Feats of Clay

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EUGENE, Ore. -- A bad day for decathlete Bryan Clay of Glendora, the Athens silver medalist, is still far better than most other athletes can dream of enjoying.

Clay is the leader in his signature event, with the last five events scheduled for Monday. But his lead is suprisingly narrow: 4,476 points,

to 4,454 for Trey Hardy and 4,405 for Tom Pappas. And he was not happy with his efforts.

‘The way training has been going, I’m doing horrible,’ he said. ‘My training has been going absolutely amazing. I didn’t put it together today like I should have, and normally I’m pretty good about doing that. Mentally just coming out and getting it from the get-go.

‘I had a good first event and just a brain lapse on the second event,’ he said, referring to the 100-meter dash and the long jump. ‘I let it carry over into my third and fourth events.’

The beauty of doing a multi-event sport is that he has five chances to recover on Monday, and he probably will.

This is Clay’s first decathlon this season, though he did win the world indoor heptathlon title earlier this year.

-- Helene Elliott