100 meters champ Gay goes after 200M gold

OSAKA, Japan -- Some champions make the toughest challenge look easy. Count American Tyson Gay and Russian Yelena Isinbayeva among them.

Gay advanced his goal of a sprint double Tuesday by running with such power in the second-round heat of the 200 meters that he had time to look back at the opposition coming off the bend.

He still finished in 20.08 seconds, by far the best time of the day ahead of Jamaican Usain Bolt. His main rival, teammate Wallace Spearman, also advanced.

Isinbayeva defended her pole vault title at the world championships, needing only three attempts to secure the gold medal. She easily cleared 15 feet, 3 inches when she entered the competition, then rejoined at 15-9. She missed at her first attempt but regained first place with her next, perfectly executed vault.

Gay found the going tough after the hyped 100 clash with Powell, which he won over the weekend.

"Just physically and mentally it drained a lot out of me. I am just trying to refocus,'' Gay said, adding his left knee was bothering him.

Gay ran the second fastest 200 ever earlier this season, and combined with the confidence boost the 100 title gives him, he is an overwhelming favorite for a second gold.

And if the U.S. team is in shape for the weekend sprint relay, he could end up with a triple gold-medal haul.

Isinbayeva, who was attempting a world record, has not improved the world mark since the 16-5¼ leap at the 2005 world championships in Helsinki. Katerina Badurova of the Czech Republic was second at 15-7.

Kerron Clement of the United States won the 400-meter hurdles in 47.61 seconds, followed by Felix Sanchez in 48.01 and Marek Plawgo in 48.12.

Olympic champion Sanchez of the Dominican Republic, the 2001 and 2003 champion, was looking for a third title. He got off to a fast start but was caught at the top of the back straightaway by Clement, whose physical strength helped him overcome fatigue over the last two hurdles.

In the long jump, Olympion Tatiana Lebedeva led a Russian sweep of the medals.

Behind Lebedeva's jump of 23 feet, 3-4 inches, Ludmila Kolchanova took silver at 22-8¾ and Tatyana Kotova added bronze with 22, 7¾. Defending champion Tianna Madison of the United States finished 10th.

Kenya's Janeth Jepkosgei led from start to finish, winning the 800 meters in 1 minute, 56.04 seconds, with Morocco's Hasna Benhassi getting silver in 1:56.99 and Spain's Mayte Martinez third in 1:57.62.

Maria Mutola of Mozambique was looking for her fourth world title but her first since 2003. The 2000 Olympic champion tripped up and stopped about 70 meters from the finish.

In the steeple chase final, Kenya turned its traditional domination into the first clean sweep of the championships. Runners from the African nation have won the last nine world titles.

This time Brimin Kipruto took the honors, with Ezekiel Kemboi earning silver for the second time in a row. Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong was third.

Kenya overtook the United States in the medal standings with three gold and seven overall. The U.S. team has two gold and seven overall.

In the 400 qualifying, another top favorite coasted just as easily in the muggy, overcast conditions. American Jeremy Wariner almost turned the end of his opening heat into a walk, slowly jogging over the line and stopping right after it while others were straining to get close.

"I felt good. Shut it down at the 250,'' said Wariner. Even when almost at a standstill at the line, he still finished in 45.10 seconds, just 1.60 seconds outside his top time this year.

"It is that fast,'' he said of the Nagai Stadium track. But is it fast enough for him to challenge the world record 43.18 set by his mentor Michael Johnson?

"I do not want to talk about the world record now,'' Wariner said.

The defending champion was joined by teammates LaShawn Merritt and Angelo Taylor in the next round of an event where the United States is looking for a sweep of the medals.

Another defending champion, Michelle Perry, set the fastest time in the 100 hurdles to reach Wednesday's final with 12.55 where she was joined by Canada's Perdita Felicien and Sweden's Susanna Kallur.

Perry, the year's top performer, was brimming with confidence. "Final is for me the duel between myself and the hurdles. We will be three from the U.S in there so why not a sweep,'' she said.

Ethiopia also has two gold and would have counted on a medal from Tirunesh Dibaba in the 5,000. But after winning the 10,000 despite stomach pains, she pulled out of the 5,000, where she could have become a three-time champion.

It robbed the championships of one of the most anticipated duels, between Dibaba and her teammate, world record holder and archrival Meseret Defar.

With world record holder Defar and now Gelete Burka and Meselech Melkanu, Ethiopia is still hoping for a medal sweep.

"I am confident that Meseret, Gelete and Meselech will run very well,'' Dibaba said.

Estonia's Gerd Kanter won the discus with a mark of 226 feet, 2 inches.

Kanter, the year's best performer with 236-3 and a silver medalist at the last world championships, finished ahead of Robert Harting of Germany.

Lithuania's Virgilius Alekna, going for his third straight discus world title, finished just out of the medals in fourth place.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

Source: ESPN.com