Olympic high jump champion Derek Drouin takes on the decathlon

Derek Drouin competed in his first decathlon as a professional on Friday and Saturday setting a new world best in the high jump.

Derek Drouin
Derek Drouin
Photo: Brian Cliff.

The world’s best championship high jumper, Canadian Derek Drouin, competed in his first decathlon as a professional athlete on Friday and Saturday. Drouin, 27, is the 2015 world champion and 2016 Olympic champion in the high jump.

RELATED: Canada’s best to flock to nation’s capital for track championships as country turns 150.

Eyeing the 10-discipline event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Drouin competed at the Sam Adams Combined Events Invitational at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif. where he finished fourth overall. Aided by the best high jump ever within the decathlon, Drouin scored 7,150 points, a culmination of the 10 events that include sprinting, jumping, throwing and distance running. Athletes earn points for their performances against given benchmarks. (More information on how scoring works can be found here.)

The decathlon is a two-day, multi-event category of athletics which includes the following (in order): 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400m, 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500m. There are five events on day one and two and, since it incorporates most aspects of athletics, the Olympic decathlon champion is dubbed the “world’s greatest athlete.” American Ashton Eaton, who recently announced his retirement, currently holds that title.

Drouin’s high jump record

Drouin, who has a jaw-dropping lifetime best of 2.40m in the high jump, cleared 2.28m in his premier event to set a new world best, breaking the old mark by 1 cm from 1977. Separate records are kept for events contested during a decathlon and outside of the decathlon. The accomplished high jumper announced in early February that he would begin shifting his focus to the new event adding he has experience from his university days.

For distance-running fans, the most intriguing event to watch is the 1,500m, the final competition of the decathlon. Drouin ran 4:54.51. For comparison, Eaton, the world record holder in the decathlon has an in-competition best of 4:17.52 when he scored 9,045 points at the 2015 world championships in Beijing.

In the other running events as part of the decathlon, Drouin ran 14.47 for the 110m hurdles, his second best result of the competition, 51.81 for 400m and 11.42 for 100m. Overall, Drouin set seven personal bests in California. Damian Warner, the bronze medallist in Rio, is Canada’s top decathlete and has a lifetime best of 8,695 points.

Drouin’s 400m

Drouin, a native of Corunna, Ont., is expected to contest the high jump at the 2017 IAAF World Championships this summer in London before focusing on the decathlon at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. Drouin’s sister Jillian is one of the nation’s top athletes in the heptathlon, the women’s equivalent of the decathlon.

Check out the latest buyer's guide:

The best trainers in Canada under $150

We curated the best performance trainers under $150 to meet your 2024 running goals, while staying on budget