US combined events master Ashton Eaton was left gasping for air after cruelly failing to better his own world record when retaining his world indoor heptathlon title on Saturday.
American Ashton Eaton competes in the Men's Heptathlon Pole Vault group A at the IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships in the Ergo Arena in the Polish coastal town of Sopot, on March 8, 2014
Eaton, whose Canadian wife Brianne Thiesen Eaton won silver in the women's pentathlon on Friday, was overnight leader after the first four events (60m - 6.66sec, long jump - 7.78m, shot put - 14.88m, high jump - 2.06m).
On Saturday, he timed 7.64sec in the 60m hurdles before nailing 5.20m in the pole vault, leaving himself the goal of running 2:33.54 or faster in the final event, the strength-sapping 1,000m.
Leading from the front, Eaton pushed himself all the way, roared on by a capacity crowd at the Ergo Arena in the Polish Baltic Sea resort of Sopot.
But he left himself needing to run a final 200 metres in 28 seconds, something that fell 1.18sec beyond an athlete who is also the current world and Olympic decathlon champion and world record holder.
"I'm happy, but I wish I could have got the world record," said Eaton, who missed out on what could have been a $50,000 (36,000 euros) bonus for a new world record.
"I wasn't alone on the track with all these great supporters. But I'm not a robot, I was trying."
Eaton eventually crossed the line in 2:34.72 for a total of 6,632 points in the indoor seven-discipline event, 13 short of the world record of 6,645 he set when winning the indoor title in Istanbul in 2010.
"I was going for it in the 1,000m," he said. "I knew I was falling behind the pace and kept telling myself to pick the pace up, but it just wasn't there.
"It's hard to break the world record every time. It was a good competition overall, and my wife did well, so it was a good family effort."
Eaton plans to take a break from combined events this summer outdoor season to concentrate on the 400m hurdles, with a view to conserving himself for the 2015 world outdoor championships in Beijing and Rio Olympics a year later.
"It will be good to take a break from decathlon this summer and get ready for 2015 and 2016," he said.
Belarus's Andrei Krauchanka claimed silver with 6,303pts and Belgian Thomas van der Plaetsen took bronze (6,259), the former pleased to even get to the finish line.
"This morning I started to feel pain in my hamstring so I was a bit scared that I wouldn't finish the whole competition," Krauchanka said.
"I am very satisfied with my national record!"