Rio Olympic Silver Medalist Kevin Mayer Could Be the Man to Step in for Retired Ashton Eaton to Carry the Decathlon Forward

By Adam Kopet, DyeStat Editor

Kevin Mayer capturing the silver medal in the decathlon at the 2016 Olympic Games was not a surprise to many. However, finishing only 59 points shy of Olympic champion Ashton Eaton was surprising, even to Mayer.

The 24-year-old Frenchman scored 8,834 points for a national record. The score also moves him up to #6 all-time.

“I knew I could do it, but I wasn’t sure if I could do it this year,” Mayer told Steve Landells for the IAAF. “It was a near perfect decathlon and it is very hard to do that.”

Mayer set four individual personal bests en route to his Olympic silver medal in Rio. Such growth will be hard to replicate in the future, but he is still young. He believes he has room to grow in the sprints and jumps, in particular.

Mayer is next in action Friday and Saturday at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. But his real goals for 2017 surround this summer's IAAF World Championships.

However, there will be no rematch between Mayer and Eaton, who retired from the sport earlier this year.

“He inspired me these past five years to become greater,” Mayer posted on his Facebook page after Eaton's retirement announcement. “There will always be other athletes who will push me beyond my limits.”

There is little doubt that Mayer will be closely watched at the World Championships, but it has yet to be seen whether he can rise to the same level of Eaton. Only time will tell.