Clay upsets Pappas to win Olympic Trials Decathlon (0)

Sacramento - Bryan Clay had three personal bests Saturday to upset the reigning world champion Tom Pappas at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials.

Clay, 24, with decathlon bests in the discus (52.10), pole vault (5.10) and javelin (68.36), compiled 8660 points — 178 more than his previous top score.

Pappas was second with 8517 to earn a berth in Athens, but he was 267 points off his best, set at last year's U.S. championships.

Clay, lured to the event as a teenager by 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Chris Huffins, draped himself in a Hawaiian flag to celebrate his triumph in his first decathlon of the season. His score was third-best in the world this year behind Roman Sebrle's 8842 and Pappas' 8732 in Götzis, Austria, on May 30. Only an exhaustingly slow 5 minutes, 6.18 seconds in the heat of Sacramento kept Clay from an even more impressive score.

Paul Terek edged Phil McMullen by 27 points — 8312-to-8285 — for third place and the final Olympic decathlon berth. McMullen also was fourth at the trials in 2000.

Sacramento 2004 - results