Ten events is hard enough. Couple it with the humidity of Tokyo in summer and you can see why decathletes are some of the toughest in the business. With Ashton Eaton retired a new Olympic champion will be crowned and there will be a certain Frenchman hoping to ensure that he is that man. Here’s our men’s decathlon preview.
Schedule
Wednesday 4 August (all UK times ) – 100m – 01:00, Long Jump – 01:55, Shot Put – 03:40, High Jump – 10:30, 400m – 13:30
Thursday 5 August (all UK times) – 110m Hurdles – 01:00, Discus Throw – 01:50, Pole Vault – 04:45, Javelin – 11:15, 1500m – 13:40
2021 Biggest Scores
| 2021 Rankings | Score | Athlete | Country |
| 1 | 8995 | Damian Warner | Canada |
| 2 | 8647 | Garrett Scantling | USA |
| 3 | 8534 | Pierce LePage | Canada |
| 4 | 8485 | Steven Bastien | USA |
| 5 | 8484 | Karel Tilga | Estonia |
| 7 | 8439 | Harrison Williams | USA |
| 8 | 8430 | Thomas Van der Plaetsen | Belgium |
| 9 | 8333 | Paweł Wiesiołek | Poland |
| 10 | 8331 | Vitaliy Zhuk | Belarus |
British interest
There is none with British athletics having turned down an invite for Tim Duckworth who has not been fully fit in 2021.
The favourites
Kevin Mayer may not be on the world top ten list but that is likely because he hasn’t done a decathlon this year. The world record holder has been suprisingly starved of major honours having finished second in Rio and winning a sole world champs in 2017. Earlier this year he showed some form to win the Euro Indoors Heptathlon but which Mayer we see will largely be revealed in Tokyo. He jumped a 7.35m in Monaco recently which is somewhat below his 7.80m best and also threw 48.18m in the Discus in Montpellier (his pb is 52.38m). Besides that we do not know.
Damian Warner, by contrast has set his stall out. Whilst Mayer is the only in the field to have broken 9,000 the Canadian has come mighty close, achieving 8995 in Götzis earlier this year. The Olympic bronze medalist in Rio, he won bronze in Doha too and is probably a slight favourite for Tokyo.
If he is to do so, he will have to better Niklas Kaul and Marcel Uibo, the gold and silver respectively from Doha. Uibo seems to be operating somewhere near to his 8604 best from Doha. Kaul was only fifth in Götzis but is a 8691 performer at his best.
Garrett Scantling’s 8647 came in the US trials and he could well figure in Tokyo. He has a great Pole Vault, impressive shot put and is good at just about everything else. He could well be in contention.
Our medal predictions
- Damian Warner
- Kevin Mayer
- Marcel Uibo
Records
WR: 9126 Kevin Mayer (2018)
OR: 8893 Ashton Eaton (2016 Rio)
Enjoyed the men’s decathlon preview? See the rest of the events below.
Featured image “Damian Warner, décathlon, Canada” by khlav is marked with CC0 1.0
