Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakhstan competes in the Men's Decathlon Shot Put on Day 12 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on August 8, 2012 (© Getty Images)
Ashton Eaton continues like a train on his way to the Olympic gold medal in the London Decathlon competition. The third event, the Shot Put, created little trouble for the 24-year-old, who hit his best ever result 14.55m with his first attempt.
Eaton’s personal best of 14.78m is from this summer and was achieved in a Decathlon competition in Marburg, Germany, in July, but he didn’t take part in all of the ten events and was not part of the full Decathlon competition. Eaton went on to achieve an even better result 14.66m in round two and following a foul with his last throw, he was clearly frustrated and would have like to see a better result today.
This result puts the American 57 points behind the schedule for his 9039 world record and he has gathered 105 point lead with 2848 total points after three events.
Fellow American, the 2009 and 2011 World champion Trey Hardee, was in big trouble in the Shot Put being almost a full metre behind his 15.72m personal best at the Olympic Trials before his last attempt. Hardee recovered quite well managing a 15.28m toss with his third throw and that result keeps the medals within his sight. The 28-year-old is in second place behind Eaton with 2743 points after three events. As expected, Ukrainian Oleksiy Kasyanov has started well and has scored 2664 points for third place, but will move down in the rankings later in the competition.
Dmitriy Karpov (KAZ) won the shot put with a 16.47m season’s best, but the 2004 Olympic bronze medallist will not win a medal in this competition. The second in the Shot Put, 2012 European champion Pascal Behrenbruch (GER), was however badly disappointed and expressed it clearly after his last throw. The 15.67m third throw was his best, but well more than a metre less than his personal best 16.89m from the Helsinki European Championships. With the German receiving a huge blow to his medal chances, three other candidates for the podium did well in the event.
Belgian Hans Van Alphen reached a season’s best 15.48m and is fourth place at this stage having scored 2639 points, exactly the same amount he had in Götzis in May 2012 on the way for the Belgian record 8502p. Cuban Leonel Suárez is still looking for a second straight medal at the Olympics having a season’s best 14.50m in this event to boost his chances. Dutch Eelco Sintnicolaas threw 14.18m missing his PB only by 13cm and is five points ahead of his 8506p NR from Götzis 2012 after three events.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
Eaton’s personal best of 14.78m is from this summer and was achieved in a Decathlon competition in Marburg, Germany, in July, but he didn’t take part in all of the ten events and was not part of the full Decathlon competition. Eaton went on to achieve an even better result 14.66m in round two and following a foul with his last throw, he was clearly frustrated and would have like to see a better result today.
This result puts the American 57 points behind the schedule for his 9039 world record and he has gathered 105 point lead with 2848 total points after three events.
Fellow American, the 2009 and 2011 World champion Trey Hardee, was in big trouble in the Shot Put being almost a full metre behind his 15.72m personal best at the Olympic Trials before his last attempt. Hardee recovered quite well managing a 15.28m toss with his third throw and that result keeps the medals within his sight. The 28-year-old is in second place behind Eaton with 2743 points after three events. As expected, Ukrainian Oleksiy Kasyanov has started well and has scored 2664 points for third place, but will move down in the rankings later in the competition.
Dmitriy Karpov (KAZ) won the shot put with a 16.47m season’s best, but the 2004 Olympic bronze medallist will not win a medal in this competition. The second in the Shot Put, 2012 European champion Pascal Behrenbruch (GER), was however badly disappointed and expressed it clearly after his last throw. The 15.67m third throw was his best, but well more than a metre less than his personal best 16.89m from the Helsinki European Championships. With the German receiving a huge blow to his medal chances, three other candidates for the podium did well in the event.
Belgian Hans Van Alphen reached a season’s best 15.48m and is fourth place at this stage having scored 2639 points, exactly the same amount he had in Götzis in May 2012 on the way for the Belgian record 8502p. Cuban Leonel Suárez is still looking for a second straight medal at the Olympics having a season’s best 14.50m in this event to boost his chances. Dutch Eelco Sintnicolaas threw 14.18m missing his PB only by 13cm and is five points ahead of his 8506p NR from Götzis 2012 after three events.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
