative collegiate career, Eaton has been able to focus solely on international competitions this year. The 23-year-old started his season with an advancement on his world indoor heptathlon record and this was followed by a PB of 8729 at the US Championships which usurped reigning champion Trey Hardee at the top of the world-rankings.
To underline his gold medal winning ability, Eaton lowered his 100m PB to 10.26 at the Thorpe Cup and he improved his discus PB from 43.71m to 47.36m.
Hardee's victory in Gotzis shows the reigning champion is in shape to put up a good defence although the event will be missing Olympic champion Bryan Clay, who looked out of sorts at the Thorpe Cup earlier this month.
Gotzis runner-up Leonel Suarez was the silver medallist behind Hardee in Berlin and he comprises a strong Cuban squad which also includes Yordani Garcia, who finished eighth in 2007 as a teenager.
Quick stats:
Championship record: 8902 Tomas Dvorak (CZE)
Reigning champion: Trey Hardee (USA)
British interest: None
AW's prediction: 1. Eaton, 2. Hardee, 3. Suarez
Significant victories 2011: Gotzis: Trey Hardee (USA) 8689. Russian Champs: Aleksey Drozdov (RUS) 8334. Kladno: Leonel Suarez (CUB) 8231. US Champs: Ashton Eaton (USA) 8729. French Champs: Romain Barras (FRA) 8117
Did you know? Since 1991 this title has exclusively been won by American and Czech athletes.
No comments:
Post a Comment