Superman Slaughter reigns supreme

The Bexhill-based never-say-die athlete has just passed the ultimate all-round athletic test of the double decathlon at the 22nd World Ultra Multi-Event Championships at St Polten in Austria.

The 46-year-old not only won with a brilliant display of all-round consistent ability but engraved his name in the record books by beating the old world record by a staggering 2,700 points and joined the very exclusive 12,000 club for any age group with a remarkable 12,216 points.

It all nearly didn't happen though as he had missed the entry cut off but the organisers were keen that he was granted a Wild Card to elicit a head-to-head duel with local hero Georg Werthner, who finished fourth behind Daley Thompson in the decathlon at the Moscow Olympics.

A jubilant Slaughter, in his first ever double decathlon, said: "It must be up there with my best achievements. It's got to be the icing on the cake really. If you asked me to repeat it again I would say you must be joking! I was pleased because it's the sort of thing where you can quite easily get injured. I was confident going out there and I knew the world record was on."

The weather was not conducive for great times on day one and Werthner, also 46, had the edge up to lunchtime. The first big testing event to the multi-eventers was the 5,000m where Slaughter put enough distance on his great rival to edge in front overall. Before the last event of the day - the 3,000m steeplechase - the Austrian was leading again but Slaughter clocked a brilliant 12.12.87 to lead with 6,342 to Werthner's 6,305.

Werthner stole back the lead in the 110m hurdles at the start of day two. The ensuing discus typified the competition between the two as just 20cm separated them.

In the 3,000m Slaughter seized a 40-second advantage over Werthner which was augmented by a winning time of 1.06.26 in the 400m. The Austrian, meanwhile, pulled up sharply grabbing his leg on the back straight and although he soldiered on to the finish failed to score any points for the event.

Werthner was back for the javelin, throwing 47m as both he and the Briton passed the old world record. But it was at this point that he decided he could not go on without risking further injury to himself.

Slaughter himself found it difficult to keep his now very aching body going as the penultimate triple jump beckoned. Despite admitting that he wasn't sure how he finished the last six laps in the concluding 10,000m, Slaughter's time of 47 minutes was a very commendable performance as he racked up 27,000m of competitive running events over the two days. It brought the curtain down on a glorious season for Slaughter who finished fourth in the World and European Championship decathlons as well as sweeping the board of British multi-event titles.