Erik Surjan

Erik Surjan (b. 1983-06-22, Western Australia) is an Australian Track and Field athlete, competing in the Decathlon.

In his earlier career, Erik was a talented long jumper, winning 4 national junior long jump titles between 1998 and 2001. Competing in the Commonwealth Youth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2000, Erik won the Bronze Medal for the Long Jump.

After a brief retreat from the sport to concentrate on his studies, Erik returned to the sport in 2004 on the advice of Grant Ward: Head Field Coach for the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS). In his first year of the decathlon, Erik won the 2005 Men's Senior National Decathlon title from defending champion Matt McEwen with a score of 7621 points.

It was there short after, that Erik took up a scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), under the guidance of Craig Hilliard, coach of former athletes such as Jane Flemming, Jai Taurima, Jana Rawlinson, Kerry Saxby-Junna and 2006 World Junior Long Jump Champion Robbie Crowther. Unfortunately for Erik, he sustained a serious knee injury in Ratingen, Germany in June, 2005 requiring surgery and missing the entire 2006 season, including the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

After a successful rehabilitation process, Erik returned to the track in 2007 and after some early encouraging form, Erik sustained two freak injuries to the same knee that required surgery earlier and his right shoulder. Both injuries required season ending surgery. Despite this, Erik competed injured in the 2007 Australian Multi Events Championships, winning back his title with a World Championships 'B' Qualifying score of 7706 points. [ [http://www.athletics.com.au/community/events/1268/decathlon_review Athletics Australia - Open & U23 decathlon wrap ] ]

Personal Bests

The decathlon consists of 10 track and field events over 2 days, with points scored for individual performances across the ten events. At the completion of the ten events, the points are tallied to determine the final positions.

Day 1100m - 10.91 seconds, Long Jump - 7.69 metres, Shot Put - 14.49 metres, High Jump - 2.00 metres, 400m - 50.71 seconds.

Day 2110H - 14.56 seconds, Discus - 47.23 metres, Pole Vault - 4.50 metres, Javelin - 59.09 metres, 1500 - 4.51.10 seconds.

Decathlon - 7,706 points

Family

Erik's younger brother Jacob Surjan plays in the Australian Football League (AFL) with the Port Adelaide Football Club.

References

External links

* [http://www.ais.org.au/athletics/surjan.asp/ Official AIS Athlete Profile]
* [http://www.athletics.com.au/fanzone/athleteprofiles/erik_surjan/ Official Athletics Australia Profile]
* [http://www.iaaf.org/ Official IAAF website]