Overnight decathlon leader Kyle Garland has held on to his lead with two disciplines to go at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.
The big news of the second day of decathlon was the disqualification of world leader Sander Skotheim. After competing in the 110m hurdles, the Norwegian was disqualified for knocking down a hurdle in an illegal way. Up until that point, he was on course to contend for the gold medal.
Garland now remains on course for victory, but nothing is guaranteed just yet as Olympic silver medallist Leo Neugebauer is close behind, as is Puerto Rico’s Ayden Owens-Delerme.
Garland opened with a 10.51 run in the 100m, then a 7.92m leap in the long jump put him into the overall lead. He extended his leading margin after topping the shot put with 17.02m.
Skotheim, the world indoor champion, also got off to a good start. His 10.91 run in the 100m was a little bit down on his best, but he sailed out to 7.97m in the long jump and followed it with 14.50m in the shot put.
The Norwegian closed the gap on Garland in the next two disciplines, jumping 2.14m to Garland’s 2.11m in the high jump, then clocking 47.86 to his US rivals 48.73 in the 400m.
Garland held the lead at half way with a day-one score of 4707, just seven points shy of his half-way score from the US Championships, where he scored a PB of 8869. Skotheim ended the day in second place, ahead of Owens-Delerme and Neugebauer.
Damian Warner, who won Olympic gold in this stadium in 2021, was a late withdrawal from the competition after sustaining an achilles injury in warm-up. 2024 world indoor champion Simon Ehammer, meanwhile, failed to register a height in the high jump and will take no further part in the competition.
Defending champion Pierce LePage was a non-starter for the 400m at the end of day one. Skotheim then joined the list of non-finishers at the start of day two.
Garland, however, continued his crusade on Sunday, clocking 14.30 in the 110m hurdles. Owens-Delerme banked valuable points with his 13.65 run, elevating him to second overall ahead of Neugebauer.
Neugebauer dominated the discus with a 56.15m throw to reclaim second place behind Garland (48.06m) and ahead of Owens-Delerme (46.12m). The German closed the gap further after clearing 5.10m in the pole vault, a height matched by Owens-Delerme. Garland’s 4.80m vault was enough to keep the US all-rounder in the lead by 53 points with two disciplines to go.
More to follow…
AloJapan.com