Ashton Eaton, Trey Hardee 1-2 after three events in decathlon

LONDON -- Ashton Eaton, who set a world record of 9,039 points at the U.S. Olympic trials and established himself as a medal contender at the London Games, took the lead after the first three phases of the decathlon competition Wednesday morning at Olympic Stadium.

Eaton, of Portland, Ore., posted the top 100-meter dash time, 10.35 seconds, and the top long jump mark of 26 feet, 4 1/4 inches. His shotput mark of 48-1 1/4 ranked 11th. Overall, he had 2,848 points.

Olympic trials runner-up Trey Hardee of Birmingham, Ala., ranked second with 2,743 points. He ran the 100 in 10.42 seconds, jumped 24-8 1/2 and had a mark of 50-1 3/4 in the shotput. Oleksiy Kasyanov of Ukraine ranked third with 2,664 points.

Two more phases are to take place Wednesday evening: the high jump and the 400 meters. The decathlon will conclude on Thursday with the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and the 1,500 meters.

American athletes had little success in other qualification events Wednesday morning.

Pole vaulter Derek Miles of Sacramento, a three-time Olympian and two-time U.S. champion, missed his three attempts at his opening height of 17-0 3/4, and Jeremy Scott’s best height of 18-0 1/2 wasn’t good enough for him to advance. Brad Walker of Spokane, Wash., cleared 18-4 1/2 on his first try and will be one of 12 vaulters in Friday’s final.

Women’s hammer throw entrants Amanda Bingson, Amber Campbell and Jessica Cosby didn’t advance to their event final.

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