Bryan Clay becomes first man in history to defend world indoor heptathlon crown

From David Jordan, Sportsbeat, in Doha

 BRYAN Clay dug deep to put the finishing touches to become the first man in World Indoor Athletics Championship history to defend the heptathlon gold medal with a gruelling 1000m run in Doha.

HISTORY MAKER: Trey Hardee (r) congratulates American compatriot Bryan Clay (l) after the 30-year old became the first person to defend the world indoor heptathlon title (Getty Images)

Clay, 30, the Olympic decathlon champion, has led from the word do in Qatar after a scorching 60m display on Friday morning for which he amassed 1003 points.

The American maintain his lead after the first four events on the first day but could not shake off compatriot Trey Hardee, who won world gold in Clay's absence at the World Championships last year.

Overnight Hardee was a full 99 points behind Clay but a storming hurdles performance closed the gap on Clay, who could only clock 8.00 seconds, cutting the gap to 53 points.

Clay struggled again in the opening heights of the pole vault, scraping past 4.70m and 4.80m at the third time of asking before eventually finishing at 5.00m

But despite needing all three attempts, Hardee matched his compatriot's height of 5.00m and is 46 points down ahead of the final event.

That gave Clay an advantage of approximately four and a half seconds going into the final event, the 1000m and while Hardee made a break with his rival lagging behind, Clay left enough in the tank to accelerate over the line and take gold with 6204 points - 20 more than Hardee.

Live commentary from day two of the 2010 World Indoor Athletics Championships in Doha