Clay and Lewis shine on final day of world indoors
Updated: 2008-03-10 10:28
VALENCIA, Spain - United States heptathlete Bryan Clay and Australian 800 metre runner Tamsyn Lewis emerged triumphant on the final day of the world indoor athletics championships on Sunday.
 Australia's Tamsyn Lewis reacts after winning the gold medal in the Women's 800m final at during the Athletics World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain, Sunday, March 9, 2008. [Agencies] |
Clay, world decathlon champion in 2005 and twice runner-up in the world indoors, claimed gold in the multi-event competition with an outstanding set of performances over the two days.
The American amassed a personal best total of 6371 points, just 105 short of Dan O'Brien's 1993 world record, as he won four of the seven events to finish ahead of Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus and Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Karpov.
Lewis spoiled Maria Mutola's hopes of winning an eighth indoor world title when she produced an impressive last-lap burst to hurtle past the 35-year-old Mozambiquan and Tetiana Petlyuk and take gold.
Lewis crossed the line in two minutes 2.57, with Petlyuk taking the silver and Mutola the bronze.
Canada's Tyler Christopher, third in the world outdoors in Osaka last year, also found an extra a gear in the final straight of the men's 400m to snatch the gold from Johan Wissman of Sweden in a time of 45.67, the fastest mark in the world this year.
Chris Brown of the Bahamas picked up the bronze.
As expected the women's 400m was an all-Russian affair with Olesya Zykina equalling her world leading time of the year of 51.09 as she managed to hold off Natalya Nazarova by one hundredth of a second in the lunge for the finishing line.
Portugal's Naide Gomes, the world pentathlon champion in 2004, took the honours in the long jump with a leap of seven metres exactly, with Brazilian Maurren Maggi taking silver ahead of Russian favourite Irina Simagina.
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