EUGENE — Six years ago Ashton Eaton was a senior at Bend’s Mountain View High School and a state champion in the 400 meters and the long jump.

But he had no idea what the decathlon was.

Now, he is the world-record holder in the 10-event discipline that determines the world’s greatest all-around track and field athlete and an Olympian representing the United States.

Eaton ran the 1,500 meters, the decathlon’s final event, in a lifetime best 4 minutes, 14.48 seconds Saturday at Hayward Field to set the decathlon world record of 9,039 points. He also won the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team Trials in the process and qualified for the 2012 London Olympics. His mother, Roslyn Eaton, and fiancee, Brianne Theisen, embraced him on the track after he crossed the finish line, with Eaton weeping as he completed the race.

Eaton is now headed to London, and he could soon become one of the most recognizable faces of the 2012 games, which begin in July, as NBC ramps up its Olympic coverage. Eaton will no doubt be considered the favorite to win the gold medal in the decathlon later this summer.

The previous world best was 9,026 points, set by Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic in 2001. Eaton also shattered the American record of 8,891 points, set by Dan O’Brien in 1992.

He did it in dominating fashion, winning seven of the 10 events, including a lifetime best in the pole vault of 17 feet, 4 1⁄2 inches.

Reigning decathlon world champion Trey Hardee finished a distant second with 8,383 points, and Gray Horn was third with 7,954.

The American record was a possibility after Friday’s first five events. With only the javelin and 1,500 remaining Saturday, Eaton’s coach, Harry Marra, said he realized the world record was also within reach, but Eaton did not.

“The best part to me was, before the javelin, Harry looks at me and tells me all this stuff,” Eaton said. “I look at him and go, ‘What do I have to throw and then what do I have to run to get the American record?’ And then he stopped and he looked at me and he goes, ‘Ashton, the WORLD record.’ At that moment, I saw his belief in me and I was like, ‘Let’s go do it then.’ ”

Eaton uncorked a throw of 193 feet, 1 inch on his first attempt in the javelin, good enough for a decathlon personal best.

Going into the 1,500 meters, Eaton had 8,189 points. With the American record basically locked up, he needed to run the 1,500 in about 4 minutes, 16 seconds or faster to set the world record.

“A huge PR, but this (Hayward) would be the place that can pull him through it,” Eaton’s former high school track coach Tate Metcalf wrote in a text message just before the 1,500.

Metcalf was right. Eaton, a three-time NCAA decathlon champion at the University of Oregon, used his home crowd to get his world record. His PR in the 1,500 was 4:18.97, which he set at last year’s world championships, but he would run even faster on Saturday.

Eaton had help from his fellow decathletes, who knew he was chasing history. Curtis Beach and Joe Detmer set a fast pace, and Eaton stayed behind them.

“With 400 (meters) to go, I knew I was two seconds off, and I just knew that there was no way I was NOT going to get the world record,” Eaton said. “There really wasn’t much going through my mind except, this is happening. This is happening right now.”

Eaton passed Detmer right before the finish line as the Hayward Field record crowd of 21,795 roared. He ran the final lap in a blistering 62 seconds.

“With 600 meters to go, I became a firm believer that the Hayward magic does exist, because I felt it for 600 meters, big time,” Eaton said.

Marra said he knew the world record was Eaton’s when longtime decathlon public address announcer Frank Zarnowski introduced Eaton before the 1,500 meters.

“I knew as soon as Zarnowski said Ashton’s going to try to do this for Eugene, Hayward Field, and the University of Oregon, I knew right then, he’s getting this (world record),” Marra said. “That’s the kind of person Ashton Eaton is. He loves this place.”

Eaton just edged Hardee in their heat of the hurdles and won the first event of the second day in 13.70 seconds for 1,014 points.

Defending Olympic decathlon champion Bryan Clay stumbled over the penultimate hurdle in the same heat, went out of his lane and was disqualified. He slipped from third place overall to 16th, ending his chances of qualifying for London to defend his 2008 Olympic gold medal. After the race, he sat against the wall on the track, his hands covering his face.

Clay also needed the Olympic A standard of 8,200 points to qualify for London. (Eaton and Hardee already had the A standard coming into the trials, and they just needed a top three finish to reach the Olympics. Horn finished third but does not have the A standard, so he did not qualify for London.)

“It was a rough day for me, but it was fun to be a part of what Ashton has going on,” Clay said. “Everybody that’s competed against Ashton before all this knew that he was going to be very, very dangerous. I don’t know if anybody has ever matured in the event as quickly as he has. It’s mind-boggling to see how well he’s done in such a short amount of time.”

Eaton unleashed a throw of 140 feet, 5 inches on his second attempt in the discus, earning 722 points. The throw was about 15 feet short of Eaton’s personal best. Hardee used a throw of 160-11 to gain some ground on Eaton heading into the pole vault.

Eaton easily cleared his first attempt in the pole vault at 16 feet, 8 3⁄4 inches, popped up off the mat and jubilantly pointed to the crowd.

But he was not done. With the bar raised to 17-1⁄4, he cleared that on his first attempt as well and raised his hands in the air in triumph. The mark was a decathlon personal best for Eaton in the pole vault.

Still he knew he could go higher, having posted 17-3 in open competition.

He missed his first two attempts at 17-41⁄2. On his third and final try, he succeeded, let out an emotional scream, then jogged down the track to give Metcalf, who was seated in the front row, a high five.

The mark was the highest Eaton has ever vaulted in his life, either open or decathlon. It was worth 1,004 points and increased his lead to nearly 300 points over Hardee.

Eaton embraced Marra, also seated in the front row, and it was on to the javelin. At that point, with two events left, it would have almost seemed a disappointment if Eaton did not set a new American record in the grueling decathlon.

But the world record buzz started, and it turns out it was doable, even in some of the worst conditions. A light rain turned to a downpour during the decathlon javelin, which was delayed for about 20 minutes.

“That was definitely the wettest decathlon I’ve ever done in my life,” Hardee said. “I hope that when Ashton’s record is put in the books and when it’s all written about and stuff, there are parentheses and asterisks and everything you can put behind it to say how crummy the conditions were and how impressive the mark really was.”

Eaton achieved his fourth world record on Saturday, as he already had set the indoor heptathlon world record three times. But the decathlon is what he trains for — it’s an Olympic event.

“From the very first one I ever did, I loved the event,” Eaton said. “I didn’t really know why.

The decathlon is THE event. There’s something completely different about the decathlon.”

Marra was asked if there was some pressure relieved heading into London now that Eaton has the world record. Most believed Olympic gold would come before the world record for Eaton.

“It is (pressure relief),” Marra said. “Plain and simple it is. It is not easy to do this, to get 10 great performances.”

And so it is on to London, where all Eaton needs now is an Olympic gold medal. It is hard to say if reaching that goal would conjure up the same emotions seen on Eaton’s face as he crossed the finish line of the 1,500 meters on Saturday on his collegiate track.

“Emotions come out, and it’s so hard to explain,” Eaton said. “I really, truly love this event. … To me, it’s my whole world. To do the best I possibly could in my world, makes me pretty happy.”

Top decathlon performances

Ashton Eaton staked his claim as the greatest decathlete in history with his world-record performance at the U.S. Olympic trials. Below is the world-record progression for the decathlon. The record has only been broken five times since 1984; Eaton broke a mark that had stood for a decade.

Decathlete Score Year

Ashton Eaton 9,039 2012

Roman Sebrle 9,026 2001

Tomas Dvorak 8,994 1999

Dan O’Brien 8,891 1992

Daley Thompson 8,847 1984

The decathlon

The decathlon consists of 10 events conducted over two days to measure strength, spring, coordination, speed and endurance, and to determine track and field’s greatest all-around athlete. Decathlon scoring is based on a points system for each event, not by position achieved. A mathematical formula that includes the performance (time or distance) and three event-specific parameters is used to calculate the points earned for each event. The total number of points from the 10 events is a decathlete’s final score.