Missouri To Host First Women's Decathlon Held In America
4/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Meet Schedule & More Info
April 6, 2005
COLUMBIA, Mo. - History will be made on the University of Missouri campus starting in eight days, as the first decathlon held in the United States exclusively for women will begin as part of the second annual Audrey Walton Combined Event. Starting on Thursday, April 14, the two-day festival will feature a four-person field in the women's decathlon highlighted by 2004 Lithuanian Olympic heptathlon silver medalist and former Kansas State athlete, Austra Skujyte, who will attempt to break the newly ratified world record in the event. The Walton meet will also feature a traditional women's heptathlon and men's decathlon.
"The heptathlon for women is and has been a major part of international, national, and collegiate track and field for the past 24 years," said Dr. Rick McGuire, Head Coach of Missouri Track & Field. "There has been a movement to make the decathlon the standard for women to make the two genders equal in the combined events. When I first started to coach track and field, the 800-meter was the longest event for women to run on the track; since then, track and field has extended the standard to 10,000 meters, equal to the men. The pole vault is now in its sixth year for women, all these events are normal now. There was this thought by some that `Women can't do that', and I think we are dispelling that everyday. Adding the ultimate challenge to athletes, the decathlon, to a normal female program is the last barrier to be broken."
The current standard for women is the two-day, seven-event heptathlon. As in the men's decathlon, the women's decathlon modifies the heptathlon by adding the 100-meter dash, discus, and pole vault, and extends the 200-meter dash to 400 meters and the 800-meter run to 1500-meters.
The recent ratification of a world record in the women's decathlon by the IAAF (the world's track and field organization), has put the event in the threshold of significance, McGuire said. "Several competitions have been held in Europe and I think it's time for the U.S. to see the significance of the event. For the honor and for the good of the sport, [Kansas State] Coach [Cliff] Rovelto and I decided to make this part of the Audrey Walton meet this year, and we are excited to put this on the front burner of the track and field world."
McGuire and Rovelto have been two of the major contributing coaches to the combined events in the past 20 years. Skujyte, one of Rovelto's prized pupils, along with current Wildcats, Breanna Eveland and Lindsay Grigoriev, and Missouri's Liz Young will be part of the historic field.
"Austra has been progressively excited about it," said Rovelto. "Obviously with a new event, a person would probably have some anxiety before attempting for the first time. No one has seen her pole vault before, but she's been working on that since after her senior year and she's shown nice progress in the event. With having significant experience in all of the other events, and with where she is in her training, she's in good shape to break the world record."
The current world record is held by France's Marie Collonvillé, as she scored 8,150 points in September of last year.
"When you're talking about a world record, you can't just automatically say that you are going to break it, it's a tough record," Rovelto added. "But, if the weather is good, and if she makes solid marks across the board, and even if she has a sub-par event, the record could be in trouble."
