Ashton Eaton is halfway to another gold medal. After five events, he holds a 121-point lead over second place with 4621 points in the decathlon. The word record holder and defending Olympic champion, Eaton is on pace to bring home the top spot in Rio.
Olympics 2016, track and field results: Ashton Eaton leads after Day 1 of decathlon
Eaton holds a solid lead halfway through the decathlon. Plus, the U.S. women sweep in the 100 hurdles, Evan Jager wins a medal in the steeplechase, and Tianna Bartoletta wins gold in the long jump.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Germany’s Kai Kazmirek (4500 points) and Canada’s Damian Warner (4489 points) are in second and third, respectively. Jeremy Taiwo is the next-best American with 4419 points in fifth place after the first day of competition.
Eaton ran 10.46 seconds in the 100, long jumped 26’0.5, threw the shot put 57’2.25, high jumped 6’7 and ran 400 meters in 46.07 seconds. Eaton ran 45.00 for 400 when he broke the world record in Beijing at the 2015 world championships.
On Day 2 of competition, the decathletes will compete in the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500 meters.
The decathletes began their day at 8:20 a.m. with the 100 meters and finished around 9 p.m. with the 400 meters -- they’ll have another 12-plus hour day on Thursday to conclude the competition.
Team USA sweeps the 110 hurdles
The U.S. had yet to win a gold medal on the track -- though they had won gold in field events. But then the women in the 100 hurdles went out and did something that had never been done before: They swept the top three spots in the event. Brianna Rollins won in 12.48 seconds, Nia Ali was second in 12.59 and Kristi Castlin finished third in 12.61, just out-leaning Great Britain’s Cindy Ofili in 12.63.
Evan Jager wins first medal in men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase since 1984
A day after Emma Coburn won the first U.S. medal in the women’s steeplechase with a bronze, Evan Jager followed it up with a silver medal of his own (and they both wore the same hair tie!). Jager’s second place was the best U.S. finish in the event since 1952. Kenya’s Conseslus Kipruto won the event in 8:03.3 to break the Olympic record as Jager was exactly one second behind at 8:04.3.
Tianna Bartoletta won gold in the women’s long jump
Bartoletta missed the final of the 100 meters, but made up for it by winning the long jump with a leap of 7.17 meters. The leap, which equates to 23’6.25, was two centimeters clear of fellow American Brittney Reese’s jump as Reese made it a 1-2 U.S. finish. Ivana Španović of Serbia won bronze with a jump of 7.08 meters.
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Ashton Eaton on how he became a decathlete
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