Hardee wins decathlon World Championship

Aug. 20, 2009

Texas Ex Trey Hardee scored a personal-best 8,790 points in the decathlon to win the gold at the 12th IAAF World Track and Field Championships in Berlin on Thursday. The total was 256 points better than his previous personal best of 8,534 points. Hardee became the first Texas male to win an individual World Championship and his score ranks him as the No. 9 all-time decathlete and No. 3 American.

"It just shows what faith can do," Hardee said. "My dnf in Beijing gave me extra motivation to come back. I'm incredibly happy. Nobody can be more happy than I am now. I recorded a PB after the first day and based on those results, we were confident the second would be better. Tonight? I will sleep. Party time will come when I'm back in Austin, Texas."

Hardee posted a first-day personal best of 4,511 points yesterday but stood in third place entering the final five events. He quickly regained the top spot after the 110-meter hurdles, when he scored 993 points thanks to a season-best 13.86. Hardee added another season best in the discus with a toss of 48.08m (157-9) to score 830 points.

Hardee used his third consecutive season best to win the pole vault with a clearance of 5.20m (17-0.75). He scored 972 points and opened up an almost 200-point lead heading into the final two events.

In the javelin, Hardee notched a personal best of 68.00m (223-1) to score 859 points and basically put the event out of reach. He finished off the decathlon by running a 4:48.91 in the 1,500 meters to score 625 points.

"I'm so happy for Trey," said Texas head coach Bubba Thornton. "He's overcome a lot of obstacles and this just shows what kind of person he is. He battled through some things and now he is a World Champion. It shows the work and dedication he put in and we couldn't be prouder of him. He's a great representative for Texas and the United States."

The Longhorns have one more competitor tomorrow with Andra Manson in the finals of the high jump. That event will start at 12:15 p.m. Central.

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics