Waaw, what a thrilling decathlon that was. Pierce LePage 27 years old and Damian Warner 34 in less than two months. Both underestimated because they are modest and Warner so called too old and Lepage no history of results higher than 8701. In Götzis, Gar Leyshon (Damians coach) already said he expected that at the World Championships there would be need of 8900 points to win. He felt that already at his elbows. Obviously that wasn’t farfetched. The winner Pierce LePage did 8909 and there was anyway need of doing better than 8804 (Warner) to win! Part of the field – say the first nine their results were in a way extraordinary. Hans van Kuijen gives in his annuals each year a list with top scores per competition. The list “Men decathlon all time” shows Götzis 2000 as the highest points total for the first 8 decathletes at a competition or 66.836 points. After 23 years that record is broken in Budapest. The first 8 decathletes had a joint total of 69.310 points. Have also a look at the best scores ever for second place to nineth. 3th, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th in one competition have never been better than in Budapest.
Best score before Budapest WC 2023
2. 8834 Kevin Mayer / Rio de Janeiro 2016
3. 8742 Erki Nool / Götzis 2000
4. 8644 Steve Fritz / Atlanta 1996
5. 8613 Eduard Hämäläinen / Atlanta 1996
6. 8543 Erki Nool / Atlanta 1996
7. 8422 Robert Zmelik / Atlanta 1996
8. 8387 Yordani Garcia / Berlin 2009
9. 8357 Junior Diaz / Berlin 2009 |
Budapest WC 2023
8804 Damian Warner
8756 Lindon Victor
8681 Karel Tilga
8645 Leo Neugebauer
8524 Janek Õiglane
8500 Harrison Williams
8491 Markus Rooth
8484 Johannes Erm |
Since the beginning of the athletics season five athletes disappeared from the Absolute age record list (including one score from himself) after Damian Warner did that 8804 in Budapest. The names and results are:
32 y 7m 25 d 32 y 9m 6 d 32 y 11m 3 d 33 y 4m 15 d 33 y 5m 21 d |
8797 8676 8569 8519 8356 |
Congratulations to all the athletes and the teams behind them!