THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 13 : Track and Field Roundup : East German Leads in Decathlon

Christian Schenk of East Germany stretched his lead in the decathlon, while two-time gold medalist Daley Thompson fell nearly 200 points behind after 7 events Thursday night.

Schenk threw the discus 161 feet 8 inches to bring his point total to 6,159. Christian Plaziat of France, whose best throw was 141-2, was second with 6,053 points.

Schenk began the day 95 points ahead of Plaziat, then dropped 22 points back after Plaziat had the fastest time, 14.18 seconds, in the 110-meter high hurdles. Schenk’s time was 15.13.

But the 6-foot 7-inch Schenk, 23, retook the lead by 106 points over the 24-year-old postal worker and French champion after the discus.

Britain’s Thompson, seeking an unprecedented third Olympic title, clung to third place, 10 points ahead of world champion Torsten Voss of East Germany.

Thompson, apparently still affected by a groin injury that dropped him into ninth place in the World Championships--his first defeat in 9 years--had 5,979 points after 7 events. He ran the hurdles in 14.72 and threw the discus 147-0.

Voss had 5,969 points, following a 14.46 clocking in the hurdles and a 145-6 toss in the discus.

Three events remained in the two-day competition: the pole vault, javelin throw and 1,500 meters.

Mary Slaney advanced in the 1,500 meters, but not without a couple of scary monents when she got caught running in the pack and tripped.

She was second in her heat in 4:03.61. As she had done in the 3,000 meters, Slaney lead for almost half of the race. At 800 meters Thursday night, Slaney dropped to eighth place but slowly began to work her way back up.

Kim Gallagher of El Segundo advanced in her heat, running a 4:07.22.

Three Americans advanced in the first round of the men’s 1,500. Steve Scott of Fallbrook was second to Britan’s Steve Cram in his heat, running 3:41.57. Mark Deady was second in his heat in 3:41.91, and Jeff Atkinson of Los Altos advanced with a 3:38.33.

In the preliminaries of the women’s 100-meter hurdles, Bulgarian Ginka Zagorcheva, one of the medal favorites, stopped after the sixth hurdle in the first round, apparently because of an injured right hamstring.

Gloria Siebert of East Germany produced the fastest first-round time, 12.65.

Americans Jacqueline Humphrey and Gail Devers-Roberts all advanced through the second round to the semifinals.

Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinova, the world record-holder in the women’s high jump, easily made it through the qualifying, clearing 6-3 1/2. Another medal favorite, Louise Ritter of the United States, also advanced, clearing 6-3 1/2 on her final try.

Coleen Sommer of Chandler, Ariz., jumped 6-1 1/2, and Trish King of Yorba Linda jumped 6-0 but both failed to advance.

In the women’s discus final, two-time world champion Martina Hellmann of East Germany set an Olympic record of 237-2 in winning the gold medal. East German Evelyn Jahl held the old record of 229-6, set in Moscow in 1980. Diana Gansky of East Germany took the silver on her fifth throw, at 235-10. Tsvetanka Khristova of Bulgaria got the bronze with a throw of 228-10.

Asked how she felt, Hellman said: “I feel like an Olympic gold medalist feels--wonderful.”

Carol Cady of Stanford finished 11th at 208-1.