In Olympic decathlon, Ashton Eaton is all alone

RIO DE JANEIRO — Ashton Eaton likes to view the decathlon as a competition with himself, not with others.

By that standard, he lost on Thursday night: failing to approach his own world record score of 9,045 points over the 10 events. But judged by the traditional Olympic measuring stick, his performance in Rio was very much a success.

Though he was pushed harder than expected by the young, fast-emerging Frenchman Kevin Mayer, Eaton still defended his Olympic title. His total of 8,893 points tied an Olympic record and was plenty for a gold medal in the traditional two-day test of speed, skill, strength and endurance.

Eaton joined Bob Mathias of the United States and Daley Thompson of Britain as the only men to win two Olympic decathlon gold medals.

Eaton also joined his wife, Brianne Theisen-Eaton, as a medalist in Rio. Theisen-Eaton, who trains with Ashton under coach Harry Marra, represents Canada and won a bronze medal last week in the heptathlon, the seven-event women's competition.

Eaton, a 28-year-old from Oregon, overcame a string of injuries — nagging and more significant — this season to defend his decathlon title, including a torn hamstring shortly before the U.S. Olympic Trials.

The struggle to get healthy may explain some of his performances in Rio in the explosive sprint and jumping events which have helped him establish his dominance.

He set no personal best in any event in Rio. His 400-meter time of 46.07 seconds on Wednesday night was more than a second off his time of 45.0 at last year's world championships in Beijing when he ran the fastest 400 in history by a decathlete on his way to the world record.

His javelin throw on Thursday night of 59.77 meters was nearly seven meters short of his career-high mark. Meanwhile, Mayer, 24, a former world junior decathlon champion, spent the two days and nights of the competition breaking personal records in bunches.

After outperforming Eaton in the pole vault (5.40 meters to 5.20) and in the javelin (65.04 meters to 59.77), Mayer headed into the final event, the 1500 meters, trailing Eaton by the small margin of 44 points.

But Eaton, a much more accomplished middle distance runner at this stage, was able to secure the gold without much suspense.

Though Eaton did not beat himself in terms of the world record, he did beat himself in Olympic terms: improving on his winning score of 8869 points from the 2012 Games in London.