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EUGENE, Ore. Milwaukee Brewers Pro Shop . -- This wasnt a world record for Ashton Eaton. Just a runaway win and another trip to the Olympics.Not bad for a decathlete dealing with a slight injury.On a tender right hamstring, the defending Olympic champion scored 8,750 points to beat Jeremy Taiwo by 325 at the U.S. Track and Field Trials on Sunday night. Thats well off Eatons world record of 9,045, set at the world championships last summer in Beijing.But consider this: No one in the decathlete field for the Rio Olympics has a personal-best that matches Eatons mark from the trials.Hes simply in a different stratosphere these days. The only person who can compete against him is, well, a computerized model of himself.No, really.Its almost like I make a digital version of myself, try to compete against that, said Eaton, whos also been dealing with a left quadriceps thats hampered him in recent weeks. I had this little mini sub-goal of trying to score 9,000 every decathlon. It would be cool never to go back to (8,000).At the last Olympic trials, also at Hayward Field, Eaton broke the decathlon world record for the first time. Eugene has long been a special place for him. Its where he and his wife, Canadian heptathlete Brianne Theisen-Eaton, met while attending the University of Oregon and rose to prominence.Eaton said he was shooting for the record, but his leg made it impossible.I had the same mindset, Eaton said. I would say the expectations personally and externally were a little bit different.The 28-year-old Eaton was in such control that his coach, Harry Marra, actually told him to run the final event, the 1,500, at a slower pace than normal. No sense putting any extra wear and tear on the leg with the Olympic decathlon in six weeks. He still ran event No. 10 in 4 minutes, 25.15 seconds, which was one of the top times.This meet defines Ashton Eaton way more than his world-record performances. Those were great performances, Marra said. But he had so many obstacles physically. ... He did this with a bum leg.A leg his coach wasnt sure was going to hold up during the 400 on Saturday.It did.A leg Eaton wasnt sure was going to be ready for the 110-meter hurdles on Sunday.It was.And through this competition, Eaton learned a little bit more about himself -- he doesnt have to be super aggressive all the time. Smooth works almost as well.The (overall) reviews were pretty good, Eaton said. As a decathlon, if you dont leave with something frustrated then you should quit, because it was perfect.In command, Eaton even had time to take in some other events. He watched Chaunte Lowe win the high jump by holding hold off teenager Vashti Cunningham, the daughter of longtime NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham. He also caught Jeffery Hendersons win in the mens long jump and Allyson Felixs blistering performance in the 400.Now those were impressive.Its nice to have a front-row seat as a decathlete, on the field and get to see all that stuff, Eaton said. Those kinds of things are inspirational, and you try to learn from it. Sometimes, I try to pick up little things from the specialists.Taiwo had a solid performance to take second, while Zach Ziemek of Wisconsin wound up third. It was an event that was missing Trey Hardee, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist who didnt finish after suffering a left hamstring injury on the first day.Eatons big plans now will be to squeeze in some rest before he and his wife head to Rio. There, Eaton has a chance to make a little history as he tries to defend his title. That hasnt been done in the decathlon since British star Daley Thompson in 1980 and `84.That would be cool, Eaton said. Awesome company to be in. But there are really good competitors.Asked if he might chase after another world record in Rio, Eaton just grinned.The Olympic Games are so much different from anything else, Eaton said. You dont even talk about world records, in a way. If its there at the very end, sure, Ill run to get it. Other than that, its event to event. Brewers Jerseys 2019 .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Brewers Jerseys 2020 . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. https://www.cheapbrewers.com/ . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. Women have been making inroads in sports car racing for decades, and finally, a female driver has won a major full-season North American championship.Christina Nielsen did it this past weekend at Road Atlanta, where she and co-driver Alessandro Balzan captured the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar GT Daytona (GTD) title in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari. The pair entered the season-ending Petite LeMans with a 32-point lead, and Nielsen, a 24-year-old from Denmark, clinched her share of the title when she completed her mandatory three-hour drive time.Since IMSAs birth in 1969, several women have competed in and won races in the series, and Melanie Snow won the abridged, five-race American Le Mans Series GT Challenge (GTC) title in 1969. Other women who have won North America road racing titles in lesser series than Nielsens include Amy Ruman in the SCCA Trans Am Series in 2015 and Margie Smith-Haas in the SCCA Pro American Cities Racing League in 1994.Nielsens title is the first over a full season in a major series. The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and its four professional classes represent the premier form of sports car racing in North America.One of two women who competed full-time in IMSA this year, along with DeltaWing Prototype driver Katherine Legge, Nielsen won two races this season: the historic Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March and the Sahlens Six Hours of The Glen in July. On Monday, she spoke with espnW about her historic racing accomplishment.You missed the title by two points last year, while driving for The Racers Group (TRG). How much of a focus was it for you?to get it done?this year with Scuderia Corsa?Christina Nielsen: Lets just say we finished last season on the third of October, and it was on my mind the fourth of October. I wanted to go and have another shot at it. In 2015, honestly, I wasnt thinking about the championship. It was my third full season, and I just wanted to see what we could do, and then, suddenly, with a couple of rounds left, we were leading. This year, I knew we were going to be one of the contenders.Your Twitter feed is full of congratulatory posts. What has the reaction been like?CN: The fans have really been great. I really feel like people over here are positive and supportive. Secondly, this has been an amazing paddock to be part of. Like, [competitor] Andy Lally brought me a pair of Ferrari socks. It was a silly thing, but the fact he thought of me, like, Oh, Im going to give these to Christina as a little congrats for the championship meant a lot. And Andrew Davis, whom Ive been racing all year. I often qualified around the same spot as Andrew, so we started together a lot. Weve always had good, clean racing. And he messaged me and said, Congrats, and well done all season, and its been a pleasure to race you -- always hard but fair. It was a great bunch of guys to be surrounded by.What does this title mean for how far woomen have come in sports car racing?CN:?Im not always crazy about how much attention there is about the fact Im a female, even though -- Im not going to lie -- I do also use it because it allows me to get publicity for our sponsors and the people we work with. Brewers Jerseys China. I do want to spread the message and say, Hey, women can compete with men on an equal level. We can compete with them and against them, and we can do well in a male-dominated world. Im not trying to get more females into racing in the sense of [recruiting] them because its either in your DNA or it isnt. But I do hope that if there are girls who want to do it, they can look at me and say, If she can do it, I can do it.Sebring was a great win. Was that your biggest accomplishment this season, prior to capturing the championship?CN: Yeah, I would say so. I was in the car when a thunderstorm hit, so I was the one out there when they kept saying, You need to come in and change tires, and Im like, No, Im fine. Im fine. But March seems so long ago. I really like some of these last races weve had because in March I still didnt know the guys as well, and as the season went by, I got to know them better, and everything meant more because I became very close to them and cared a lot for them. Wins are amazing, but we had seven podium [top-three] finishes. There are so many good memories to take away.You stepped it up with fitness this year. How and why?CN: I really worked hard the last couple of months because if they said to me over the radio, Christina, can you do three hours? I wanted to be like, Yup, you got it, boss. Ive been swimming a lot lately. I like it because I dont have the best knees, and it allows you to work with the same muscle groups that you use in the car. We recently started using the stairs in Santa Monica. I live in L.A., and its opened my mind to a lot of new ways to work out because there are so many possibilities with outdoor activities. I also work with a trainer at the gym in the building I live in. We work both the small muscle groups -- like the fingers and wrists -- and the larger muscle groups.Whats next for you? What are your racing aspirations?CN:?I think, as with most drivers, the dream, the goal, would be to get a factory contract one day. Im aiming for something like [IMSA] GT Le Mans. I think theres a pretty good chance Ill stick with Scuderia Corsa next year. Were working out some details, working hard to close the budget gap. I was very happy with them this year. Theyve done a great job, and theyre great people to hang out with. [Co-drivers] Jeff Segal and Alessandro Balzan are just not only good behind the wheel but also good people with good hearts. And so is our team owner, Giacomo Mattioli. I would like to be back in IMSA. I really like racing over here. ' ' '