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Dan O’Brien’s comeback took a bad turn, when the 1996 Olympic gold medalist pulled out of the 400 meters, the last decathlon event of the first day of the USA Outdoor Combined Event Championships Wednesday at Cal. 

In the heptathlon, Shelia Burrell took the lead by winning the last event of the day, the 200 meters, in 24.12 seconds. The bronze medalist at last year’s World Championships has 3,628 points after four events, edging second-place LeShundra “DeeDee” Nathan by 11 points. 

Also Wednesday, the USA Outdoor Junior Combined Event Championships came to an end, with Donovan Kilmartin of Team Idaho winning the decathlon and Julie Pickler of Texas Express winning the heptathlon. 

Tom Pappas led after Day 1 of the senior decathlon with 4,400 points. Pappas won the long jump (24 feet, 7 inches) and the high jump (6-11.75 inches). 

But Pappas’ strong day was overshadowed by a flare-up of the plantar fascia injury in O’Brien’s left foot that has plagued him the last few years. O’Brien, who was third entering the 400, said he re-injured the foot on his last jump (23-4.25) in the long jump, which was his best mark of the day. He continued onto the next event, posting a 6-foot, seven-inch mark in the high jump. But he decided to pull out of the 400 immediately afterwards. 

“It was bothering me all through the high jump,” said O’Brien, who turns 36 July 18. 

He also bemoaned the lack of atmosphere at Edwards Stadium and the lack of pressure to perform in a non-world championship year. However, very few multi-event competitions have the type of crowds O’Brien says were absent at Edwards. 

“I lacked a little bit of intensity today because [there was] not a big a crowd [and] kind of a small field,” he said. “That’s something I’m going to have to work [out]. Because there’s nothing at stake at this U.S. championship, it’s difficult for guys like myself.” 

O’Brien, representing Ace Racing, is not out of the competition, though, and expects to compete in three of the five events today. 

Kilmartin, 18, dominated the junior decathlon, winning five events, including the discus (129-11) and the pole vault (15-9) on Day 2 yesterday. He set a personal record with 7,440 points. Robert Bates, competing unattached, was second with 6,692. 

“I had a good first day,” said Kilmartin, who next competes in the World Junior Championship July 16-21 in Jamaica. “Some mediocre things happened, and I messed up the second day a little bit. This is a stepping stone for me.” 

Pickler, 18, beat her twin sister, Diana Pickler, the defending U.S. junior champion, for the first time. Entering the 800, the last event, the two were tied with 4,538 points. Julie Pickler won the race (2:21.71) to edge Diana, 5,338 to 5,281 points. The mark was a PR and qualified Julie Pickler for Jamaica. 

“I wanted my sister or me to win it,” she said. “I was just going to run fast. I had to do it to get the [World qualifying] mark.” 

In the senior heptathlon, Burrell, 30, competing for Team Nike, won two events, including the 100-meter hurdles (13.34). 

Nathan expects the contest to be decided by the 800 meters. But a confident Burrell winked when told what her friendly rival said. 

“DeeDee’s my buddy,” Burrell said. “We have different approaches. My approach is I’ve got to go for it in every event. If it comes down to the 800, that’s alright by me, because I’m the type of girl that’ll run. But if  

I can avoid that tomorrow, be sure that I will.” O’Brien, who has completed just one decathlon since ‘96, said that the USA Championship was just the first in a five- or six-step process to get him back to the pinnacle of the sport. 

“You’ve got to start somewhere,” O’Brien said. “In any journey, and my journey is to get back to the Olympic games, the first step’s the hardest, and this really was the hardest.”