"On any given day one of us could have won. I'm just glad it went my way," said Clay, a Castle High alum and the only Hawai'i athlete to win an Olympic medal in track and field. "Roman was there every step of the way."

Clay, who won silver in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, easily outpointed Sebrle, the Olympic gold medalist and world record holder. Clay finished with 8,732 points; Sebrle had 8,521.

The fight to become the world's greatest athlete was completed in cold, wind and rain.

Clay beat Sebrle in the 110-meter hurdles, the discus, the pole vault and the javelin. With already a sizeable lead, Clay finished last in the 1,500 meters, the decathlon's final event.

Buoyed by victories in the second day's first two events, Clay saw his first-day lead go from 14 points to nearly 200 following victories in the hurdles and discus.

Ahead by 4,527 to 4,513 over Sebrle after Tuesday's five events, Clay recorded the best overall performances in the two events. With the victories, Clay's lead over Sebrle became 6,394 to 6,203.

Clay added 35 points to his lead on Sebrle with a 14.43-second victory, good for 920 points, in the first section of the 110-meter high hurdles, which opened Wednesday's program. Sebrle clocked a sub-par 14.71 for fourth place and 885 points in the race.

The hurdles race was run into the face of a 2.6-meter-per-second wind, slowing everyone in the four heats and cutting into points production.

In the discus, Clay padded his lead by 142 points with a throw of 176 feet, 1 inch (53.68 meters), which was good for 947 points. Sebrle threw 153-8 for 805 points.

The hurdles and discus are considered two of Clay's stronger events.

Stormy weather continued to affect the championships today, with the pole vault final postponed until Friday and the evening events also rescheduled.

This was Clay's first world title. He bowed out with injuries in both 2001 and 2003. Sebrle has never won a world championship, placing ninth in 1997, failing to finish in 1999, 10th in 2001, and second in 2003.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FINAL STANDINGS

1, Bryan Clay, United States, 8,732. 2, Roman Sebrle, Czech Republic, 8,521. 3, Attila Zsivoczky, Hungary, 8,385. 4, Andre Niklaus, Germany, 8,316. 5, Aleksandr Pogorelov, Russia, 8,246.

SECOND-DAY RESULTS

110 Hurdles

Heat 1—1, Bryan Clay, United States, 14.43, 920 points. 2, Aleksandr Pogorelov, Russia, 14.45, 917. 3, Romain Barras, France, 14.65, 892. 4, Roman Sebrle, Czech Republic, 14.71, 885. 5, Tomas Dvorak, Czech Republic, 14.81, 873.

Discus

Group A—1, Bryan Clay, United States, 53.68, 176-1, 947. 2, Aleksey Drozdov, Russia, 50.13, 164-5, 873. 3, Attila Zsivoczky, Hungary, 49.58, 162-8, 862. 4, Kristjan Rahnu, Estonia, 47.13, 154-7, 811. 5, Roman Sebrle, Czech Republic, 46.85, 153-8, 805.

Pole Vault

Group B—1, Andre Niklaus, Germany, 5.30, 17-4, 1,004. 2, Aleksandr Pogorelov, Russia, 5.00, 16-4, 910. 3, Bryan Clay, United States, 4.90, 16-0, 880. 4, Roman Sebrle, Czech Republic, 4.80, 15-9, 849. 5, Romain Barras, France, 4.80, 15-9, 849.

Javelin

Group B—1, Bryan Clay, United States, 72.00, 236-3, 920. 2, Roman Sebrle, Czech Republic, 63.21, 207-4, 786. 3, Attila Zsivoczky, Hungary, 63.02, 206-9, 783. 4, Andre Niklaus, Germany, 61.74, 202-7, 764.

1,500

1, Frederic Xhonneux, Belgium, 4:22.71, 793. 2, Andre Niklaus, Germany, 4:28.93, 752. 3, Hamdi Dhouibi, Tunisia, 4:31.24, 736. 4, Romain Barras, France, 4:31.94, 732. 5, Attila Zsivoczky, Hungary, 4:32.17, 730. 6, Phil McMullen, United States, 4:33.38, 723. 7, Tomas Dvorak, Czech Republic, 4:34.24, 717. 8, Oscar Gonzalez, Spain, 4:35.25, 711. 9, Paul Terek, United States, 4:36.59, 702. 10, Jaakko Ojaniemi, Finland, 4:38.18, 692. 11, Aleksey Drozdov, Russia, 4:38.96, 687. 12, Roman Sebrle, Czech Republic, 4:39.54, 683. 13, Mikk Pahapill, Estonia, 4:48.26, 629. 14, Roland Schwarzl, Austria, 4:51.25, 611. 15, Kristjan Rahnu, Estonia, 4:59.73, 561. 16, Aleksandr Pogorelov, Russia, 5:03.62, 539. 17, Bryan Clay, United States, 5:03.77, 538.

Source: Associated Press