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 Hardee piled up 8,599 points, the year's best score, for an
overwhelming 792-point victory in the 10-event, two-day competition
at Sacramento, California.
"There weren’t really many good things that happened," the 2009 and
2011 world champion told reporters despite his dominance.
"Like golf, I felt like I had a lot of pars. I was very consistent.
That’s what you want in the decathlon."
Veteran sprinter Rodgers romped to victory in the men's 100, but a
headwind wiped out any chance for a super time after officials
changed the direction of the race following the semi-finals, forcing
the runners to run into the wind instead of with it.
"I was kind of mad that they turned it around, but it was a good
time into a headwind," said Rodgers, who clocked 10.09 seconds after
a sizzling but wind-assisted 9.80 seconds in the semi-finals.
Olympian Ryan Bailey was second in 10.23 seconds as world silver
medallist Justin Gatlin, among others, chose to skip the competition
since there are no world championship or Olympic berths at stake
this year.
The turnaround also hampered women's winner Bartoletta, who won over
Barbara Pierre in 11.15 seconds after clocking 10.92 seconds in the
semi-finals.
"I had two great races today. I've got to get ready for the long
jump (Saturday)," said the former world champion jumper.
Tori Bowie, the surprise of the Diamond League season with her
sprint victories, pulled out of the final after feeling a twinge in
her leg in the semi-final where she ran 10.91 seconds.
Olympic champion Sanya Richards-Ross set the stage for what should
be a speedy women's 400 meters final on Saturday as she equaled the
year's fastest time of 50.03 seconds in the semi-finals.
World indoor gold medallist Francena McCorory was a mere
two-hundredths behind.
But world champion LaShawn Merritt, saving himself for Diamond
League races in Europe, pulled out the men's semi-finals after
running the preliminaries on Thursday.
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London Olympic champion Jenn Suhr cleared 4.60 meters (15 feet, 1
inch) to win the women's pole vault final, but 2012 Olympic silver
medallist Will Claye turned the tables on gold medallist Christian
Taylor in a world-class triple jump final.
Claye bounded 17.75 meters (58 feet, 3 inches) to narrowly miss the
year's best jump with Taylor leaping 17.37 (57-0) for second.
Age remained no barrier to 39-year-old former world champion Bernard
Lagat, who won the men's 5,000 in 13:31.41.
The women's race went to Molly Huddle who edged Shannon Rowbury by a
mere 15 hundreds of a second, winning in 15:01.56 to Rowbury's
15:01.71.
Former collegiate champion Queen Harrison, hurdler-bobsledder Lolo
Jones, Beijing Olympic champion Dawn Harper Nelson and world
champion Brianna Rollins all qualified in the women's 100 metres
hurdles.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; editing by
Amlan Chakraborty)
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