Jordan Gray smashes American decathlon record at College of San Mateo

The world record is 8,358 points by Austra Skujyte of Lithuania in 2005. The only other athlete to ever top the 8K mark was Marie Collonville of France, who set the former world record of 8,150 points in 2004.

Gray added a phenomenal 325 points to the American and Western Hemisphere Records of 7,921 she set in the first Women’s Decathlon Championships in 2019, also at CSM. It is the third American track and field record set on CSM’s international Mondo track facility — as the college begins its 100th season of athletic competition. Kim Kreiner previously set an AR in the women’s javelin throw at CSM.

Gray’s average wind-reading for the three events affected by wind was 1.4 meters per second, well under the allowable average of 2.0 (according to newer rules). Her competition-opening 100 meter time was 11.86 seconds, aided by a 4.6 meters per second wind – the fastest ever under any conditions in a decathlon. Gray’s second day 100 meter hurdles race (timed in 14.43) was intentionally run into a 2.5 mps headwind, still scoring 919 points, to lower the overall meet wind average. (Her personal best is 13.80.) Gray had a 20 foot, 1 inch long jump the first day with legal 2.0 wind assistance — as she tallied the highest ever first day tally by an American, 4,356 points.

Gray, a 2019 Kennesaw State University grad,  continued to roll on day two with a discus throw of 130-8 for 652 points. She won the pole vault at 12-10 for 935 points and the javelin throw at 135-0 (689 points), equaling the second best mark by an American in a women’s decathlon. That had been achieved in 1997 by Stacy Dragila (the ex-pole vault world record holder who was a former community college heptathlon star). Gray finished with a 1,500 meter time of 5 minutes, 20.27 seconds, for 697 points to easily surpass the record. .

“The world record wasn’t something I was targeting,” said Gray. “I just wanted to come in and do my best without worrying about it — and get the American record.”

Gray plans to continue lobbying officials in USA Track & Field and World Athletics to allow women to contest the decathlon, along with the men, in major competitions. Only men currently contest the decathlon at the Olympic Games, although the women’s event is an official World Athletics and USATF competition. This competition provided an opportunity to determine the “greatest woman athlete” just two weeks after the Olympics.

Cash prizes were awarded to the top post-collegiate competitors by the Women’s Decathlon Association and by 3-time local Olympian Pat Daniels Connollly, an Olympic multievent pioneer in the pentathlon (in 1964). She is a former Capuchino High and CSM student who now resides in Half Moon Bay.

Corinn Brewer, an incoming senior at Greensburg, Pennsylvania’s Central Catholic, achieved the best ever high school decathlon score, 5,698 points, finishing second in the overall competition. She does not, however, officially break the high school and under-20 record of 5,676 points — due to her excess wind average (over 2.0) for the competition. Brewer, also a cross country runner, won the concluding 1,500 meters in a swift  4:59.57 (829 points) – only the sixth ever (second American) to better 5 minutes in a women’s decathlon. That prevented race runner-up Gray from having the leading mark in all 10 events.  

For complete results, see: https://www.rtspt.com/events/usatf/wdec21/