Canada's Pierce LePage took gold in Götzis, with 8,700 points. LePage was narrowly ahead of ahead of fellow Canadian and Olympic Champion Damian Warner in second on 8,619. Sander Skotheim of Norway secured bronze with 8,590 points.

In what was an impressive performance overall by Tilga, his chances of breaking the 8,500 point barrier were hampered by a disappointing display in the javelin, where the Estonian threw 58.45 meters, almost 15 meters below his personal best.

"I made a strange mistake at the end, when I pulled my wrist a little. I'll have to work a bit harder in training and then I think I'll be fine," Tilga told ERR afterwards.

The second day of the decathlon had started well for Tilga, with a personal best of 14.65 seconds in the 110m hurdles. He followed that with a decent performance in the discus, clocking a throw of 47.78 meters. "I was happy with that. In the discus I might have liked to have gained a few more meters, but throwing the discus in the Olympics is a bit different from throwing it in an individual event," Tilga said.

At the end of April that Tilga fulfilled the requirements to make it to next summer's Olympics in Paris, when he set an event record of 8,482 points to win the Multistars in Desenzano del Garda, Italy.

After Götzis, the Estonian will take some time off. "First and foremost, I'll have a holiday. Then I'll probably take the spikes off for at least a month. Two competitions four weeks apart puts a big strain on the body. You have to get a good rest," Tilga said.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!