Decathlon leader Kevin Mayer of France (© Getty Images)
Kevin Mayer of France led the Decathlon at the end of the first day of competition after taking the overall lead in the High Jump. Mayer finished five events with 4159 points, holding a solid lead over Cuba's Jose Angel Mendieta and Great Britain's David Guest, with 4078 and 4073 points respectively.
Neaman Wise (USA) had the leading 100m to open the first day, running a PB 10.84 in the short sprint to earn 897 points.
Wise also managed a PB 7.29m to lead the Group A Long Jump for 883 points, but Mayer, who had also run a PB in the 100m (albeit only at 11.12) reached 7.41m in Group B. At 913 points, he closed his gap on Wise significantly.
The Shot Put was where Wise disappeared and the standings shuffled more significantly. Wise tossed a PB 12.11m but then had two fouls; meanwhile Mendieta reached 15.20m (another PB) and Mayer 14.01m (yet another PB) to put Medieta in the lead with 2550 and Mayer second with 2476. Mayer's team-mate Jeremy Lelievre tossed 14.41m to move into third with 2466 points, just ten behind Mayer.
Mayer came to the front in the High Jump, where he topped all others with a 2.04m mark and took the overall lead with 3316 points. Medieta languished at 1.95m and held second just eight points behind at 3308.
Guest, another of the 1.95m jumpers, moved into third with 3217 points, while Lelievre could only manage 1.92m.
Guest closed his gap on Medieta and Mayer expanded his lead in the 400m, with Guest running 49.11, the second-fastest of the event. (The best time was turned in by Germany's Kai Kazmirek, whose 47.63 vaulted him into fifth place overall but led to him being taken off the track in a stretcher and given oxygen.) Mayer at 49.39 was just behind his team-mate Lelievre in fourth; Mendieta, meanwhile, ran 50.99, enough to keep him in front of Guest, but only barely.
The decathlon will pick up again tomorrow (Wednesday) morning with the 110m Hurdles, at 9:00 AM here in Moncton.
Parker Morse for the IAAF
