As in the Long Jump, Bryan Clay waited until the third round to unleash his best performance. On this occasion it was a 15.23 Shot Put toss which left him clinging to a nine-point lead with 2843, just ahead of Dmitriy Karpov’s 2834.
It was a fortunate bit of self-rescue by the American, given that his final throw represented a 128-point bonus over his 13.15 best after two rounds.
The Kazakh athlete had exploded with a leadoff PB 15.93, forty-two centimetres better than his previous best, for a combined 2834 to tighten up the competition considerably after the third event. His backup throw of 15.92 served to confirm a new level of strength since his Paris bronze medal last year.
As today’s event leader, Roman Šebrle made a big move forward with a PB 16.36 in the Shot Put to move up from fourth to third at 2787, just 56 points behind leader Clay.
The Czech exchanged places with Chiel Warners after the Dutch athlete’s 14.48 best brought a 2700 total for fourth.
Like Clay, Tom Pappas might have been accused of a bit of dithering, as he waited until his final trip into the ring to let loose a 16.17 throw, a most timely outcome which pulled him from tenth to fifth at 2673 overall, although still 170 points behind his countryman.
Dean Macey tossed a near-PB 15.73 and moved from ninth to seventh at 2647, eight points behind Jaakko Ojaniemi’s 2656, which resulted from the Finn’s 14.97 put.
Prior to the start of the event, four-time European medallist Lev Lobodin of Russia withdrew. After two events, he was standing in thirty-third place with 1631, 408 points behind Clay’s leading 2039.
EG
