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 A gutsy concluding run that overcame seemingly insurmountable odds
powered the Canadian multi-event athlete to her first global gold in
the pentathlon at Portland, ending a string of frustrating second
places.
Down 150 points to Ukraine's Anastasiya Mokhnyuk in the closing race
of the five-event competition, the 800 meters, Theisen-Eaton found a
way eke out victory.
"It was all a blur," the 27-year-old said after she and American
husband Ashton Eaton, the decathlon and indoor heptathlon world
record holder, joyfully embraced
With Eaton and his fellow competitors screaming, "You can win! You
can win!" she did, clocking 2:09.99 to finish on 4,881 points, the
best score in the world this year and a Canadian record.
"The gold medal is great but I am most proud of myself for executing
this competition mentally the way that we planned," she said.
 Last August, she had entered the world outdoor championships in
Beijing with the leading heptathlon score of the year, but wound up
second to British Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill.
"I was bitter because I did not perform how I should have," she told
Reuters in an interview earlier this year. "I let my mental side
gets the best of me."
But on Friday, the world saw her toughness when the pressure was at
its highest.
"It is no secret that she has been getting second quite a bit," said
Eaton, the Olympic and world champion.
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"And with me around, it is tough for her, and she struggles to
overcome those things. Today she did it.
"She is a tough woman and today you saw something I see every day."
Now it is Eaton's turn after the American ensured he would carry a
63-point lead in the second day of the heptathlon.
A victory in the event on Saturday would make the couple the first
husband and wife team to win gold medals in the multi-events at a
world championship.
A feat they would like to repeat at the Rio Olympics.
(Editing by John O'Brien)
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