UNDER OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES, Peyton Bair might have been in March Madness as a college basketball player. Hoops was his first love. And his dunking skills are featured on YouTube.
To reach an Olympic podium, however, the pathway is track & field. More specifically, the decathlon. Even though Los Angeles 2028 is more than 2 years away, such a destination has become plausible.
“I’m on the right trajectory,” says Bair, 24.
Ordinarily, a school record would be of little note. But at the NCAA Indoor Championships, Bair’s heptathlon score broke an Oregon record held by all-world multis man Ashton Eaton, winner of seven global titles and two Olympic golds. In 2010, Eaton scored 6499, then a World Record.
“It’s an honor to beat that record,” Bair says. “I’ve looked up to Ashton for a long time.”
Bair had PRs in five events and scored 6503 points, or a 400-point improvement over his pre-2026 best. That elevated him to No. 6 on the all-time world list, No. 3 on U.S. and collegiate lists.
He became the first repeat winner since Eaton in 2009–10. Bair’s winning score last year was 6013, when he was at Mississippi State. (That would have placed 6th this year.)
The outcome was meaningful, considering the five others to exceed 6500 have all been global medalists. Moreover, the three previous NCAA champions — Ayden Owens-Delerme, Kyle Garland, Leo Neugebauer — swept the decathlon podium at the World Championships in Tokyo last fall.
Don’t expect to see Bair vie against the rest of the best at the World Indoor Championships, however. World Athletics, did not invite him even though his pre-NCAA best score, 6371, was the second-best in the world this year when the qualifying period closed on March 10. For the indoor multi, the global governing body extended invitations based solely on positions in the WA rankings.
“I don’t want to say anything about that,” he says. “We’ll see how it goes… see if anybody can beat my score.”
Bair says he transferred to Oregon for three reasons. For one, Eugene is closer to his Idaho home than Starkville. For another, his younger brother, Gatlin, is a wide receiver for the Ducks’ football team. Finally, he reasoned Oregon would supply a platform to launch an Olympic quest.
“The change of perspective and a change of pace is really good,” Bair says.
He is one of five siblings from a track family.
Peyton won a Junior Olympics in combined events, as have brother Jaxon (2nd in the 2025 SEC heptathlon for Arkansas) and sister Karlie. Gatlin, as a high school junior, had sprint times of 10.15 and 20.47 in 2023. His youngest sibling is sister Londynn.
The parents, who were athletes at Utah State, coached their children. Brad was a conference decathlon champion, and Shae was a three-time All-America pole vaulter (4th in the 2000 NCAA) who belongs to Utah State’s hall of fame.
The family formerly lived in Kimberly, Idaho, a town two hours east of Boise with less than 5000 people. They later moved about 30 minutes away to Burley, located next to the Snake River with population of about 12,000.
At Kimberly High, Peyton starred in football and basketball. In the latter, he averaged 11.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game for a 23-2 team in 2019-20.
After a two-year Mormon mission, Bair began his collegiate career at Mississippi State in 2023, and in 2024 he scored 8131 to finish 2nd to Neugebauer at the NCAA. He went on to win the ’25 NCAA title, scoring 8323 as he set collegiate decathlon event records in the 100 (10.25) and 400 (46.00).
In securing his repeat collegiate hept title this month, Bair opened with another collegiate record, 6.67 in the 60, and rolled on from there, navigating past two misses at his PV opening height.
“I think my heartbeat was higher than it was in the 1K on that last attempt,” Bair says. “It was just a small change I had to make. But we executed.”
Only four collegians have exceeded 8500 in the decathlon, and Bair can realistically aim at that. His speed continues to improve — he had a 44.9 split in a distance medley 400. He believes he also has room to grow in the discus, where his PR is 137-1 (41.78).
He has finally given up playing pickup basketball. Love for track & field has grown, he says.
“As I got to college, I mean, it’s a full-time job,” he explains. “You have to have a love for it, especially at this level.”
Barring injury or no-height, a fourth straight NCAA title in combined events may be a slam dunk.
