Mayer breaks decathlon world record in France

World champion Kevin Mayer passed Ashton Eaton's decathlon world record by accruing 9,126 points at a meet in his native France.

The 26-year-old threw a personal best in the javelin in the penultimate event at the IAAF Combined Events Challenge before finishing in four minutes 36 seconds in the 1,500 metres, helping him eclipse the 9,045-point total Eaton achieved at the World Championships in 2015.

Mayer had put himself in an excellent position by setting new personal bests in the long jump and 100m on Saturday.

He received praise from previous decathlon world record-holder Eaton on Twitter.

"That was an incredible display of ability," the American wrote. "Important thing to me has always been to keep pushing the limit and inspiring others to do the same. The more 9k can become commonplace the better."

Mayer, Eaton - who achieved the feat twice - and Roman Sebrle are the only three men to have surpassed the 9,000-point barrier in history.

Last month Mayer had experienced a low when he crashed out of the European Championships in Berlin having fouled three times in the long jump.

He became the second man to break a world record on Sunday after Eliud Kipchoge set a new benchmark in the marathon in Berlin.