Hardee wins decathlon gold at Berlin World Championships

For Immediate Release
Thursday, August 20, 2009

Contact:
Tom Surber
USA Track & Field
Media Information Manager
317-713-4690; Tom.Surber@usatf.org


Hardee wins decathlon gold at Berlin World Championships

BERLIN - Trey Hardee won the gold medal in the decathlon and four other Team USA stars won medals Thursday evening at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics at the 1936 Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany.
Reigning U.S. decathlon champion and 2008 Olympic Trials runner-up Trey Hardee (Austin, Tex.) began this evening's final three events by clearing 5.20m/17-0.75 (only 5 centimeters shy of his PR) in the pole vault, which gave him 972 points and the lead in the competition after eight events with 7,306 points.

Hardee followed that performance with a personal best javelin throw of 68.00 meters/223 feet 1 inch and held the lead with just the 1,500 meters remaining with 8,165 points and a 264 point lead over his nearest competitor, Aleksandr Pogorelov of Russia.


Hardee finished the 1,500 meters in 4:48.91, which sealed his victory with a new personal best score of 8,790 points, which bettered his previous PR of 8,534 by a whopping 256 points. Leonel Suarez of Cuba was the runner-up with 8,640 points, and Pogorelov was third with 8,528 points.


Hardee is now the #3 all-time American in the decathlon behind only Dan O'Brien and Bryan Clay. Hardee joins O'Brien (1991, 1993, 1995), Tom Pappas (2003) and Clay (2005) as the only Americans ever to win the world decathlon title.
Two-time NCAA champion and 2009 USA Outdoor Championships runner-up Ashton Eaton (Eugene, Ore.) finished 18th with 8,061 points, and two-time NCAA champion Jake Arnold (Santa Rosa, Calif.) finished 24th with 7,837 points.


Demus captures silver in 400m hurdles final


2005 World Outdoor silver medalist and current world leader (52.63, July 28) Lashinda Demus (Palmdale, Calif.) won her second career World Outdoor silver medal by placing second in the women's 400m hurdles in 52.96 seconds.

Jamaica's Melanie Walker posted the second-fastest time in history in winning the race in the new Championships record time of 52.42 seconds, with Trinidad's Josanne Lucas setting a national record with her bronze medal winning time of 53.20.2008 Olympic Trials champion Tiffany Williams (Orlando, Fla.) posted a season's best time of 53.83 in finishing fifth.


Bolt strikes again, Spearmon wins bronze in men's 200m final


After lowering the men's 100m world record on Sunday to an unimaginable 9.58 seconds, Jamaican Usain Bolt lowered his own world 200m record of 19.30 to an unfathomable 19.19 seconds in winning the world title at Olympic Stadium.


2005 World Outdoor Championships silver medalist and 2007 world championships bronze medalist Wallace Spearmon (College Station, Tex.) added another world champs medal to his collection when he finished third in the a season's best time of 19.85.2004 Olympic gold medalist and 2008 Olympic silver medalist Shawn Crawford (Los Angeles, Calif.), also ran a season's best of 19.89 seconds in finishing fourth.2009 NCAA Outdoor champion and runner-up at the 2009 USA Outdoor Championships Charles Clark (Virginia Beach, Va.) finished sixth in 20.39.


Trammell, Payne capture 110m hurdles medals


Two U.S. hurdlers answered the gun in the men's 110m hurdles final and both of them won medals tonight at Olympic Stadiumin a race that ended with a three-way photo-finish.


Two-time Olympic Games silver medalist Terrence Trammell (Ellenwood, Ga.) won his third career world outdoor championships silver medal when he crossed the finish line in 13.15 seconds. Trammell also won world champs silver in 2003 and 2007. Trammell came tantalizingly close to the gold medal, falling short by the narrowest of margins to 2008 Olympic semi finalist Ryan Brathwaite (BAR) who crossed the line first in 13.14.


2008 Olympic Games silver medalist and 2007 world championships bronze medalist David Payne (Covington, Ky.) ran stride-for-stride with Trammell with both of them stopping the clocks at 13.15. Trammell was judged to finish barely ahead of
Payne, who took the bronze.

Felix, Lee sail through women's 200m semifinals

Two-time world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist Allyson Felix (Santa Clarita, Calif.) worked hard for 140 meters before cruising to the finish in heat 2 of three women's 200m semifinals. Felix sailed to the finish unchallenged, winning easily in 22.44 seconds.

2008 Olympic Games fourth-place finisher Muna Lee (College Station, Tex.) ran a season's best of 22.30 in winning heat 3. Felix and Lee will advance to Friday night's final.

2009 USA Outdoor Championships fourth-place finisher Charonda Williams (Richmond, Calif.) finished fifth in heat 2 in 22.81 and did not advance. 2008 Olympic Games fifth-place finisher Marshevet Hooker (Pflugerville, Tex.) ran in heat 1 of the semifinals and did not finish, pulling up around the curve with a hamstring strain.

Howard places seventh in women's high jump

2005 World Outdoor silver medalist Chaunte Howard (Snellville, Ga.) had a best clearancein the women's high jump of 1.96m/6-5, which tied her for seventh-place with Sweden's Emma Green, who cleared the identical height. Four-time Olympian and eight-time world outdoor championships team member Amy Acuff (Isleton, Calif.) cleared one height at 1.87m/6-1.50.

Lagat, Tegenkamp & Solinsky advance to 5,000m final

Reigning world outdoor champion Bernard Lagat (Tucson, Ariz.) started the second of two opening round heats of the men's 5,000 meters in the middle of the pack and stayed there until late in the race when he moved up to fourth place where he finished in 13:23.73, easily moving to the final on Sunday. Lagat was spiked in the race and received a few stitches. He's expected to be fine for the final

2008 USA Junior champion Evan Jager (Beaverton, Ore.) finished 11th in that heat in 13:39.80and did not advance.
2007 world outdoor championships fourth-place finisher and reigning U.S. champion Matt Tegenkamp (Portland, Ore.) stayed among the top six runners throughout the first 5,000m opening round heat and began his finishing kick with a little more than 300 meters to go.

Tegenkamp moved through the field quickly, and with 200 meters remaining he was in second place behind only Olympic gold medalist and 2009 World 10,000m champion Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia. Tegenkamp finished second behind Bekele in 13:19.77, which was the second-fastest time of the night. Bekele won the race in 13:19.73. 2009 USA Outdoor Championships runner-up Chris Solinsky (Madison, Wis.) also ran a strong race in the first qualifying heat. Solinsky was in sixth place at the bell and held on to that position at the finish, clocking in at 13:20.64. Solinsky's time was sixth overall and he made the final on time.

Lagat, Tegenkamp and Solinsky will all compete in Sunday's final. This marks the second consecutive world championships that three Team USA athletes will compete in the men's 5,000m final. In 2007 the participating team members were Lagat, Tegenkamp and Adam Goucher.

Phillips advances to long jump final

Anyone getting to their seats at all late this evening at the Olympic Stadium would've missed seeing two-time world outdoor men's champion and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Dwight Phillips (Snellville, Ga.) in his one and only attempt in men's long jump qualifying.

Phillips ran down the runway and soared to 8.44 meters/27 feet 8.25 inches. Phillips easily surpassed the automatic standard for finals qualification of 8.15m/26-9, and his jump was the longest of theday. Phillips will attempt to win his third world outdoor champs gold medal in the final on Saturday.

2008 Olympian and 2006 USA Outdoor champion Brian Johnson (Zachary, La.) will join Phillips in the final, as the seventh best qualifier with his best of 8.09m/26-6.50. 2008 Olympian and tenth-place finisher at the 2007 world championships Miguel Pate (St. Francisville, La.) had a best leap of 7.61m/24-11.75and did not advance.

Team USA Medal Table - 2009 World Championships in Athletics


Gold (3)
Christian Cantwell (Columbia, Mo.), men's shot put, 22.03m/72-3.50
Sanya Richards (Austin, Tex.), women's 400m, 49.00
Kerron Clement (Gainesville, Fla.) men's 400m hurdles, 47.91
Trey Hardee (Austin, Tex.) men's decathlon, 8,790 points

Silver (4)
Tyson Gay (Clermont, Fla.), men's 100 meters, 19.71
Chelsea Johnson (Los Angeles, Calif.), women's pole vault, 4.65m/15-3
Lashinda Demus (Palmdale, Calif.), women's 400m hurdles, 52.96
Terrence Trammell (Atlanta, Ga.), men's 110m hurdles, 13.15

Bronze (5)
Carmelita Jeter (Inglewood, Calif.) women's 100 meters, 10.90
Bershawn Jackson (Savoy, Ill.) men's 400m hurdles, 48.23
Bernard Lagat (Tucson, Ariz.) men's 1,500 meters, 3:36.20
Wallace Spearmon (College Station, Tex.) men's 200m, 19.85
David Payne (Covington, Ky.) men's 110m hurdles, 13.15

For complete results, quotes and Team USA reports, visit www.usatf.org.

Fans can watch Team USA on national television broadcasts on NBC and Versus, or online via live, daily Webcast at www.universalsports.com. For complete TV listings, visit http://www.usatf.org/events/2009/IAAFWorldOutdoorChampionships/mediaCoverage.asp.

For more information on Team USA at the World Outdoor Championships, visit http://www.usatf.org/events/2009/IAAFWorldOutdoorChampionships/.



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