This summer Ashton Eaton will be chasing a gold medal and, perhaps, Roman Serble's WR of 9026 set back in 2001. Most decathlon fans are also aware of his "chase" to catch the total decathlon points record of 9572 set by Dan O'Brien. Eaton's PRs have improved drastically over the last few years and now he is up to 9285, 7th on the all-time list. Decathlon 2000 and its readers do a great job of updating this list: Total points based on PB
I thought it would be fun to go back and trace the Progression of this "record". Obviously, this will take some time and effort but I thought it would be a great project for some of the great decathlon statisticians out there. I wanted to start it off with the most recent WRs.
Based on my data, Dan O'Brien broke Jurgen Hingsen's Decathlon Total Points on July 29, 1994 when he high jumped 2.20 meters (improving his mark from 2.17 meters) and earning 29 more points bumping his total from 9303 to 9332 and eclipsing Hingsen's career best of 9323. (Hingsen's last PR was set in 1986). O'Brien subsequently broke his record 6 more times, where it currently stands at a whopping 9572. (Note: I did my best to gather the best, accurate data but feel free to double check my info for errors). Any decathlon statisticians/expert feel free to expand this record and post your results.
PROGRESSON CHART
PTS |
ATHLETE |
DATE |
100 |
LJ |
SP |
HJ |
400 |
110H |
DT |
PV |
JT |
1500 |
9323 |
6/14/1986 |
10.70 |
8.04 |
16.57 |
2.18 |
47.65 |
13.84 |
50.82 |
5.10 |
67.42 |
4:12.29 |
|
9332 |
7/29/1994 |
10.23 |
8.11 |
16.69 |
2.20 |
46.53 |
13.81 |
48.88 |
5.25 |
62.58 |
4:33.19 |
|
9377 |
5/27/1995 |
10.23 |
8.11 |
16.69 |
2.20 |
46.53 |
13.47 |
48.88 |
5.25 |
62.58 |
4:33.19 |
|
9425 |
6/15/1995 |
10.23 |
8.11 |
16.69 |
2.20 |
46.53 |
13.47 |
51.16 |
5.25 |
62.58 |
4:33.19 |
|
9430 |
8/7/1995 |
10.23 |
8.11 |
16.69 |
2.20 |
46.53 |
13.47 |
51.16 |
5.25 |
62.90 |
4:33.19 |
|
9465 |
6/22/1996 |
10.23 |
8.11 |
16.69 |
2.20 |
46.53 |
13.47 |
51.16 |
5.25 |
65.22 |
4:33.19 |
|
9490 |
8/1/1996 |
10.23 |
8.11 |
16.69 |
2.20 |
46.53 |
13.47 |
51.16 |
5.25 |
66.90 |
4:33.19 |
|
9572 |
5/8/1999 |
10.23 |
8.11 |
16.69 |
2.20 |
46.53 |
13.47 |
55.07 |
5.25 |
66.90 |
4:33.19 |