Sport: Near the Flag

The Finns and Swedes would have to look to their javelins. The U.S. had a contender who threatened their long dominance in the art. In the National A.A.U. Track & Field Championships last week at Lincoln Neb., he ran up to the mark and heaved his steel-tipped spear into the air. It plunged into the turf shy of the blue flag which marked the world-record distance (258 ft., 2⅛ in.). The thrower, a curly-haired osteopath from Los Angeles named Steve Seymour, 26, had set a new U.S. record: 248 ft., 10 in.