Day 1 leader Bryan Clay in Eugene (© Getty Images)
Bryan Clay clung to a 20point margin over Trey Hardee after the first day of the US Olympic Trials Decathlon. The Helsinki World champion’s total of 4476 was just a breath ahead of his 24-year-old rival at 4454, as five-time US champion (and Paris World champion) Tom Pappas was close by in third with 4405.
The competition is part of the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge 2008.
Bryan Clay set the tone of the competition quickly by sprinting the 100 metres in 10.39 (against a 0.4 wind), which was a decathlon PB. Trey Hardee followed Clay across the finish in 10.43, not far off his own best of 10.35.
The same heat included University of Oregon athlete Ashton Eaton (10.61) and Paris world champion Tom Pappas (10.90). In fact, all seven runners in the fast heat dipped under eleven seconds, with an eighth man Lysias Edmonds (10.92), also doing so in a previous section.
Clay’s small nine-point lead after the first event was short-lived, as the Long Jump moved Hardee into the top spot. The Texas athlete leaped a PB 7.75 against a 1.1 wind to stand atop the list after two events with 1989 points. Clay was somewhat off the mark with a 7.39 effort, but he still held second over Pappas, 1909 to 1885, after the latter’s 7.77 jump, the best of the day for all competitors. Eaton stayed close to the top three with a 7.49 effort, and after two events the 20-year-old was only four points behind Pappas.
The Shot Put was completely under Pappas’ control, as the 31-year-old smashed his previous best with a 17.26 throw to lead the event, adding 73cm to his 16.53 from the 2006 national championships, and moving to the top of the standings with a three-event total of 2814. Hardee, not a strong shot putter, still managed a 14.07 which was in range of his all-time best, and thanks to his previous margin over Clay, he still managed to hold second with 2722. However, Clay tossed 15.17 and moved within 13 of Hardee with a third-place tally of 2709. Fourth place meanwhile was taken by Jangy Addy after a 15.63 put gave him 2602 after three.
The High Jump gave Clay an opportunity to move back into the lead, and with a 2.08 jump - not far off his 2.09 career best - he did just that. As Clay was excelling, Pappas was having his problems. With a lifetime best of 2.21, Pappas could only clear 1.96 and Clay found himself again in command, albeit by a thin margin, 3587 to 3581.
Hardee found the warm (32C) conditions to his liking and a PB 2.02 resulted, giving him a four-event 3544 for third place and keeping him within striking range of the front-running pair. Yet another occupant of the fourth spot emerged at this point—Rickey Moody, whose PB 2.05 gave him a total of 3411.
Along with Clay, Chris Boyles and Ryan Olkowski also had 2.08 jumps as the best of the day among the twenty competitors.
Eaton electrified his hometown crowd with an excellent 47.07 performance in the 400 metres to top that event. Having Eaton as a pacemaker, Hardee ran second in 47.99. It was enough to lift him into the runner-up position past Pappas with a first-day total of 4454.
Even with only 48.41 over the one-lap race, Clay was able to extend his lead to 22 with 4476 at the halfway point as Pappas dropped into third at 4405 after a sub-par 49.80.
Clay engaged in a bit of self-deprecation at the end of the day. "Today I had a good first event, but had a brain lapse through the second event [long jump]. I opened up with the 100 and that was the fastest opener of the year, but the long jump was very bad for me. It's one of those things I expected to come out and do certain things. I wasn't mentally prepared to fight for everything, but it started to come around towards the end of the meet. Hopefully tomorrow it will go better."
For Pappas, it was a day of highs and lows, the highs being the long jump and a stupendous shot put, with the high jump and 400 Metres staring back as co-nadirs.
"Actually I don't know what my point total is but overall I am happy with it,” said Pappas after leaving the track. “I thought I would do a lot better in high jump. I thought I would run faster in the 400, but I didn't think I would jump that far in the long jump or throw that far in the shot. Overall with the five events, I am pleased where I am at."
Ed Gordon for the IAAF
