PARIS: Markus Rooth clinched Norway's first gold medal at the Paris Olympics by winning the men's decathlon title on Saturday.
Rooth ended the competition, which consists of 10 events held over two days, with 8,796 points, 48 points ahead of second-placed Leo Neugebauer of Germany, Xinhua reported.
Grenadian athlete Lindon Victor claimed bronze, 37 points further back.
"I do not know how to describe it. It is surreal," 22-year-old Rooth said. "It has always been a dream to become an Olympic champion and in decathlon, it is like an ageing event. So, to win the gold at 22, I did not expect it.
"I came here with the goal to have a better score than I had in Budapest [at the 2023 world championships]. I was in the top eight there so maybe I expected to be No. 5 or something. And I won."
He added: "In decathlon there are 10 events that have to go right, and that is the part of the game. It is unfortunate that (some of) my opponents got no heights [in the pole vault] and I do not think they deserved that. I think when you have done seven events, you deserve to get a score." --BERNAMA