Clay leads hep and qualifying continues Friday night in Doha

Clay leads hep and qualifying continues Friday night in Doha


DOHA, Qatar - Bryan Clay is leading the men's heptathlon after four events and Team USA continued to advance though the rounds Friday night at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships, March 12-14, in the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar.

After the first day of heptathlon competition, 2008 Olympic decathlon gold medalist Bryan Clay is leading with 3,549 points. Clay finished first in the 60m (6.67), long jumped 7.27m/23-10.25, threw the shot put 15.31m/50-2.75 and cleared 2.06m/6-9 in the high jump. 2009 World Outdoor champion Trey Hardee is sitting in fifth place with 3,450 points. Hardee had best efforts of 6.80 (60m), 7.28m/23-10.75 (LJ), 14.44m/47-4.5 (SP) and 2.06m/6-9 (HJ).

Two-time Olympic and five-time World Outdoor medalist Bernard Lagat began his journey to recapture the world indoor 3,000m title that he first won in 2004 when he won heat 2 of qualifying in 7:59.99. 2009 USA Outdoor 10,000m champion Galen Rupp qualified for the men's 3,000m final on time after placing fifth in heat 2 in 8:00.90. On the women's side, 2009 World Outdoor marathon runner Desiree Davila qualified for the final after running a huge personal best of 8:51.08 to place sixth in heat 2. Sara Hall did not advance after finishing seventh in heat 1 in 9:04.25.

Two-time World Outdoor 400m hurdles medalist Bershawn Jackson won semifinal 1 of the men's 400m in 46.13 and 2009 USA Indoor champion Jamaal Torrance took second in semifinal 2 in 46.69. 2010 USA Indoor champion Debbie Dunn won semifinal 2 on the women's side, crossing the line in 52.08. DeeDee Trotter finished fifth in semifinal 1 in 52.55 and did not advance.

The men's 60m hurdlers easily advanced to tomorrow's semifinals. 2008 Olympic bronze medalist David Oliver was up first, winning heat 1 in 7.60. Two-time World Indoor champion Terrence Trammell followed in his red, white, and blue shoe covers, winning heat 2 in the same time.

Reigning World Indoor champion Lolo Jones easily advanced to the semifinals in the women's 60m hurdles, winning heat 4 in 7.95. 2010 USA Indoor champ Ginnie Powell won heat 1 in 8.07 and will join Jones in the semifinals.

2008 Olympians Jesse Williams and Dusty Jonas each qualified for the final in the men's high jump after clearing 2.26m/7-5. Williams finished qualifying tied for third place, while Jonas was tied for sixth based on misses.

All four men and women coasted through the first round of the 60 meters. Trell Kimmons was up first, winning heat 1 in 6.61. 2009 USA Outdoor champion Mike Rodgers won heat 4 in 6.69. Then came two-time World Outdoor bronze medalist Carmelita Jeter who won heat 4 in 7.30 and finally Miki Barber who finished third in heat 5 in 7.37.

2009 NCAA Indoor champion Sarah Bowman automatically qualified for the women's 1,500m final when she placed third in heat 1 in an indoor personal best 4:12.91. 2008 Olympian Erin Donohue qualified on time with her fourth place finish in heat 2 in 4:10.12. On the men's side, former Stanford standout Garrett Heath ran an indoor personal best 3:39.25 to finish third in heat 3 of the men's 1500m and advance to Saturday's final. 2010 USA Indoor runner-up Will Leer finished fourth in heat 2 in 3:42.16 and did not advance.


In the men's triple jump, 2009 USA Indoor and Outdoor champion Brandon Roulhac finished 14th in qualifying with a best mark of 16.36m/53-8.25, while 2006 World Indoor champion Walter Davis was 15th with 16.33m/53-7. 2009 USA Indoor champion Randall Flimmons took 10th in Group B of the men's long jump qualifying with a mark of 7.68m/25-2.5 and 2010 USA Indoor runner-up Jeff Henderson finished 9th in Group A with a best effort of 7.64m/25-0.75. None of the men's horizontal jumpers advanced to their respective finals.

2009 World Outdoor silver medalist Chelsea Johnson tied for 11th in women's pole vault qualifying, clearing 4.35m/14-3.25. 2010 USA Indoor champion Lacy Janson did not clear her opening height.

This year's edition of the IAAF World Indoor Championships will be streamed LIVE on Universal Sports and replayed on TV each night at 6 p.m. ET. For more information, go to www.universalsports.com.

For more information on Team USA and the World Indoor Championships, visit www.usatf.org.