Ath: Clay clings to decathlon lead

AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-2008
Ath: Clay clings to decathlon lead

BEIJING, Aug 21 AFP - American Brian Clay clung to an 88-point lead after today's opening
day of the decathlon with world and Olympic champion Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic
in tears after struggling home fifth.

American Brian Clay, the 2004 Olympic runner-up, stood on 4521 points after five events
with Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus second on 4453 with another American, Trey Hardee, third
on 4428 and Russian Aleksey Drozdov next on 4408.

The two-day, 10-discipline event concludes tomorrow with the 110m hurdles, discus,
pole vault, javelin and 1,500m.

Today's opening events were the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and concluding 400m.

Clay, the 2005 world champion and 2008 world indoor heptathlon champion, achieved the
world's highest decathlon score since 2004 at the US Olympic trials with a personal best
of 8.832 points, the best US result in 16 years.

The first night ended with Serble crying after his concluding 400m heat, which left
him fifth on 4312, needing to make up more than 200 points on Clay in the final five events
to keep his crown.

World record-holder Serble, 33, has been nagged by injuries all year, with a left thigh
problem at the world indoors in March, another injury to the same leg a month later and
a right thigh injury last month.

Krauchanka was this year's world indoor runner-up while Hardee was second to Clay at
the US Olympic trials with the season's third-best point total.

AFP tb

KEYWORD: OLY08 ATH DEC

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