EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — This wasn't a world record for Ashton Eaton. Just a runaway win and another trip to the Olympics.
Not bad for a decathlete dealing with an injury.
On a tender hamstring and a quadriceps that's given him problems in recent weeks, the defending Olympic champion scored 8,750 points to beat Jeremy Taiwo by 325 at the U.S. Track and Field Trials on Sunday night. That's well off Eaton's world record of 9,045, set at the world championships last summer in Beijing.
But consider this: No one in the decathlete field for the Rio Olympics has a personal-best that matches Eaton's mark from the trials.