Bryan Clay starts strong in rainy Olympic decathlon

BEIJING (AP) American Bryan Clay got off to a strong start in a rainy opening session Thursday to take an early lead in the Olympic decathlon.

The 2005 world champion ran 100 meters through a deluge for Thursday morning's best time, 10.44 seconds, then had the best long jump in his group at 25 feet, 6¼ inches. He followed with a lifetime best 53-4½ in the shot put, second-best of the competition.

That gave Clay 2,862 points through three of 10 events in the two-day competition, 155 points ahead of his nearest challenger, Oleksiy Kasyanov of Ukraine, who had 2,717. American Trey Hardee was third with 2,657.

World record-holder Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic, the reigning Olympic and world champion, struggled in the shot, normally one of his strongest events, and was 10th with 2,570 - 292 points behind Clay.

World bronze medalist Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakstan pulled out after one event, and American Tom Pappas, the 2003 world champion, withdrew with a foot injury after one long jump attempt. At the 2004 Athens Games, he entered as a favorite but stopped competing on the second day and has been plagued by injuries since.

Two more decathlon events were set for Thursday night, the high jump and 400 meters.

Also Thursday, the downpour forced an hourlong delay in the men's javelin and women's high jump qualifying, and a half-hour postponement of the decathlon long jump, where competitors leaped into a pasty sand. The rain finally stopped early in the afternoon.

Injury-plagued American Breaux Greer managed only one throw in the javelin, passing on his final two attempts and failing to advance to the finals. Greer said the injured shoulder that spoiled his performance the U.S. trials felt better, but he broke a bone in his right hand in training two weeks ago.

The eight-time U.S. champion and American record-holder displayed a big knot on his hand. He said he had to hold the javelin with four fingers, leaving his pinkie finger extended. "Very proper," he joked.

He said he didn't want to throw again and risk further damage to his shoulder that might require surgery. Now his attention turns to next year's world championships.

"I've got some serious redemption to do," Greer said.

Greer didn't make the finals at the trials but was added to the U.S. team because only two other throwers met the Olympic qualifying standard. He hurt his shoulder in a throw that earned him the bronze medal at last year's world championships.

At least three throwers slipped and fell in the rain puddles on the runway. Canadian Scott Russell had the longest throw in the first group of qualifiers at 263-10, well off the automatic qualifying mark of 270-8.

The rain stopped and the marks were much better in the second group, led by Vadims Vasilevskis of Latvia at 273-11.

Russell, who passed on his next two throws because of aching knees, said he didn't see any of the mishaps.

"If you see that, in your head you start running through all the scenarios of what can happen," he said.

In the day's first event, Olga Kaniskina of Russia splashed through the streets of China's capital to win the 20-kilometer walk in 1 hour, 26 minutes, 31 seconds, breaking the Olympic record by just over 1½ minutes. Kjersti Platzer of Norway won the silver and Elisa Riguado of Italy the bronze.

Another Russian, defending Olympic champion Yelena Slesarenko, barely qualified for the high jump finals. She cleared 6-4 on her final attempt. The bar was clipped by her heel and wobbled precariously, but didn't fall.

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