Decathlete Clay closes strong to finish 2nd

Advertiser Staff

A day that began in cold and humid conditions ended in a heated battle with Olympic decathlon champion Roman Sebrle once again prevailing at the Talence Decaster Invitational in France.

Hawai'i's Bryan Clay won two events on the final day, moving from seventh to second. Advertiser library photo

Hawai'i's Bryan Clay, who started the day in seventh place, closed with a flourish to finish second with 8,122 and Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakstan took third with 8,099. The three decathletes finished in the same order at the Athens Olympics.

Clay, hindered by a minor thigh injury, began his comeback by winning the 110-meter hurdles in 14.05 seconds to move into fifth place. Karpov took over the lead with a 14.09 effort.

Clay also won the discus with a 50.72-meter throw to move into second place.

Sebrle rebounded with his season-best 5.02-meter pole vault, then regained the lead with a 63.19-meter javelin throw as Clay clung to second after a 4.92-meter pole vault and 60.15-meter javelin throw.

Karpov, meanwhile, fell to third after the pole vault (4.92) and javelin (50.31).

In the final event, the 1,500-meter run, Clay needed to beat Sebrle by six seconds to win the gold. But the Czech athlete made a surge in the last lap to finish 10th in 4 minutes, 51.69 seconds, comfortably ahead of Karpov (5:00.21) and Clay (5:01.45).

The International Association of Athletics Federation contributed to this report.