Track and Field Trials Notebook | Brad Walker qualifies, but not atop field

EUGENE, Ore. — Brad Walker trained for this day. Here at the U.S. Olympic Trials, is where he wanted to peak.

After setting an American record of 19 feet, 9 ¾ inches on this same runway three weeks ago, Walker was preparing to take dead aim at Sergey Bubka's 15-year-old pole vault world record of 20-2 ½.

Hayward Field has become his track. And the 20,000 people watching him had become his fans.

But Sunday afternoon, the winds that had been so favorable to pole vaulters on Friday's qualifying day, changed. And with it, Walker's luck changed as well.

Walker qualified for Beijing Sunday, but he cleared only one height, 18-6 ½, and had to hold on to finish third. Most of his fellow jumpers also struggled with the capricious breezes.

"The forecast when we looked earlier in the week were for consistent winds throughout the week," said 40-year-old Jeff Hartwig, who finished second. "But then we come out here today and the winds were blowing in a different direction and your expectations of what's going to happen during the day, all of a sudden, change.

"Now, you don't feel the same on the runway and you kind of start to panic a little bit."

Expecting the best conditions, Walker chose to vault with his larger pole, increasing his margin for error. And battling tricky cross winds, he ran through the pit in his final two attempts.

"I wasn't freaking out," Walker said. "But when you're holding your pole out horizontally and you get a cross wind, it turns your whole body sideways, and to leave the ground sideways is a pretty dangerous thing to do ...

"It wasn't like I was over-thinking it, or nervous or anything like that. It was just one of those things where I wasn't in a position to leave the ground safely. And safety above all else is the most important thing for athletes, especially in the pole vault."

Derek Miles won at 19-0 ¼.

"Last week, at the training center, I jumped six meters and I was using the same pole today as I used then," Walker said at the news conference afterward. "If I got off the ground I thought I'd be high in the air. But I couldn't get off the ground. I couldn't get a wind that was comfortable to jump with.

"When you're on bigger poles, if you don't hit it correctly the margin for error is a lot smaller and that was the deal. I'm glad I started at [18-6 ½] instead of [18-8 ¾]."

Despite his struggles, Walker knew after Russ Buller withdrew because of a hamstring pull, that he had made the Olympic team even before the competition was completed.

Walker, 26, is a two-time world champion and former Husky who trains in Stockton, Calif. But his adopted vaulting home is Eugene.

"This is as close to being a home track that I have," Walker said. "I don't compete up at the horseshoe stadium that the University of Washington has outdoors.

"I've been here quite a bit in college," said Walker. The Prefontaine Classic, where he set the American record, "was a special meet for me this year. It was probably one of the top three emotional meets I've ever been in."

Gay wins 100 in wind-aided 9.68

Tyson Gay was a blur in blue, sprinting 100 meters faster than anyone ever has.

His time of 9.68 seconds doesn't count as a world record because it was run with the help of a too-strong tailwind. Gay qualified for his first Summer Games team.

No one ever has covered 100 meters more quickly. The previous fastest time under any conditions was 9.69, run in 1996 by Obadele Thompson, who now is married to Marion Jones.

Gay's race came with the wind blowing at 4.1 meters per second; the limit is 2.0 for record purposes.

"I didn't really care what the wind was," Gay said.

Walter Dix, the 2007 NCAA champion from Florida State, overtook Darvis Patton in the final 20 meters for second. .

The official world record is 9.72 seconds, by Jamaica's Usain Bolt on May 31.

Other finals

• Bershawn Jackson, the 2005 world champion, led a trio of favorites in the men's 400 hurdles. Jackson won in 48.17, followed by reigning world champ Kerron Clement and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Angelo Taylor.

Less than a half-hour later, Taylor tried to compete in the 400 meters, but he stopped about 250 meters into his heat, apparently exhausted.

• In the women's 400 hurdles, Tiffany Ross-Williams, Queen Harrison and Sheena Tosta qualified to go to China.

• Only two women made the team in the triple jump: three-time national champion Shani Marks and Erica McLain.

The Associated Press

contributed to this report.