GOODWILL GAMES : ROUNDUP : A Disappointing Start for Joyner-Kersee

It was the worst of times--and distances--for Jackie Joyner-Kersee on the first day of the Goodwill Games heptathlon competition Sunday at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

She leads after four of the seven events by a comfortable 240 points over the Soviet Union’s Larisa Nikitina, but Joyner-Kersee is 296 points behind her world-record pace of two years ago at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Asked if she believes she can make up the difference in the final three events today, she said: “I’m not going to say no, but, at this time, I probably feel it could be difficult.”

Complaining that she felt dizzy from the exertion and the heat of an unseasonably warm afternoon, she left a news conference after answering only a few questions to receive medical attention.

She opened with a 12.79 in the 100-meter hurdles, one-tenth of a second off her time at the Olympics, improved slightly on her Seoul high jump with a clearance of 6-1 1/2, and then met disaster in the shotput and 200 meters.

Her 45-8 1/2 in the shotput was her worst since 1985, and her 24.26 in the 200 meters was her worst since 1982, leaving her with 3,968 points. Only once in her last 11 heptathlons dating back to 1985 has she scored so few points on the first day.

“In the shotput, I wasn’t pleased at all,” she said. “In the 200 meters, I don’t know what happened. I felt I would run a better 200 meters. I felt good. But I was surprised at the time.”

Although her time was not impressive, she still won the 200 meters by almost four-tenths of a second. The runners appeared to be moving into a stiff headwind down the straightaway, but the display on the wind gauge indicated that there was none.

Her goal for this meet was to score 7,300 points, nine points better than her world record, but she now will find it difficult to break 7,000.

“I’m not where I should be,” she said.

But, indicative of her dominance in the event, even on one of her worst days, she is far ahead of Nikitina, the only other woman in history to score more than 7,000 points. She has 3,728 points, 103 ahead of third-place Gea Johnson from Arizona State.