FRANK HARRISON’S ANALYSIS:THE GREATEST TEST OF MANKIND’SABILITY TO DETERMINETHE FINEST ATHLETE ON EARTH

BY ELLIOTT DENMAN
Ten very differing challenges. Twenty-four multi-talented challengers. Representing  15  different nations.  Big, strong  guys  Tall, tough guys. Performing over two straght days.  Before a packed stadium.
All competing in the greatest test of mankind’s ability to determine the finest athlete on earth.   Plenty of mathematics.  Numbers into the multi-thousands.  Additions every minute.  A few unfortunate subtractions,  Guts and glory on non-stop display.
That’s the World Championships decathlon.  And my good friend and teammate Mr. Frank Harrison knows the event’s intricacies as well as any of us.
  He’d been a brilliant athlete at New Jersey’s Madison Central High School, then at the Universty of Pennsylvania, then for Shore Athletic Club.  He’d competed in two Olympic Deca-Trials.  He’d won three IC4A silver medals.  He’d won the USA-Canada-Japan tri-meet.
  He’s a major New York corporate executive these days,  But like so many of our sport’s most dedicated  souls, he was glued to the TV last week,  specially so the final two days of the 20th Worlds at Tokyo’s National Stadium, most certainly on the decathlon.
    World-class coaches had guided his way.  Roland (Rollie) Kok at Madison Central, Irv “Moon” Mondschein  and  Fred Samara – each a USA Coaching Hall of Famer, USA Olympian  and National Champion - at Penn.  They were his "incredible pedigree."
    Just getting to a deca-starting line is a major achievement.
"When I woke up on the day the competition was to begin, I already had massive adrenaline flowing, “ Harrison knew. “ I felt extremely nervous and anxious. So much so, that eating breakfast was a massive challenge.
   "The more that I could eat at breakfast produced my best performances. You need the energy over a long physically, mentally draining day to come. I ingested  as much as I could:  pancakes or waffles, scrambled eggs, toast and orange juice.
  "The amount of training that goes into a decathlon is astounding. It is quite common for top athletes to train between 6-8 hours per day, always working on the events, drills, drills and more drills, running, lifting, film review, flexibility work and on and on the list goes. The point being that . when a competition came along, massive preparation has already been put in. It is quite natural for these athletes to be highly wound up and ready to explode!”
  That said,  on to Day One  at the Worlds:  "The meet was largely holding to the Form Chart," he saw. " It looked like Kyle Garland (USA), Sander Skotheim (Norway)  and Leo Neugebauer (Germany) would separate themselves from the field with Niklas Kaul (Germany) as a dark horse for a medal. 
  “To me, Kyle Garland looks to be a reincarnation of the late, great  Milt Campbell “ (The Plainfield, New Jerseyan who'd won the 1952 Helsinki Olympic deca-silver medal as a high schooler, then the 1956 Melbourne Olympic gold, by a record margin.)
  The ailing Damian Warner of Canada withdrew before it even started,
and it was on with the show – 100,  long jump, shot put, high jump.. 400.
  Garland was off to the races:  a solid total of  4707 first-day points, good leads over Skotheim (4543), Puerto Rico’s Ayden Owens-Delerme/AOD  (4487) and Neugebauer (4455.)
  With four 900-plus event scores, “Garland was simply amazing,” said Harrison.
 “Day One is a highly, highly physical day. There is a lot of pounding and all- out sprinting. Each of the those five events involves being explosive. And it’s almost a cruel joke to have the day end with a 400.  It’s a war against  the build up of lactic acid , knowing that you  still have five more events to go the next day. It’s, well, flat out cruel! But that’s the deal. 
  “You cannot totally relax - you must rest, yet you must simultaneously maintain your edge, your focus. It’s a mental  thing.  And it is not easy.”
  But Day Two?  “It’s a whole new ballgame; no wonder  there is always carnage in major decathlons. “  Disaster  loomed early on Day Two.  Paris Olympic champion Skotheim crashed a hurdle and was out.