Ayden Owens-Delerme’s National Record Qualifies For Olympics
WALNUT, Calif. – Winning the Invitational decathlon at the 64th Mt. SAC Relays on Thursday, North Allegheny High School and Arkansas alum Ayden Owens-Delerme accomplished several milestones with his career-best score of 8,732 points to surpass the Paris Olympic Games qualifying standard.
Owens-Delerme broke his Puerto Rican national record of 8,532 points that he established in placing fourth at the 2022 World Championships. He also set the world-leading mark for 2024 in bettering the 8,708 produced by German Leo Neugebauer of Texas during the Texas Relays in March.
The Mt. SAC Relays meet record of 8,727 set by Dave Johnson in 1992 was also surpassed by Owens-Delerme’s performance, which places him as the No. 20 performer on the world all-time list ahead of Johnson.
The second day of the decathlon started with Owens-Delerme claiming 1,010 points from a 13.73 in the 110m hurdles.
In the discus, Owens-Delerme reached a mark of 150-11 (46.00) for 788 points. Two career-best heights in the pole vault produced 941 points for Owens-Delerme on a third attempt clearance of 16-8.75 (5.10).
Another career best followed in the javelin as a distance of 194-6 (59.28) picked up 727 points as Owens-Delerme generated a score of 8,086 going into the final event – the 1,500m.
A time of 4:45.59 added 646 points to reach a PR score that accomplished so much for Owens-Delerme, who qualified for his first Olympic Games.
(Photo and press release courtesy of Arkansas University Athletics).