[quote author="Zach Batcho" date="1276746522"]Take the time to learn hurdle and pole vault technique now. Pole vault can be a make it or break it event for a lot of people switching to the dec. If you are somewhat strong and coordinated you’ll be able to catch on to the throws.
Those are the events I always thought would make the difference early on, too – but many of the top decathletes were not great at both of those early on. If you can run fast and jump, you will PV 13′ within a couple practice sessions, and get up to 14’+ just by nature of jumping on long poles.
Agree that you want to get some of the tech events (and those are probably the right two to pick – facilities and time permitting) and that throws catch on quickly (if you are aggressive and have a naturally strong throwing arm for Javelin) but I’d still rather have the super fast guy who can jump.[/quote]
I always suggest giving pole vault a try to because I have two athletes that are strong and fast as in low 11 100m guys and 6 mid long jumpers but can’t catch on to pole vault for the life of them and it kills their scores. So I say try it out a few sessions and if you get then don’t worry about it unless you really like the event. I’ll agree with Matt and say a guy that is super fast or even fast and can jump will be fine. There is no perfect path to be a decathlete.