Nelson wins silver in men's shot put

from Jill Geer, Director of Communications, USA Track & Field

PARIS 8/23/03 – Adam Nelson won Team USA’s first medal of the 2003 World Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and American women’s 100-meter runners and men’s 400-meter runners displayed dominant form Sunday in the first day of competition at the Stade de France.

A season’s best throw of 21.26m/69-9 on his fourth attempt gave Nelson (Winterville, Ga.) the second World Championships silver medal of his career. The 2001 World Championships runner-up also owns a third international silver, from the 2000 Olympic Games. Nelson squeaked through the qualifying round Saturday morning in Paris, needing to take all three attempts, but he made the most of his opportunity in the evening’s final, moving into second on his fourth throw (21.26m/69-9). He placed behind the winning, personal-best throw of 21.69m/71-2 by Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus.

Nelson’s teammates were felled by fouling trouble. Kevin Toth (Hudson, Ohio) got in just one legal mark in the final, his first throw of 20.89/68-6.5, to place fourth. Toth’s final throw appeared to be a winning mark, but he fell out of the left side of the ring and fouled. Defending world champion and three-time gold medalist John Godina (Northridge, Calif.) posted a throw of 19.84m/65-1.25, putting him in ninth. On his third throw Godina had a mark that would have enabled him to make the cut into the top 8 athletes who are allowed three more attempts, but the judges ruled that his foot had touched the top of the ring and declared it a foul. Reese Hoffa (Athens, Ga.) had three foul throws in morning qualifying and did not make the final.

In other finals Saturday, American record holder Deena Drossin (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) placed 12th in the women’s 10,000 meters with a season’s best time of 31 minutes, 17.87. Elva Dryer (Albuquerque, N.M.) was 17th in 31:59.81. Ethiopia’s Berhane Adere won the race in a championships-record time of 30:04.18.

Kevin Eastler (Fort Collins, Colo.) recorded a huge personal best in the men’s 20 km race walk final. The Air Force captain placed 18th, tying the highest finish ever by a U.S. walker in the event, with his time of 1 hour, 22 minutes and 25 seconds. His previous best was 1:23:52 from the USA Outdoor Championships. Jefferson Perez of Ecuador set a new world best with his winning time of 1:17:21.

Team USA’s women’s 100m runners put on a powerful and speedy display as all three athletes will compete in Sunday’s semifinal. Kelli White (Union City, Calif.) posted the fastest time of the day in winning her second-round race in 10.95 seconds, even while cruising through the closing meters. Torri Edwards (Los Angeles, Calif.) likewise won her second-round race easily in 11.08 seconds, while Gail Devers (Lawrenceville, Ga.) overcame being last out of the blocks to place second in her race in 11.16 to advance.

In the first round, Edwards (11.13) and White (11.26) won their respective heats, with Devers second (11.17) in hers. White’s heat featured the biggest human-interest story of the meet, the participation of Afghanistan’s first female athlete on the world stage, 22-year-old Lima Azimi.

Team USA also swept through the first round of the men’s 400m, winning all three of the heats in which Americans ran. Jerome Young (Fort Worth, Texas) turned in the fastest time with 45.28 in winning his race, with Tyree Washington (San Diego, Calif.) posting 45.30 and Calvin Harrison (Salinas, Calif.) 45.43 in winning their heats.

Two-time world champion Stacy Dragila (Phoenix, Ariz.) automatically qualified for Monday’s final of the women’s pole vault by clearing 4.40m/14-5.5 on her second attempt. Mary Sauer (San Dimas, Calif.) qualified as a top-12 performer with her height of 4.35m/14-3.25. Jillian Schwartz (Jonesboro, Ark.) endured a broken pole, clearing 4.15m/13-7.25 along with teammate Becky Holliday (Eugene, Ore). Neither woman advanced.

U.S. champion Jamie Nieto (Chula Vista, Calif.) cleared just 1 centimeter short of his personal best, 2.29m/7-6, with a single miss in the competition (at 2.29) to automatically advance to Monday’s final of the men’s high jump. Joining him in the final will be Matt Hemingway (Denver, Colo.), whose 2.27m/7-5.25 advanced him by virtue of placing him among the top 12 jumpers. Torah Harris (College Park, Ga.) cleared 2.20m/7-2.5 and did not advance.

Two U.S. middle-distance runners moved on in their races, both with fourth-place finishes. Jason Lunn (Redwood City, Calif.) was fourth in his heat of the men’s 1,500 meters in 3:47.62, and Jen Toomey (Salem, Mass.) was fourth in her women’s 800m race (2:01.75) to advance. Jearl Miles-Clark (Knoxville, Tenn.) also placed fourth in her 800m heat but her time of 2:04.43 was not fast enough for her to move on to the semifinals.

2003 U.S. champion Kenta Bell (Chula Vista, Calif.) advanced to Monday’s final of the men’s triple jump with an automatic qualifying mark of 16.95m/55-7.5, the fifth-best jump of the day. Teammates Walter Davis (16.60m/54-5.5 – Baton Rouge, La.) and Allen Simms (16.42m/53-10.5) did not advance.

In women’s discus qualifying, Suzy Powell (Modesto, Calif.) automatically qualified for the final with her third throw of 61.83m/202-10. Kris Kuehl (Minneapolis, Minn.) threw 58.07m/190-6, and Aretha Hill (Opelika, Ala.) had a best of 50.79m/166-7, missing the cut-off.

Kim Schiemenz (Greeley, Colo.) was 13th after the first day of competition in the women’s heptathlon with 3,574 points. The U.S. runner-up ran 13.96 in the 100m hurdles (997 pts), jumped 1.79m/5-10.5 (996 pts) in the high jump, threw 12.93/42-5.25) in the shot put (723 pts), and ran a personal-best 24.85 (901 pts) in the 200.

Steve Slattery (Boulder, Colo.) finished just one place and 1.02 seconds shy of making the semifinals in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase, running a personal-best 8:22.32 to place 5th in his heat. Neither Daniel Lincoln (10th in his race in 8:32.47 – Fayetteville, Ark.) nor Robert Gary (12 in his race in 8:38.20 – Columbus, Ohio) advanced out of the heats.

Paris World's 2003

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