American college student Ashton Eaton upstaged high profile competitors at the NCAA athletics championships in Arkansas at the weekend when he broke 1996 Olympic Gold Medallist Dan O’Brien’s 1993 indoor world record in the men’s heptathlon.
Twenty-two-year-old student Eaton from the University of Oregon, scored 6,499 points in the seven-event competition. He had five personal bests in the two day event, he ran 6.71 seconds in the 60 metres, 7.77 in the 60 metres hurdles, cleared 2.11 metres in the high jump and long-jumped 7.73 metres. He also ran a life-time best 2:32:67 in the 1,000 metres to take O’Brien’s record and surpass current Olympic Champion Bryan Clay.
Could Gold beckon for Eaton in 2012, and how happy would the Brits be as one of their premier academic establishments carries the same name, even if it is spelt differently?
