Husband-wife duo of Ashton Eaton and Brianne Theisen Eaton shines at Sopot

Ashton Eaton and Brianne Theisen Eaton

When asked whether his wife’s presence would prove to be a distraction, Ashton Eaton replied with his trademark jaunty charm, “No I don’t think it will be distraction. Actually, distraction is good. If I see her (Brianne Theisen Eaton) clear a great bar, I might be flying down the long jump runaway thinking, oh man, it’s my turn. I think it’s good to support each others performance that way.”

The husband-wife pair had a successful campaign at the World Indoor Championships at Sopot, Poland, with Ashton Eaton winning the gold as expected in the men’s heptathlon, and his wife, Canadian athlete Brianne Theisen Eaton, winning the silver in the women’s pentathlon.

Amidst intense pressure, missing out on a fourth straight world indoor record was far from a failure, for his final score of 6,632 points is the second best in history, even though it fell just 13 points shy of his own world record of 6,645.

Eaton is only the second athlete, after his compatriot Bryan Clay, to win two consecutive world indoor heptathlon titles.

The 1000m was where Eaton was supposed to capitalize, but his time of 2:34.72min was 1.8 seconds short of the required time to set yet another world record. Although this was the third-fastest result in his career, he still remarked in disdain, “I don’t know, I’m just mentally weak.”

“I thought I was more tired than I actually was. And to me that is just being weak. I should push through being tired. It is ridiculous.” Eaton, who was chasing the record he had set in Istanbul in 2012, seemed dejected after the 1000m run for having missed the world record mark by such a small margin.

Brianne Theisen Eaton, on the other hand, eclipsed the national pentathlon record with a total score of 4,768 in the pentathlon on Friday, helping her to finish second behind Nadine Broersen of the Netherlands. She also set a new personal best in the 60m hurdles.

“It is all going on very close together,” said Theisen Eaton, who having fouled the first two attempts in the long jump, sought the support of her husband, competing across the stadium.

“That is the exact moment when I looked for kind of comfort because I felt scared, you know. It’s great competing with him”, said Mrs. Eaton

Ashton on the other hand said, “I just told her to relax, and it’s just like practice and no big deal.”

The result was quite similar to last year’s World Championships at Moscow, where Ashton won the gold medal in decathlon, and Brianne took the silver.

Ashton Eaton, who looks forward to a relaxing year devoid of the stress of major competitions, seeks to shift his focus to the 400m hurdles and spending time with his wife.

After securing the silver medal, Brianne Theisen Eaton said she looked forward to “get ready for him for his next day, bring him dinner, so he can just lie in bed and relax.”

Ashton Eaton first came across Brianne, a heptathlon athlete from Canada, during his freshman year at the University of Oregon. After a brief farewell, the two united again at Pan American Junior Athletics Championship in 2007, almost unexpectedly. This reunion proved great for the couple, who would then spend more time training together, competing in major international events, and finally getting married in July of 2013.

The mutual motivational and supportive elements inherent in their relationship has had a significant role to play in their gradual success as athletes.