If Ashton Eaton trained for his best event, what would it be and what would be his PR?

400IH and 48 low

Decathlon, 9,045 points

Serious answer: 400mH, maybe 47-high?

He has already run 48.6 in the 400H and he doesn't really ever run it or train for this event specifically.

After that, probably the LJ.

I'd say he could run 10.00-10.05 with a 2.0 tailwind. His 10.23 was into a headwind.

Then say 44.5x for 400m.

Then 48.0xx for 400mH.

400mH would be best event in terms of World Ranking but probably equivalent to the 400m in actual performance. But fewer people do hurdles than run the 400m.

The question doesn't make sense. His best event will be the event he trains the best for.

Uhhff wrote:

The question doesn't make sense. His best event will be the event he trains the best for.

So you don't believe he might have a physical talent that would be better suited for any single event?

I get the question and I think his best event to win a Gold would be LJ and then 400H. Equal shot for a bronze in the 400 and 110H.. Crazy to think one guy could potentially medal in 4 different individual events.

400 the potential is there for 44.3 (medal contention)

400H I'd say 47.9 (vying for a gold)

LJ 8.50m or 27' 10" (vying for a gold)

100H Sub 13.10 (medal contention)

Other events that I don't think he could medal in, but complete well in globally.

100 sub 10.10

200 sub 20.30

He would be in the elite category in the

100, 400, 400h, LJ, or PV

He has world class speed and that would translate to

sub 10.00 in the 100m

sub 45s in the 400

48.xx or better in the 400h

28+ feet in the LJ

or 19'6 or in the PV

If he picked one of those and just focused for a few years, he would be in medal contention.

click bait wrote:

I get the question and I think his best event to win a Gold would be LJ and then 400H. Equal shot for a bronze in the 400 and 110H.. Crazy to think one guy could potentially medal in 4 different individual events.

400 the potential is there for 44.3 (medal contention)

400H I'd say 47.9 (vying for a gold)

LJ 8.50m or 27' 10" (vying for a gold)

100H Sub 13.10 (medal contention)

Other events that I don't think he could medal in, but complete well in globally.

100 sub 10.10

200 sub 20.30

Decathlon training is generally centered around 400m training from the speed side (as opposed to 400m training the way Clyde Hart does it), so I don't think he could improve much in the 400. I think his 400m would leave him an olympic finalist, but not in medal contention.

His long jump ability is clearly medal contention, I agree.

I also agree with you on his 110mHH. He's run very fast in this event, despite never focusing solely on it. This is an event that it is very important to focus on multiple days per week to really reach your best, and so we haven't seen his best in this event yet.

I don't agree that he could vie for gold in the 400mIH. I think this would be similar to his 400m. He did spend an entire year focusing only on this event and he ran very fast, but was still a second behind leaders. Technically, the 400mIH can be learned very effectively in a year if you had 110mHH background (which clearly he did).

I think I would add pole vault to the events he could become potentially in medal contention for. Again for the same reasons as the 110mHH, except this event is even more demanding. The world's top vaulters actually jump 4 or more times a week plus do a day or two a week of gymnastics/body awareness training. Ashton has about 1x per week of vault practice. I think his potential in this event is much higher than we've seen. His pushoff (height cleared above hand grip) is about a foot while elite vaulters get up to almost 4 feet of pushoff. This can only be learned through millions of repetitions, something he doesn't have the luxury of executing. His ability to grip high is the same as elite vaulters, he just doesn't have the form on the pole, but I'm sure he could learn this.

So I'd say his potential best events would be:

110mHH

LJ

PV

His second tier that I think he could be an Olympian, but not in medal contention would be:

100m

200m

400m

400mIH

And the remainder of the events (that he has done) I don't think he could be top tier. But who knows, maybe he could be an elite triple jumper?

Training for the decathlon must involve more wear and tear than most events.

Several of the single suggested events also involve training with above average wear and tear. Hurdles, long jump...

Since Michael Johnson did so well in the 400 later in his career, could Eaton has a second career in the 400 for say the 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons?

runnerdnerd wrote:

So I'd say his potential best events would be:

110mHH

LJ

PV

His second tier that I think he could be an Olympian, but not in medal contention would be:

100m

200m

400m

400mIH

Very smart post overall, but no chance he goes top-3 at USATF trials in the 100 or 200, under any amount of specialization.

872ji*^(%*&Yewf^uyg wrote:

Since Michael Johnson did so well in the 400 later in his career, could Eaton has a second career in the 400 for say the 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons?

would eaton also be using in this hypothetical?

800m, 1:40

The better question would be, if he put everything into one discipline of CROSSFIT, would he be able to beat Rich Froning?

My guess is, NO.

And it's a very educated guess. Dude is simply not JACKED enough.

Everyone is a distance runner wrote:

800m, 1:40

High or low?

Fox said it wrote:

Uhhff wrote:

The question doesn't make sense. His best event will be the event he trains the best for.

So you don't believe he might have a physical talent that would be better suited for any single event?

No. That's how training works.

With proper pacing and wabbits to the bell... 140 low.

Bug expert wrote:

Everyone is a distance runner wrote:

800m, 1:40

High or low?

Uhhff wrote:

Fox said it wrote:

So you don't believe he might have a physical talent that would be better suited for any single event?

No. That's how training works.

???

So he has the same talent to be a marathoner as a 400h guy?

runnerdnerd wrote:

click bait wrote:

I get the question and I think his best event to win a Gold would be LJ and then 400H. Equal shot for a bronze in the 400 and 110H.. Crazy to think one guy could potentially medal in 4 different individual events.

400 the potential is there for 44.3 (medal contention)

400H I'd say 47.9 (vying for a gold)

LJ 8.50m or 27' 10" (vying for a gold)

100H Sub 13.10 (medal contention)

Other events that I don't think he could medal in, but complete well in globally.

100 sub 10.10

200 sub 20.30

Decathlon training is generally centered around 400m training from the speed side (as opposed to 400m training the way Clyde Hart does it), so I don't think he could improve much in the 400. I think his 400m would leave him an olympic finalist, but not in medal contention.

It is very hard to be a US olympian ant not be in medal contention most years:)

Frankly these type of questions are totally unanswerable like trying to predicate what some 400m guy would run for the 800m. it is impossible to predict how some reacts to the training. The number of people who try event switches and are sucessfull are pretty darn low.