Eaton sets new mark

Ashton Eaton has been reaffirmed his status as one of the favourites among the Betfair.com Olympics punters for gold in the decathlon after setting a new world record at the US trials.

The previous mark was held by Czech athlete Roman Sebrle in 2001and it had even been questioned whether or not the mark of 9,026 points over the 10 disciplines would ever be broken.

However, Eaton passed the record by 13 points, thanks to a stunning performance in the final event, the 1,500 meters, where he managed to shave four seconds off his personal best.

The 24-year-old has been seen as one of the favourites to for the gold after winning silver at last year’s World Championships in Daegu and is by far the form athlete in the event, having set a new world’s best in the heptathlon at the World Indoor Championships in March.

The record is even more special as it is came in front of his home crowd in Oregon and at his relatively young age, he still has plenty of time to improve on the mark.

After the event, Ashton was understandably over the moon about his performance and admitted that he can’t believe he is now ranked as the best ever.

 "There are few words to say to describe it," Eaton said after the event. "To have that score and what I did, it's like I worked so hard to do that. It's hard to explain.

"I like running and jumping. To me, it's my whole world. To do the best I possibly could in my world makes me very happy

"I knew there might not be another opportunity so I had to make the most of it," Eaton added.

Team GB supporters, meanwhile, would be well-advised to keep an eye out for young boxer Anthony Joshua, who will make his Olympic debut in London and is rated as a dark horse to earn a medal by the Betfair boxing betting community.