Keisuke Ushiro of Japan competes in the High Jump of the men's Decathlon (© Getty Images)
Daegu, KoreaWell, just when we thought we had a two-way battle between Trey Hardee and Ashton Eaton the event provided a new twist as Russia’s Aleksey Drozdov catapulted himself from fourth into the gold medal position with a thrilling display.
Drozdov, always a strong high jumper, reaffirmed his ability to perform with distinction in this event to clear a best of 2.14m for a handy 934pts. His second-time clearance – he had needed all three attempts at 2.08m and two at 2.11m – pushed him into the overall lead by just two points from Hardee the previous incumbent.
The position overall now sees Drozdov on 3504points against Hardee’s 3502. Hardee may be slightly disappointed to be knocked off his perch but it could have been so much worse. The American played “a get out of jail free card” at 1.99m when failure could have spelt the end of his title defence. He has cleared the relatively modest height of 1.93m with his first attempt before gambling and passing at 1.96m. When his first two efforts at the next height of 1.99m went awry he was facing the prospect of dropping out of the gold medal hunt altogether.
However, Hardee is a steely competitor and cleared it when it mattered and a second-time clearance of 2.02m – a season’s best – for 822pts added further momentum to his challenge. The 2.05m height was beyond him but he had performed solidly and will be relieved to have at least matched Eaton when it could have been a lot worse.
Performing in Pool A Eaton looked a little short of his absolute best. The American needed two attempts to clear 2.02m but failed at 2.05m and with a season’s best of 2.10m he might have expected a little more. This left the younger American relegated to third overall on 3487pts – now 17 shy of the lead.
The swirling wind whipping up inside the Daegu Stadium made life difficult in this event. That did not bother Thomas van der Plaetsen, though, who for the second event today proved he is a star in the making. Earlier today the European Under-23 champion registered the leading Long Jump mark and in the High Jump he twice bettered his personal best – which before the competition stood at 2.13m – to clear 2.14m with his first attempt and 2.17m - for 963 points - with his second.
The Belgian also advanced from 15th overall to fourth on 3440 points. Oleksiy Kasyanov of Ukraine slipped from the bronze medal position to fifth on 3423pts after a best of 1.99m. Interestingly, Leonel Suarez, the 2009 World silver medallist made a decisive move up the leaderboard – the Cuban advancing from 12th to eighth on 3349pts thanks to a 2.05m High Jump. World Record holder Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic also performed with pride to clear 2.05m and move into ninth on 3344 points.
Steve Landells for the IAAF
