Only three men on earth have done it, Kevin Mayer of France is the third.
There is more chance of a person scaling the 8,848-metre Mount Everest — approximately 4,000 have since Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay did it first in 1953 — than breaching the 9,000-point mark in decathlon. Mayer did it on September 16, setting a world record of 9,126 points (subject to usual ratification procedure) at the Decastar meet in Talence on home turf.
He eclipsed twice Olympic champion (London 2012 and Rio 2016) Ashton Eaton’s 9,045 points. American Eaton, the only man to surpass 9,000 points twice, sent out an effusive tweet to acknowledge the feat.
“That was an incredible display of ability! I’m super happy for @mayer_decathlon & even more for the future of the decathlon,” stated Eaton, who retired from athletics last year. “Important thing to me has always been to keep pushing the limit and inspiring others to do the same. The more 9k can become commonplace the better.”
Obviously, Mount 9k in decathlon is rarefied territory and marks out the best all-round male athletes: those who sprint, jump, throw, hurdle, vault and even do a 1,500m at the end of their event spread across two days. If there ever is an event which will brutally expose any weakness, it is this muti-eventer.
It took 38 years for the decathlon score to move from the 8,000-point barrier past 9,000. The first past the 9k mark was Czech Republic’s Roman Sebrle (2004 Athens Olympic gold medallist), who notched up 9,026 points in 2001.
Here is the lowdown on the best points totals of Sebrle, Eaton and Mayer.
(Following are a set of interactives. Hover your mouse over the blinking dots, or click on them if you are seeing this on phone, for event performance and points)
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