Ashton Eaton in the heptathlon shot at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Portland 2016 (© Getty Images)
While his effort in the shot was by no means a disaster, Ashton Eaton would have been hoping for a bit more than 14.16m in his quest to break the world indoor heptathlon record in Portland.
A first-round effort of about 14 metres was judged a foul. He followed it with a relatively safe 13.39m before producing his best mark in the final round.
Eaton continues to lead overall and a world indoor record is still not out of the question, but he will need to be close to his best in the remaining four events.
Although Curtis Beach only finished 10th out of the 11 men in the shot, his PB of 13.12m consolidated his projected eventual second-place finish. He currently sits in fourth place overall.
Grenada’s Kurt Felix produced the best mark of the shot put with 15.02m to move into third place overall, but he has some weak events on day two and may struggle to maintain his position.
Adam Sebastian Helcelet of the Czech Republic was the next best with a season’s best of 14.96m.
Oleksiy Kasyanov and Mathias Brugger, both of whom are in medal contention, were closely matched in the shot. Kasyanov threw 14.53m to the German’s 14.47m. Kasyanov currently sits in second place while Brugger is down in sixth, but the latter is expected to move up the standings in the final two events.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF
