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Russian tops decathlon record established by Jenner in 1974By CHRIS COTTRELL J-W Sports WriterIt was a good day . .. for a flood, maybe, but not for a decathlon.But on a chilly, rainy Thursday afternoon, two athletes from the USSR placed one-two in the Kansas Relays decathlon, with one setting a record in the process.Grigory Degtyarev, one of two Russians entered in the decathlon, won with a point total of 8,202. Bruce Jenner held the Kansas Relays record of 8,240 set in 1974, but the races in that meet were hand-timed.Now, races at the Relays are electronically timed, which normally adds a fraction of a second. When’s Degtyarev’s results are converted to hand-held time, his total becomes 8,252, breaking Jenner’s record by 12 points.Of course, Degtyarev might have completely shattered the record if not for the bad weather conditions. Even Degtyarev admitted as much.Degtyarev, speaking through his coach (Igor Ter-Ovanesyan) who acted as interpreter, said the weather may have reduced each athlete’s score “as much as 100 points. It was very cold on the legs.’’BUT DEGTYAREV’S 8,202 was good enough to edge his countryman, Alexander Nevsky, for first place. Nevsky totaled 8,178 points.The two Russians are part of a group of athletes from the USSR invited to compete in the Relays by Athletes United for Peace, a Lawrence-based organization whose goal is fo promote international peace through athletic competition.Degtyarev is ranked ninth in the world in the decathlon; Nevsky is ranked 14th.“Of course we’re competitive (with each other),” Degtyarev said, “but it’s friendly. The winner is usually the one who is more lucky.”Nevsky, also speaking through his coach, said the weather was a factor, but only in the last two events — the javelin and the 1500 meters.“I was not ready to throw (the javelin) on the grass,” Nevsky noted. “I was afraid of an injury.”A cold rain began to fall at the start of the day’s third event, the pole vault. So the vault had to be moved from Memorial Stadium to Allen Fieldhouse.THE JAVELIN and 1500 meters were then contested in the rain, with the final event coming more than 3Ms hours behind schedule.The top collegian in the meet was KU’s Owen Buckley, placing third overall with 7,482 points. Next was Texas Tech’s Kent Rhyne with 7,281. Indiana’s Kerry Zimmerman, who held down third place after Wednesday’s five events, had to drop out midway through Thursday’s events after injuring himself during the 110-meter high hurdles.The Russian duo combined to finish first in four of five events on Thursday and five of 10 events overall. Degtyarev was first in the 1500 meters, the pole vault, the discus and the shot put, and Nevsky was first in the 110-meter hurdles. Neither Degtyarev nor Nevsky finished lower than fourth in any event.“They are very equal in practically all events,” Ter-Ovanesyan observed.IN THE WOMEN’S heptathlon, Nebraska’s Marjan Goedhart was an easy winner.Goedhart scored 5,638 points while second-place Carla Battaglia totaled 5,346 points. Leading from start to finish, Goedhart won two of the three events on Thursday and five of seven events overall. She was first in the long jump and 800 meters on Thursday and in the 100-meter hurdles, high jump and 200 meters on Wednesday.Only five women competed in the heptathlon, and there were no KU athletes entered.
Newspaper Details
Lawrence Journal World
Lawrence, Kansas, US
Fri, Apr 22, 1983
Page 25
Full Page
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Lawrence P.
KS, USA 05 Dec 2023
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