It’s been a back and forth battle for Kendrick Thompson and Ken Mullings in the open men’s decathlon for The Bahamas, and this past weekend at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, it was the latter taking the national record back at the 2021 BAAA (Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations) National Junior and Senior Track and Field Championships.
Mullings scored 7,734 points, topping Thompson’s national record of 7,644 points that stood for just two and a half months. Thompson was second this past weekend, scoring 7,505 points, and World decathlete silver medalist Maicel Uibo, of Estonia, finished third, with 5,471 points.
Also braking a national record this past weekend was University of Iowa senior Serena Brown in the women’s discus. Brown had a massive throw of 60.92m (199’ 10”) at the Blue Marlin Last Chance Meet to break her own national record of 60.39m (198’ 1”) that was set at the Texas Relays in Austin, Texas, in 2018. The qualifying mark for the Olympics is 63.50m (208’ 4”).
In the men’s decathlon, for Mullings, it was his third time breaking the national record in three years, and fourth time in total over the former record of 7,421 points that was set by Antonio Greene in 1989. He put his name in the record books for the first time at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational in Coral Gables, Florida, in April 2019, scoring 7,427 points for the new national record.
Just four months later, Mullings was back at it, scoring 7,517 points at the 18th Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru.
With COVID-19 swooping in, Mullings and Thompson were out of action in the men’s decathlon in 2020, but both returned in the early part of 2021, competing at the BAAA Easter Track and Field Classic at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium in April. Both were fantastic, going over the national record of 7,517 points.
Mullings scored 7,642 points and Thompson set the new national record of 7,644.
With both competing this past weekend, and pushed by World silver medalist Uibo, the husband of Bahamian superstar track and field athlete Shaunae Miller-Uibo, one got the feeling that they would turn in exceptional performances again. This time, it would be Mullings who would reign supreme, becoming the first Bahamian to crack 7,700 points in the men’s decathlon. His total of 7,734 points is about 600 points short of the Olympic qualifying standard of 8,350 points.
Mullings ran a personal best time of 10.85 seconds in the 100 meters (m) scoring 894 points, turned in a season’s best time of 49.95 seconds in the 400m scoring 817 points, ran 4:57.04 in the 1,500m scoring 577 points, ran a personal best time of 14.13 seconds in the 110m hurdles scoring 958 points; had a season’s best leap of 7.06m (23’ 2”) in the long jump scoring 828 points, leapt 2.05m (6’ 8-3/4”) in the high jump scoring 850 points, matched a personal best height of 4.60m (15’ 1”) in the pole vault scoring 790 points, had a personal best throw of 43.58m (143’) in the discus scoring 738 points, a personal best throw of 12.98m (42’ 7”) in the shot put scoring 666 points, and finally a toss of 51.86m (170’ 1”) in the javelin scoring 616 points.
Thomson turned in a personal best time of 10.78 seconds in the 100m scoring 910 points, ran a time of 49.29 seconds in the 400m scoring 848 points, ran 4:48.09 in the 1,500m scoring 630 points; ran a personal best time of 14.52 seconds in the 110m hurdles scoring 908 points, had a leap of 7.18m (24’ 10-1/2”) in the long jump scoring 857 points, cleared 1.90m (6’ 2-3/4”) in the high jump scoring 714 points, a personal best clearance of 4.20m (13’ 9-1/4”) in the pole vault scoring 673 points, turned in a throw of 32.36m (106’ 2”) in the discus scoring 511 points, had a personal best throw of 13.23m (43’ 4-3/4”) in the shot put scoring 681 points, and finally had a toss of 62.30m (204’ 5”) in the javelin scoring 773 points.
Mullings won the 110m hurdles, and the high jump and pole vault competitions, and Thompson took the 100m, 400m, long jump, shot put and javelin competitions. Uibo won the 1,500m and discus competitions.
The Olympics are set for July 23 to August 8, in Tokyo, Japan. Bahamas Olympic Committee (BOC) Secretary General Derron Donaldson said that they will ratify The Bahamas’ team some time this week.
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source https://thenassauguardian.com/mullings-brown-break-national-records/
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