A sensational 8,660-point performance, spread over two days at Sacramento State University's Hornet Stadium, propelled the 24-year-old Clay to the top of the victory stand at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials yesterday, and will send him to the Athens Games as a very solid gold medal candidate in the decathlon.

Bryan Clay rejoices after setting a personal best in the discus with a throw of 170 feet, 11 inches. "I knew I was going to do well," he said.

Bryan Clay throws the javelin in the decathlon during the Olympic Track and Field trials in Sacramento, Calif., Saturday, July 17, 2004.

"He's just super, the sky's the limit," raved Bob Mathias, the Californian who took the gold medal as a 17-year-old in 1948, and repeated as Olympic king in 1952.

"That young man had a fabulous performance, there's no telling how he good he can eventually be," lauded Milt Campbell, the New Jerseyan who took the Olympic silver in 1952, then won the gold in 1956.

Clay trailed Pappas by just three points, 4,471 to 4,474 after Friday's five events, then turned on the steam yesterday, winning two of the events outright, tying for first in another, and rising to the biggest occasion of his life as Pappas was unable to show his 2003 form.

In order, Clay clocked 14.23 seconds in the 110-meter high hurdles, whirled the discus 170-11, pole vaulted 16-8 3/4, threw the javelin 224-3, and finally labored through the 1,500 meters in 5:06.18 in the 93-degree heat.

The discus and javelin represented first places — amazing feats for the 5-foot-11, 174-pound Clay, far smaller than most of his competitors (Pappas is 6-5, 210) — and his time in the high hurdles tied for first place.

Clay set personal bests in the discus, javelin and pole vault and his point total was 178 more than his previous high.

Pappas wasn't surprised by Clay's score.

"Last year at the world championships he hurt his hamstring, and he was ready there to put up a big score," Pappas said. "This whole year he's been setting personal bests in a lot of events. It was just a matter of putting it together."

Now, Clay must raise his sights as he prepares to take on the rest of the world in Athens, where Pappas is expected to bounce back to his 8,750-point 2003 form, and the Czech Republic's Roman Seberle, who set the world record of 9,026 points in 2001, has his own sights on the gold.

"I think I'm going to give Tom and Roman a run for their money," Clay said. "By no means is it going to be a walk in the park for any of us, and I think Roman knows that, too."

Clay sees nothing but even better performances in his future.

"I set lifetime personal bests in the vault and javelin today, but I can do a lot better in the other events, too," he said.

"I hadn't done a (decathlon) all this year, and everybody was kind of wondering what kind of shape I was in, but I knew I was going to do well here," said Clay, who set personal bests seven times in individual events this year. "I'd been doing very good things in practice."

Draped in the Hawaiian flag, Clay proudly accepted his gold medal and bouquet of flowers, as Hornet Stadium fans roared their approval.

Bryan Clay competes in the pole vault part of the decathlon during the Olympic Track and Field trials in Sacramento, Calif., Saturday, July 17, 2004.

Bryan Clay clears a hurdle during the men's decathlon 110-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Sacramento, Calif., Saturday, July 17, 2004.

The left hamstring muscle he "tweaked" in Friday's opening 100 meters, and had him worrying about being able to continue — a nightmare scenario reminiscent of his injury-induced inability to finish at the 2001 and 2003 World Championships — but was never severe enough to take him out of the event.

"The leg was still a little sore today, but I was kind of conservative in some events," Clay said. "Then things started to loosen up and I came up big."

Clay said support from his fellow competitors helped pull him through.

"They were all rooting me on. You guys (the media) don't get to see it, but when we're sitting underneath that tent (on the field) you've got 24 guys cheering you on.

"The decathlon's so much different than individual events. We're like a family out there."

Then Clay thanked his other family.

"I've got my church back at home praying for me. I've got my school; everybody at Azusa Pacific was praying for me," he said. "My family in Hawai'i was praying for me; my family in Florida (where he has trained) was praying for me.

"So I knew something good was going to happen."