Bryan Clay of the United States launches the shot in the heptathlon (© Getty Images)
In the men’s Heptathlon Bryan Clay of USA regained the lead in the overall competition with 2690 total points after three events.
The third event, the Shot Put, did not go as well as it could for Clay who threw 15.31m, about a metre less than he did winning the title in Valencia two years ago. It’s quite clear that Clay will not get anywhere near his best scores at this pace and this opens up the competition at the top.
Ukrainian Oleksiy Kasyanov, who had to surrender the lead by just 16 points after three events, will be looking to take the lead back in the last event of day one, the High Jump.
Kasyanov threw 14.55m Shot Put, also a disappointing result for him. On the other hand the world leading (6300p) athlete this season from Russia, Aleksey Drozdov added 14cm to his Shot Put best with 17.17m, the furthest throw of the afternoon. This means that the Russian 26-year-old who has jumped 2.15m in the High Jump this season for a personal best will have a shot overtaking Clay and Kasyanov to move to the lead after the first day.
Drozdov also has to be considered as a medal threat and maybe even has a possibility for the win as his only weak event is the 60m Hurdles.
Berlin World Decathlon champion American Trey Hardee is now in fourth place with 2591p after three events and a decent 14.44m Shot Put result. Although he is now 99 points off the lead, the American has a great chance for the win here because of an excellent second day to come. Hardee is not amongst the best high jumpers in the field and this event will tell a lot about his gold medal chances in the competition.
Roman Sebrle of Czech Republic did OK again in the Shot Put with another season’s best 15.70m and has 2578p for the fifth place. Belarussian Andrei Krauchanka didn’t fall more behind having a good 13.59m Shot Put. The 24-year-old is very good in the last four events so he will be looking to rise back to the medal fight later on. Leonel Suárez of Cuba is in seventh place with 2375p and will probably stay there for the rest of the competition.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
