Track Town, USA

Decathlete Chris Randolph finished fourth in this year's World Championship Trials in Eugene, Oregon, locally known as Track Town, USA. His score is fantastic (!) and yet a hair's breadth from where he wanted to be, which is in third place, on his way to Berlin for this August's 2009 World Championships. However, given that last year an injury kept him from participating in much more than the 2008 Olympic Trials, I'd say he's doing pretty darn well.

Here are a few video highlights from the track:
This video is the men's decathlon 100-meter sprint. This one is the decathlon 400-meter run. In this they compete in the 110-meter hurdles. And this video, last but not least, shows the entire 1500-meter run.

There's a complex psychology to the decathlon, Chris says, because you know you're going to perform well at certain events, badly at others, and you know you're going to have to really push it when you might not be able to, depending on your competition's various strengths. At some point, Chris said, without the decathlon being over "You've already won or lost because of the point system."

The 19 athletes' scores show how close they were at the end of the first day in terms of points, and they show the gradual distancing by the end of the second. Chris' 4-point difference the first day, in between him and the athlete in 3rd place, became a 200-point difference by the end of the second day, and he says he could feel it happening. "I felt my toe go over the line in the discus ring," Chris said, and after that foul, "the ring just got small." His next throw was even less what he wanted. "My thumb came up... It's a simple mistake; everyone learns not to do it." He watched that throw cost him points, and knew at that point he didn't have enough ground to keep him from staying in 4th place.

Now, I'm of the mind that Chris went out there and did his best, and did an incredible job at that, and there are more track meets in the sea. For example, he will go to Germany this August, to compete as part of the US team in the Thorpe Cup, a yearly competition between German and US multi-eventers, as they're called. The Thorpe Cup, among other national and international meets, will keep Chris plenty busy for the next year until the 2010 World Championship Trials, and give him more chances to prove himself in the track and field world. Personally, I'd be happy if I could just remember what all ten decathlon events are.

Congrats Chris,

Maggie