DES MOINES, IOWA - If Kip Janvrin is successful in defending his decathlon title, he will extend his all-time Drake Relays individual victory record to 14 as the multi-events start Wednesday to kick off the 94th running of the Drake Relays.
Janvrin's longevity is unprecedented in U.S. decathlon history. Since beginning his decathlon career in 1983, Janvrin has been nationally ranked 13 of the last 14 seasons. He has been nationally ranked since 1989 and has completed 79 out of 81 decathlons. Janvrin won his first ever national title at the 2001 U.S. Outdoor Championships by overcoming an 87-point deficit and third place position entering the 1,500. Using his middle-distance prowess, Janvrin won the 1,500-the decathlon's final event- in 4:14.96 to score 846 points and secure the win, becoming the oldest-ever U.S. decathlon champion.
Janvrin owns the world record for most decathlon wins (34) and an American record for most career decathlons over 8,000 (26). He finished 17th in the 2001 World Championships.
Janvrin was ranked No. 3 in the U.S. in 2000 and 2001. He was third in the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials, becoming the oldest U.S. decathlete ever to compete in the Olympics. Janvrin placed 21st in the Sydney Olympics.
In a display of track and field versatility and stamina, the 37-year-old Janvrin won the Double Decathlon World Championships last year in Turku, Finland, with a two-day world-best score of 14,185 points. Competitors at the event completed in 20 track and field events over two days, contesting every event in the sport except the race walk and marathon.
Janvrin, who said he changed uniforms 11 times and shoes 17 times during the two-day competition, scored 6,912 points the first day and 7,273 points the second day. His record is not officially recognized by the IAAF, but it beats the previous world best of 13,906 (using current scoring tables) set in 1992 by Indrek Kaseorg of Estonia in Punkalaidun, Finland.
The Panora, Iowa, native is a 13-time Drake Relays champion who was inducted into the Drake Relays Athletes Hall of Fame in 1996 after becoming the all-time men's individual Drake Relays leader. Janvrin won five of the 10 events in 2002 to claim his eighth straight Drake Relays crown with 7,775 points.
There are 14 entrants in the decathlon which starts at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday with the 100, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400. It starts Thursday at 10 a.m. with the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500.
Janvrin owns a personal best of 8,462 set in a 1996 U.S.-Germany dual meet. He won the gold medal in the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar de Planta, Argentina, setting a meet record with 8,049 points and he earned a bronze medal in the decathlon in the 1994 Goodwill Games.
He has won Drake Relays decathlon titles in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Brandon Falconer, 28, of the Indiana Invaders, who set a personal best of 7,951 points last year, is expected to be the main challenger to Janvrin along with Travis Geopfert who set a personal best of 7,596 points April 11 in Emporia, Kan. Geopfet won the Missouri Valley Conference decathlon title in 1998, while competing for Northern Iowa.
Mike Price from Midland Lutheran, who was sixth in the 2002 NAIA Championships, also hopes to improve on a sixth-place finish at the 2002 Drake Relays. Missouri sophomore Brandon Goebbert is back after finishing seventh in the 2002 Drake Relays. Goebbert was 10th in the 2002 Big 12 Championships.
Other entries include Missouri junior Ben Vrbicek; Keith Knock, a junior from Moorhead State; Billy Stadele of Lewis; Southern Illinois freshman Freddy Rule; sophomore Jake Wiseman from Indiana and Matt Zalewski of Western Illinois.
