BEIJING -- With a stirring run in the closing 1,500 meters on Saturday, Ashton Eaton set the world record in the decathlon.
Convinced that beating his own mark was within his sights coming into the world championships, he was around world-record pace throughout the 10 events over two days and, with exhaustion hanging heavy in the Bird's Nest, he pushed through pain to total 9,045 points, six better than his best.
His chest heaving, he crumpled to the track. Once he got up, he only had one thing on his mind: seeking out his wife, heptathlon silver medalist Brianne Theisen-Eaton, for an emotional embrace in the stands.
"The result is awesome," Eaton said.
Damian Warner took silver with a Canadian record score, a massive 350 points behind Eaton. Rico Freimuth of Germany was third with 8,561 points.
Earlier, Mo Farah joined Usain Bolt with a third straight double in individual events at global competitions since winning the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the London Olympics. After defending the 10,000 title on the opening day last weekend, he had a relatively easy race in the 5,000 on Saturday.
Ever since the 2012 Olympics, Farah has been unbeatable over the long distance races and has six major gold medals to show for it.