German decathlon dry spell ends
August 11, 2013
Michael Schrader won the silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow on Sunday, becoming the first German decathlete to make it to the podium at the worlds since Frank Busemann took the bronze medal in Athens back in 1997. This was also Germany's first medal at this year's worlds
The 26-year-old Schrader collected a personal best of 8,670 points in the competition, which is made up of 10 separate disciplines - only the American Olympic champion and world record holder Ashton Eaton was better, racking up 8,809 to take the gold. Damian Warner of Canada took the bronze with a performance of 8,512 points, which was also a personal best.
Eaton was simply unbeatable over the two-day event, posting better results in four of the 10 events than he had in his record-breaking performanceof 9,039 points at the London Olympic Games last year.
"I won the gold - the only medal in decathlon that I didn't have (at the worlds). Now I have everything. It was my goal, what I was putting in all that training for," said Eaton, who following his world record in London was described by Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt as the best athlete in the world.
Title regained
Bolt himself turned in a not-too-shabby performance just minutes later in Moscow on Sunday, taking gold to reclaim his worlds title in the men's 100 meters, in which he also holds the world record.
Bolt won the race in a season's best 9.77 seconds, beating out the American Justin Gatlin, who took silver (9.85), and his fellow Jamaican Nesta Carter (9.95), who took bronze.
Bolt had lost his world title two years ago in Daegu after being disqualified for false starts. While he expressed joy about regaining the title, he told reporters after the race that he wasn't at his best on Sunday.
"My legs were sore after the semifinals, I don't know why, but the world record wasn't on, so I came out just to win," Bolt said. "Back in Jamaica, they do not expect less than that from me. They always expect me to dominate."
pfd/mkg (AFP, SID, dpa)