Smith extends lead
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
ByEurosport
Published 31/08/2007 at 23:56 GMT
Jamaica's Maurice Smith extended his overnight lead in the decathlon with wins in the 110m hurdles and discus followed by a personal best in the pole vault. Kazakh Dmitriy Karpov lies second while Czech Roman Sebrle is currently in bronze medal position.
ATHLETICS 2007 Osaka 2007 Maurice Smith Jamaica decathlon
Image credit: Reuters
Smith's time of 13.91 in the third heat of the hurdles was the fastest set by any of the decathletes, beating German Arthur Abele by a hundredth of a second with Karpov third in the same race in 14.03.
Sebrle won the second heat in 14.33 while Russian Aleksey Drozdov - in fourth after the morning session - came second to Hamdi Dhouibi of Tunisia.
Smith's unexpected dominance in the competition was improved even further with a throw of 52.36 in the discus, which was almost three metres further than nearest challenger Aleksey Sysoyev, another Russian, who finished in fifth at the end of the session.
Karpov again was third in the field with a distance of 48.95 that netted him 849 points to Smith's 920. Sebrle and Drozdov followed close behind in fourth and fifth.
However Smith is not an accomplished pole vaulter and his lifetime best of 4.80m, although good enough for second in the 'B' group, was surpassed by all of his rivals bar Sebrle, who matched it with a season's best of his own.
Karpov closed the gap with a jump of 5m, equalling the effort of Drozdov, while Syosev set a PB of 4.90.
German decathlete Andre Niklaus flew over a height of 5.30 to win the event by 10cm from American Paul Terek and leap up to sixth overall with the javelin and 1500m to come in the evening session.
Niklaus' compatriot Norman Mueller dropped from seventh to 23rd in the field of 25 - still competing - after failing to clear any height in the eighth event.
Join eurosport.yahoo.com for LIVE text commentary on all the day eight evening action from 10:30 BST - including the men's pole vault, women's 5000m and both 4x100m relay finals!
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement