NEW YORK (Reuters) - College student Ashton Eaton upstaged the top multi-event competitors when he set an indoor world record in the men's heptathlon.
Eaton, a 22-year-old student at the University of Oregon, scored 6,499 points in the seven-event competition at the NCAA championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Saturday, breaking 1996 Olympic gold medalist Dan O'Brien's 1993 mark of 6,476 points.
Eaton's total also was 295 points better than IAAF world indoor championships winner Bryan Clay's score of 6,204 at Doha on Saturday. Clay is the current Olympic champion.
"I didn't think I had what it took to get it," Eaton, the 2009 U.S. decathlon runner-up, told reporters after running a life-time best 2:32.67 in the concluding 1,000 meters to wipe out O'Brien's record.
"For a collegiate athlete to score that many points....," Oregon assistant coach Harry Marra said. "That's a lot of points."
Eaton had five personal bests in the two-day event, running 6.71 seconds in the 60 meters, 7.77 in the 60 meters hurdles, clearing 2.11 meters in the high jump and long-jumping 7.73 meters to go with his 1,000 meters time.
His other marks were 13.12 meters in the shot put and 5.10 meters in the pole vault.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Doha. Editing by Alison Wildey)
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