Brianne Theisen-Eaton facts for kids

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Brianne Theisen-Eaton

Theisen-Eaton at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
Personal information
Nationality	Canadian
Born	(1988-12-18) 18 December 1988 (age 36) Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Residence	Eugene, Oregon
Height	175 cm
Weight	64 kg
Sport
Country	Canada
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Heptathlon, pentathlon
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	Heptathlon: 6,808 points NR, Götzis, 2015 Pentathlon: 4,881 points NR, Portland, 2016
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 0 0 1 World Championships 0 2 0 World Indoor Championships 1 1 0 Commonwealth Games 1 0 0 Pan American Games 0 0 1 Total 2 3 2 Olympic Games Bronze 2016 Rio de Janeiro Heptathlon World Championships Silver 2013 Moscow Heptathlon Silver 2015 Beijing Heptathlon World Indoor Championships Gold 2016 Portland Pentathlon Silver 2014 Sopot Pentathlon Commonwealth Games Gold 2014 Glasgow Heptathlon Pan American Games Bronze 2015 Toronto 4×400 m relay

Brianne Theisen-Eaton (born December 18, 1988) is a retired Canadian track and field athlete. She was known for competing in the heptathlon and women's pentathlon. These are multi-event sports where athletes compete in several different track and field events.

Brianne won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the heptathlon. She also holds the Canadian record for the heptathlon with 6,808 points. For the indoor pentathlon, her Canadian record is 4,768 points. She earned silver medals at the 2013 and 2015 World Championships. She also won a silver medal at the 2014 World Indoor Championships.

Brianne is the first Canadian woman to win a medal in multi-events at the World Championships. She won a gold medal in heptathlon at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In 2016, she became the World Indoor Champion in the pentathlon. She also helped her team win a bronze medal in the 4x400 meter relay at the 2015 Pan American Games. Brianne and her husband, Ashton Eaton, retired from track and field on January 3, 2017.

Brianne's Athletics Journey

Starting Young

Brianne Theisen-Eaton grew up in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Canada. She attended Humboldt Collegiate Institute. In high school, she was very active in sports. She played volleyball and soccer, and also competed in track and field.

She found her passion in combined events like the heptathlon. This led her to represent Canada at the 2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics. She finished seventeenth in the girl's heptathlon. In 2006, she became the national junior champion in the heptathlon. She also competed at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics in Beijing. In her final year of high school, she won a gold medal at the 2007 Pan American Junior Championships.

College Career and Records

Brianne received a sports scholarship to the University of Oregon in 2007. She studied business administration there. In her first year, she placed second at the Pac-10 championships. She also finished fourth in the heptathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Championship.

In her second year, she placed third in the pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championship. She then became one of the world's top heptathlon athletes. She won the Pac-10 title and set a personal best of 6,086 points. This win earned her her first NCAA outdoor title. Later that summer, she won the national heptathlon title. This allowed her to compete for Canada at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. She finished fifteenth in her first senior international competition.

Brianne continued her strong performance in college. In 2010, she won her first pentathlon title at the NCAA Indoors. She also won the Pac-10 Outdoor heptathlon championship again. She secured her second straight victory at the NCAA Outdoors. She improved her personal record to 6,094 points. This score placed her among the top twenty athletes worldwide that year. She also helped the Oregon women's team win the 4x400-meter relay title. During this time, she met and became engaged to her schoolmate, Ashton Eaton. They got married in July 2013.

In 2011, Brianne won her second NCAA Indoor Championships title. She broke a college record with 4,540 points. She faced an injury that year and missed ten months of competition. She returned in January 2012. She set a new college and Canadian national record with 4,555 points. She also improved her personal bests in shot put and high jump. She won her third NCAA Indoor title two months later. She also won the heptathlon championship again. Her personal best score of 6,440 points included four new bests in individual events.

Becoming a Professional Athlete

Theisen-Eaton (second from the right) competing in the 800-meter race at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Brianne finished second at the Canadian Track and Field Championships. She then competed at the 2012 London Olympics. She placed eleventh in the heptathlon there. In 2013, she won the Hypo Meeting with 6,376 points. This was a big win for her. At the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, she set a personal best of 6,530 points. She won a silver medal, finishing just behind Hanna Melnichenko. She was happy with her silver medal. She said she gave it her "110 percent."

At the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Poland, Brianne won a silver medal in the pentathlon. She set a new personal best of 4,768 points. This also broke her own Canadian national record. Next, she competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She won the gold medal in the women's heptathlon. She was very proud to represent Canada. She said it felt "really good" to win for her country.

World Championship Silver and Olympic Bronze

Brianne Theisen-Eaton did not compete in the heptathlon at the 2015 Pan American Games in Canada. Instead, she chose to compete in the long jump. She finished fourth, just missing a medal. She also helped her team win a bronze medal in the 4x400 meter relay.

She was a favorite to win at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics. However, she won a silver medal, finishing behind Jessica Ennis-Hill. Brianne was a bit disappointed. She felt she could have performed better. She learned important lessons from this competition.

Theisen-Eaton competes in the hurdles event at the 2016 World Indoor Championship in Portland, Oregon.

The next season, Brianne won the world title in the indoor pentathlon. This was at the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships. She set a new North American record for the pentathlon. She continued her strong performance at the 2016 Hypomeeting. She won that event with a world-leading score of 6,765 points.

Brianne competed for Canada in the heptathlon at the 2016 Summer Olympics. After the first day, she was in sixth place. But she performed very well on the second day. She had near personal bests in the long jump and javelin. This moved her into third place before the final event, the 800 meters. She finished third in her heat and won the bronze medal. She scored 6,653 points. She was very happy with her medal, especially after a tough first day.

International Competitions

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Canada
2005	World Youth Championships	Marrakesh, Morocco	17th	Girl's heptathlon	4805 pts
2006	World Junior Championships	Beijing, China	17th	Heptathlon	5149 pts
2007	Pan American Junior Championships	São Paulo, Brazil	1st	Heptathlon	5413 pts
2009	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	15th	Heptathlon	5949 pts
2012	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	10th	Heptathlon	6383 pts
2013	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	2nd	Heptathlon	6530 pts
2014	World Indoor Championships	Sopot, Poland	2nd	Pentathlon	4768 pts
2015	World Championships	Beijing, China	2nd	Heptathlon	6554 pts
2016	World Indoor Championships	Portland, United States	1st	Pentathlon	4881 pts
2016	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	3rd	Heptathlon	6653 pts

National Titles

Brianne Theisen-Eaton won many national titles during her career:

• Canadian Track and Field Championships
  • Heptathlon: Three times champion
• NCAA Indoor Championships
  • Pentathlon: 2010, 2011, 2012
• NCAA Outdoor Championships
  • Heptathlon: 2009, 2010, 2012
  • 4 × 400 m relay: 2010

Personal Bests

These are Brianne's best scores in different events:

Personal Life

Brianne married American decathlete Ashton Eaton in July 2013. They met while they were both competing at the University of Oregon. Brianne and Ashton even starred in a Visa Inc. advertisement during the 2016 Summer Olympics. The ad playfully showed their romance, even though they represented different countries. They now have two children.

See also

In Spanish: Brianne Theisen-Eaton para niños

• List of Canadian records in athletics