Trey Hardee moves to the lead after the Discus Throw in the Daegu Decathlon (© Getty Images)
Daegu, Korea - Trey Hardee supplanted Ashton Eaton as overall leader to gain a slender 8pt lead thanks to a commanding performance in the discus circle.
Increasingly, all the signs are that this will go down to the wire and while the US duo will admit they are not at their absolute best we look set for a thrilling denouement.
Hardee is the superior discus thrower of the pair and a season’s best 49.89m (868pts) with his first round throw signalled his intent
Eaton responded with 46.17m – only 1.19m down on his lifetime best – with his opening attempt and can also be reasonably satisfied with his efforts.
Neither athlete improved. Hardee came mightily close to his opener in round two with 49.73m before fouling with his last throw. Eaton was awarded a red flag for Eaton with his second effort while a final round 45.07m made no impression.
It now stands Hardee (6239) Eaton (6231) and their personal battle for gold moves on to the Pole Vault.
Leonel Suarez of Cuba advanced to fourth and with strong events to come he will still very much be in the medal picture. However, a best effort of 46.25m for 793pts while solid may not quite be good enough to figure in the fight for gold. He now stands on 5932 points just 11 behind Oleksiy Kasyanov who is still clinging on to third. The Ukrainian threw a modest best of 43.74m and he will do well to repel Suarez’s challenge.
Aleksey Drozdov shot up the leaderboard from 11th overall to fifth following a 50.29m effort with his final attempt. The Russian was teetering on the edge after two fouls but managed to hold it together in the third round to plunder 876pts and has now a seven-event total score of 5924.
Sadly, Belgian Thomas van der Plaetsen went into free fall and a 37.20m discus saw him drop ten places to 14th overall.
Steve Landells for the IAAF
