Brianne Theisen-Eaton facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
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 multi-event sports like the heptathlon and women's pentathlon. Brianne won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

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

Brianne is the first Canadian woman to win a medal in multi-events at the World Championships. She won a gold medal in the 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 in Toronto.

Brianne was a national junior champion in 2006. The next year, she won gold in the heptathlon at the Pan American Junior Championships. She attended the University of Oregon and set many school records. She won two NCAA heptathlon titles in 2009 and 2010. She also won two NCAA Indoor Championships, setting a college record in the pentathlon in 2011. Brianne and her husband, Ashton Eaton, announced their retirement from track and field on January 3, 2017.

Brianne's Athletic Journey

Early Life and High School Sports

Brianne Theisen-Eaton grew up in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Canada. She went to Humboldt Collegiate Institute. In high school, she played volleyball and soccer, and also competed in track and field. She found her passion in combined events, which are competitions with many different track and field activities.

In 2005, she represented Canada at the 2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics. She finished 17th in the girl's heptathlon. She became the national junior champion in the heptathlon in 2006. She also competed at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics in Beijing. In her last year of high school, she won the gold medal at the 2007 Pan American Junior Championships.

College Career at the University of Oregon

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

In her second year, Brianne placed third in the pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship. During the outdoor season, she became one of the best heptathlon athletes in the world. She won the Pac-10 title and then set a personal best score of 6,086 points to win her first NCAA outdoor title. That summer, she won the national heptathlon title. This success earned her a spot on the national team for her first senior international competition, the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. She finished 15th there.

Brianne continued her strong college performance in 2010. She won her first pentathlon title at the NCAA Indoors and won the Pac-10 Outdoor heptathlon championship again. She also won her second NCAA Outdoors title, improving her personal record to 6,094 points. This score placed her among the top 20 athletes in her sport worldwide that year. At the NCAA Outdoors, she also helped the Oregon women's team win the 4×400-meter relay title. That year, she and her schoolmate Ashton Eaton both won multi-event titles at the Texas Relays. Brianne and Ashton got married in July 2013.

In 2011, she won her second NCAA Indoor Championships title. She broke a college record with 4,540 points from five events. She got injured that year and missed ten months of competition. She returned in January 2012 and scored 4,555 points to win a meet. This was a new college and Canadian national record for the event. She also improved her personal bests in the shot put and high jump. She won her third NCAA Indoor title two months later with 4,536 points. She also won the heptathlon championship again, and 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 800m part of the heptathlon at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Brianne finished second at the Canadian Track and Field Championships. She then placed 11th in the heptathlon at the 2012 London Olympics. In 2013, she scored 6,376 points at the Hypo Meeting, winning the event. She and fellow Canadian Damian Warner both won multi-event titles at that meet.

At the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, Brianne set a personal best of 6,530 points. She won a silver medal, finishing just 56 points behind the World Champion, Hanna Melnichenko. She was happy with her silver medal, saying, "I'm at peace getting silver knowing I gave it 110 per cent." She also mentioned how she and Ashton had talked about both winning medals. In her last competition that year, she finished third at the Decastar meet in France.

At the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Poland, Brianne won a silver medal in the pentathlon. She set a personal best score of 4,768 points, breaking her own national record. Next, she competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. There, she won the gold medal in the women's heptathlon, beating her Canadian teammate Jessica Zelinka. She said, "This gold medal makes me really happy. It's just representing your country and knowing everybody back home is happy and watching and supporting you. It feels really good."

2015 World Championship Silver Medal

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 event in Toronto. She finished fourth, just one centimeter away from a medal. She also took part in the women's 4 × 400 m relay, helping her team win a bronze medal.

She was a favorite to win at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics. However, Jessica Ennis-Hill won the gold medal. Brianne was disappointed with her silver medal. She said, "I went in as the favorite and I didn't compete how I had to to win gold. And that was my own fault." She also mentioned learning lessons from it for the next year.

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

2016 World Indoor Champion and Olympics

In the next season, Brianne won a world title in the indoor pentathlon. She became the world champion in the pentathlon, setting a world-leading score and a North American record. At the start of the outdoor season, at the 2016 Hypomeeting, Brianne continued her success, winning another event. She finished with a world-leading 6,765 points.

Brianne competed for Canada in the heptathlon at the 2016 Summer Olympics. After the first day, she was in sixth place. On the second day, she performed well in the long jump and javelin events. This moved her into third place before the final event, the 800 meters. She finished third in her heat and won the bronze medal with 6,653 points. Nafissatou Thiam won gold, and Jessica Ennis-Hill finished second. Brianne was happy with her performance on day two, saying she never would have expected a medal after her 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 Championships

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

Personal Best Scores

About Brianne's Life

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

See also

In Spanish: Brianne Theisen-Eaton para niños

• List of Canadian records in athletics