With American Ashton Eaton leading France’s Kevin Mayer by 44 points going into the final event of the decathlon, the 1500 meters, Eaton was not only in a race to establish a new Olympic record but to make sure he remained in gold medal position as well.
Eaton did that, finishing fourth in the 1500 with a time of 4:23.33. The 789 points earned with that finish locked up a gold medal for Eaton and tied the Olympic record, as his overall total of 8893 points matched that of Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic in 2004. Mayer took silver with 8834 points, a new national record, with Canada’s Damian Warner taking bronze with 8666 points.