Macey over first hurdle

Dean Macey began the second day of his dramatic bid for decathlon glory with a gutsy 14.56sec in the 110 metre hurdles. It was not a faultless, flowing performance from the Briton, who finished third in his heat behind Frenchman Romain Barras, who clocked 14.37, and Russian Nikolay Averyanov, who ran 14.39.

But, in his toughest test after his hamstring problem, Macey gritted his teeth for a solid run on a breezy sunny morning.

Macey was determined to build on an impressive opening day which was all the more surprising following his troubled build-up to the Games.

The Canvey Island athlete, who just missed out on a medal in Sydney four years ago after causing a sensation with second place at the 1999 world championships, only secured the Olympic qualification standard the day before the Athens team were announced.

Despite his injury problems, the 26-year-old Briton was fourth overnight after the first five events with 4,454 points, 100 points behind third-placed American Bryan Clay.

World championship bronze medallist Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakhstan was leading on 4,689 points with world record holder and Sydney silver medallist Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic second on 4,594 points.

Macey was cheered on by a huge British contingent in the packed Olympic Stadium last night.

They gave him a standing ovation when he matched his personal best with the biggest high jump of the day at 2.15m. He said: "Not once have I had that before, it brought me to tears - nearly. The crowd is awesome. I've never had a British crowd like it.

"My second day should be okay although my running is not up to scratch. Strange things happen. I didn't expect to win silver in Seville in 1999 so watch this space."