United States' Ashton Eaton holds lead in bid for decathlon gold
American Ashton Eaton held onto his lead in the decathlon on Thursday, trailing nearest rival Canadian Damian Warner in the 110 meter hurdles but edging him in the discus as he looked set to repeat London's gold medal performance.
Eaton, who typically counts on his blazing running speed to offset mid-pack throws, finished the day's first event, the hurdles, in 13.8 seconds, a stride behind Warner, who lived up to his record as the world's fastest decathlon hurdler.
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But Eaton, 28, came back to beat 26-year-old Warner in the discus, with his best throw of the season, 45.59m, topping his rival's 44.93m.
The two-time world champion so far has won two of the ten events - Wednesday's long jump and 400m - and finished second to Warner, who finished fifth at the 2012 London Games, in the shorter 100m and 110m hurdles.
France's Kevin Mayer finished third in the hurdles with a time of 14.02, but placed better than either of the two leaders in the discus with a throw of 46.78m that allowed him to climb into third place, displacing Germany's Kai Kazmirek.
The morning's largest margin of victory came in the discus, when Grenada's Lindon Victor threw for 53.24m, more than 3m further than nearest rival Japan's Keisuke Ushiro, who managed 49.90m.
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However, neither of that pair have performed particularly well in the earlier events and respectively are placed 14th and 22nd overall.
Eaton dashed away from the discus cage briefly between his second and final throw to congratulate countryman Kerron Clement for his first-place finish in the 400m hurdles. [L8N1AZ47V]
Brazil's Luiz Alberto de Araujo again drew the most cheers from the sparse crowd in Rio's Olympic Stadium, wining the second hurdles heat in 14.17 and managing a 45.10m discus throw, leaving him in seventh overall.
The event continues on Thursday with the pole vault, javelin and final 1,500m.
