Theisen-Eaton first Canadian to medal in heptathlon at world track and field championships
Heptathlete’s medal follows husband’s gold in Moscow
SASKATOON — Brianne Theisen-Eaton’s fairy tale summer just got better.
Exactly one month after her wedding day, the native of Humboldt, Sask., became the first Canadian woman to win a medal in the heptathlon at the world track and field championship in Moscow.
Her silver medal came just two days after her American husband and former University of Oregon teammate, Ashton Eaton, claimed gold in the men’s decathlon.
“The funny thing is we got married on the 13th of July,” said Theisen-Eaton in a phone interview from Moscow, shortly after posting a personal best outdoor score of 6,530 points. “So I was saying that 13 is no longer an unlucky number for me, I guess.”
According to Athletics Canada, Theisen-Eaton is only the third Canadian woman to ever win a medal at a world outdoor championships.
Priscilla Lopes-Schliep won silver in 2009, while Perdita Felicien won gold (2003) and silver (2007). But this is the first world championship medal by a Canadian woman not including the 100-metre hurdles.
“I think it’s sunk in pretty quickly,” said Theisen-Eaton. “I was going into this meet expecting a medal.
“I was anticipating this and about what it would feel like for a long time.”
Theisen-Eaton entered the second day of the heptathlon in fourth place.
After recording a personal best of 6.37 metres in the long jump and 46.47 metres in the javelin throw, she was within striking distance of a gold medal.
The 24-year-old needed to beat Ukrainian Ganna Melnichenko by four seconds to reach the top of the podium.
However, Theisen-Eaton’s personal-best time of 2:09.03 wasn’t quite good enough. Melnichenko finished the heat right behind her (2:09.85) to win gold.
“It turned out she had more than I did in the 800, so I wasn’t able to close the gap by four seconds,” Theisen-Eaton said. “But I think knowing that I ran that hard and that I didn’t have any more (to give) made me feel happy with the silver medal instead of being in a position where I could have done more and regretting it.
“I’m really excited about it.”
Theisen-Eaton competed in her first Olympics in 2012, finishing 11th in London. She’s made tremendous strides on and off the track since then.
Theisen-Eaton won the Hypo Meeting — a specialized annual heptathlon and decathlon event in Gotzis, Austria — in May and noted that her mental psyche has improved since moving on from NCAA competition last year.
“Last year at the Olympics, I think every athlete goes through that a little bit where you first make your big team and you go to these big meets,” she said. “You maybe feel like a rookie and you shouldn’t be there. A lot of athletes have described that and I definitely felt it.
“That’s something that I definitely didn’t feel this time. I felt like I was a huge contender and a threat to a lot of people.”