Rico Freimuth in the decathlon 110m hurdles at the IAAF World Championships London 2017 (© Getty Images)
The second day of the decathlon started with disaster for two of the medal contenders.
The fourth and final heat of the decathlon 110m hurdles, featuring some of the quicker sprint hurdlers in the field, produced the fastest time of the day, thanks to Damian Warner’s 13.63. But before the Canadian had crossed the line, two other athletes had effectively ended their competition.
Two-time world champion Trey Hardee clipped the third hurdle before crashing into the fourth. Moments later, Ilya Shkurenev pulled up with what appeared to be an injured hamstring ahead of the eighth flight of hurdles.
Warner’s 13.63 clocking moved the Olympic bronze medallist up to third place overall. Germany’s Rico Freimuth ran a season’s best of 13.68 to finish a close second to Warner, while France’s overall leader Kevin Mayer registered a lifetime best of 13.75.
Kai Kazmirek slipped to fourth overall after clocking 14.66, while fellow German Freimuth moved back up to second. Freimuth currently looks to be on course for a silver medal, but Kazmirek and Warner are close enough behind that Freimuth can’t afford to make any big mistakes in the final few events.
The first of the four heats was won by Estonia’s Janek Oiglane, who continued his good momentum from the first day to clock a season’s best of 14.56. Kurt Felix was second in that heat in 14.68, also a season’s best. Both men appear to be on course for a top-six finish.
Ukraine’s Oleksiy Kasyanov has also proved on numerous occasions that he can never be discounted. He recorded 14.05 in the hurdles to move into the top five overall.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF
