U.S. Keeping Pace in Medal Race : Soviets, Americans Win Six Golds Each on a Busy Day

For the second consecutive day, the United States and Soviet Union matched gold medals as each nation won six Sunday--three apiece in track and field, and swimming.

After three days of competition in these inaugural games, which conclude July 20, the Soviets lead the United States, 47-38, in total medals and, 14-12, in golds.

Jackie Joyner unleashed a tremendous assault on the world record in the heptathlon by establishing a world record of 4,151 points for the first day of the two-day competition. The old first-day mark of 4,101 was set by Malgorzata Nowak of Poland in 1985. Sabine Paetz of East Germany holds the current world record of 6,946 set in 1984.

Joyner began by setting an American heptathlon record of 12.85 in the 100-meter hurdles breaking her own record of 13.09 set earlier this year and then followed with a personal best of 6 feet, 2 inches in the high jump and a 48-5 effort in the shotput.

She finished the day with a 23.00 in the 200 meters for yet another U.S. heptathlon record.

The heptathlon will be completed today, with the long jump, javelin and 800 meters.

Leslie Daland, the daughter of USC’s Peter Daland, the U.S. swimming coach, claimed her second gold medal of the competition, winning the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle in 16 minutes 15.88 seconds--a personal best.

USC’s Cheryl Miller, the star of the gold-medal winning 1984 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team, scored 26 points, leading the undefeated Americans to their second victory, 91-70 over Brazil. The unbeaten Soviets and Americans meet Thursday night in the final game of the round-robin basketball tournament.

The Soviets produced some remarkable performances as well.

In men’s swimming, world record-holder Vladimir Salnikov, Igor Polyansky and Vadim Yaroshchuk each won their second gold medals of the games.

Salnikov, who beat his world record in the 800 Friday, won impressively in the 1,500 freestyle in 15:10.87, while Polyansky, winner of the 200 backstroke Saturday, added the 100 backstroke to his gold medal collection, winning in 56.02, a personal best. Yaroshchuk, the gold medalist in the 400 individual medley Friday, took the 200 individual medley Sunday in 2:02.83.

The Americans’ other victories in the first full day of track and field competition came from Greg Foster in the men’s 110 hurdles, Tom Petranoff in the javelin and Evelyn Ashford in the 100 meters.

Foster overcame a horrible start to win in 13.25, the best time in the world this year, one-hundredth of a second faster than he ran earlier in the season.

Petranoff, the American record holder at 327-2 but still acclimating himself to the new style javelin, won with a toss of 273-10, the best by an American this year.

“I’ve only been working with the new javelin since April 1,” Petranoff said. “I’m now just starting to get in the groove.”

The other track and field winners were Belaine Dinsamo, a 29-year-old Ethiopian policeman, in the men’s marathon in 2:14:42; the Soviet Union’s Lyubov Gurina in the women’s 800 in 1:57.52; Romania’s Mariana Stanescu in the women’s 3,000 in 8:38.83, and the Soviet Union’s Romas Ubartas in the men’s discus at 220-2.

In swimming, Daland, 18, who won the women’s 800 Friday with a personal best time, did it again Sunday in the 1,500, an event not counted for official records because it is not contested at European, world or Olympic championships.

Other American swimming victories came in the 800 freestyle relays, with the men clocking 7:21.75 and the women timed in 8:10.49.

Romania won the remaining swimming golds Sunday, with Noemi Lung winning the women’s 200 individual medley in 2:17.32 and Carmen Bunaciu taking the 100 backstroke in 1:02.63.