25 August - 2 September
Jamaica's Maurice Smith edged ahead of defending champion Bryan Clay after three events of the decathlon on day seven of the World Championships. The 26-year-old leapt into a lead of 2815 points after landing 17.32m to win the shot put competition, with the high jump and 400m still to come on Friday. Clay is 33 points behind with fellow American Tom Pappas a further 22 points adrift in third. Olga Kaniskina also led home a Russian one-two in the women's 20k walk. Compatriot Tatyana Shemyakina won silver ahead of Spain's Maria Vasco. Clay had held the lead in the decathlon after winning the 100m in 10.44 seconds and the long jump with a season's best 7.65m but could only manage 15.51m in the shot.
The evening session in Japan gets under way at 1030 BST and Jeremy Wariner is the red-hot favourite to take gold in the 400m - and could even break the world record on the fast track at the Nagai Stadium. The Olympic and defending champion, 23, has set his sights on breaking mentor Michael Johnson's mark of 43.18 and looked supremely comfortable as he qualified for the final in 44.34.
The Americans are looking for a sweep of medals with LaShawn Merritt and Angelo Taylor Wariner's biggest threats for gold. World record holder and Olympic champion Liu Xiang of China bids for the 110m hurdles title In all, five gold medals are decided on day seven with the women's 200m, javelin, and triple jump also at stake. While Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell is going for a sprint double after her tight 100m victory. There is some British interest as Abby Westley and Lisa Dobriskey contest the tough women's 1500m semi-finals. Liverpool's Michael Rimmer also faces a difficult task to reach the 800m final and is targeting a lifetime best, saying: "I think I have got some left in the tank." After an intense training session in Loughborough before the championships, Britain's male 4x100m team will aim to get the baton round and qualify for Saturday's final.
Source: BBC Sport
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