Olympic Men’s Decathlon — The Second Day That Rooth Built

WITH NO SCORE THIS year and a PR ranking fourteenth among the entries, Markus Rooth wasn’t anywhere to be found on T&FN’s Olympic formchart.

Even a solid Day 1 that had him almost 100 points up on his 8606 PR pace put him just marginally in medal contention.

That all changed on Day 2, specifically in the pole vault, where no-heights by defending champ Damian Warner and Euro silver medalist Sander Skotheim — the latter like Rooth a 22-year-old Norwegian — effected major effects on the order as Rooth soared over multiple PRs.

Here’s an event-by-event look at the event that had its field reduced to 22 with the day-before withdrawal of French hero Kevin Mayer, the WR holder, due to a hamstring injury.

100: As expected Warner and Ayden Owens-Delerme were fastest, running 10.25 and 10.35. Pre-meet favorite Leo Neugebauer was solid at 10.67, just off the 10.64 he clocked in his 8961 CR at the NCAA. Little noticed down at 10.71 was a PR by Rooth (old best 10.81).

Long Jump: Skotheim had the best jump with a PR 26-4¼ (8.03) as Neugebauer was next with a yearly best (and his second-best all-time) of 26-2¼ (7.98) that had him flirting with a 9000 score compared to his 8961 PR. Rooth (25-7¼/7.80) and Warner (25-6¾/7.79) were next — for Rooth his second-longest ever but just modest for Warner, who set the Olympic deca best of 27-½ (8.24) while winning Tokyo gold.

Sad news came from Zach Ziemek, just the second 3-time U.S. Olympic decathlete in Games history. His 22-6¼ (6.86) being more than 2 feet off his PR was explained later by NBC analyst Trey Hardee, who revealed Double-Z was competing with a torn lateral collateral ligament in his left knee.

Shot: The crowd got a lot to cheer about as France’s Makenson Gletty threw farthest at 54-7¼ (16.64). Neugebauer moved into the overall lead but not nearly as demonstrably as many assessed. His 54-3¾ (16.55) was 57 points shy of the deca Collegiate Record 57-3½ (17.46) in his 8961 at the NCAA. American Harrison Williams hit a PR 51-4½ (15.66) just ahead of Rooth, who moved into 4th overall after a solid 50-½ (15.25). Warner threw 47-5 (14.45), dropping to 2nd overall.

High Jump: USA champ Heath Baldwin PRed at 7-1½ (2.17) to lead the way. Neugebauer continued his overall lead, still projecting over 8900 points with his clearance…