The Eatons finished their working honeymoon in Russia on Tuesday, ever so close to making it a double-gold celebration at the world championships.
Brianne Theisen Eaton of Humboldt, Sask., failed to sufficiently shake off Ganna Melnichenko in the final 800-metre race of the heptathlon and finished with a silver medal two days after her husband, Ashton Eaton, won gold in the decathlon.
After two days of competition, Theisen Eaton no longer had the legs to create a decisive gap ahead of Melnichenko. And while the Ukrainian went celebrating wrapped in her national flag, Theisen Eaton wrapped herself in the warmest of embraces of her smiling husband Ashton Eaton, an American who won gold in the decathlon earlier this week.
Barely a month after marriage, they proved it was a near-perfect competitive match as she gained her first global medal.
Melnychenko won her first major competition with 6,586 points, compared to 6,530 for Theisen Eaton. Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands took bronze.
Earlier, Olympic champion Robert Harting of Germany was up to his shirt-ripping best again and won his third straight discus world championship title, beating Piotr Malachowski of Poland for gold.
Malachowski had ended Harting's winning streak at 35 meets early in the season but the German still came up big at the most important moment of the season.
Harting's win pushed Germany into second overall in the medal standings behind the United States with five overall and two gold, and just ahead of Russia.
The host nation got a big boost from its walkers again, even if it came with a twist.
Thinking she had already won the 20-kilometre gold medal, Elena Lashmanova came to almost a complete stop with one stadium lap to go.
A judge egged her on again and Lashmanova soon got moving again and held on to first place to lead a Russian 1-2.
"The judges didn't really explain to us that we should do one lap before the home straight and finish, and that is why I stopped," said Lashmanova, the London Olympic champion and world record holder. "But I quickly understood I should keep going."
Russians have won seven of the eight women's 20K walks since the event was added to the program at the 1999 worlds in Sevilla.
Russia even had eyes on a sweep Tuesday but Vera Sokolova was disqualified with about 500 metres to go, leaving Liu Hong of China to take bronze.
Yelena Isinbayeva will try to add a third gold for Russia later Tuesday in the pole vault, even though the former world and Olympic champion has not come close to her best this season.
Also on the program on Day 4 of the championships is the women's steeplechase, and the men's 800 and 400.
