SAINT-DENIS, France -- It was a painstakingly slow, yet totally sweet, victory lap.

With an American flag draped over his shoulders, Tom Pappas gingerly walked and lightly jogged around the track on which he had just wrapped up his world title in the decathlon.

He became the only American other than three-time champion Dan O'Brien to win the event, which traditionally crowns the "world's greatest athlete,'' at the World Championships.

"The victory lap, I was so overwhelmed and tired at the same time. I didn't feel like jogging, I wish I could have walked the whole way, but a couple of guys kept telling me to hurry up,'' he said. "It was a very long two days. It feels like I've been here a month.''

Coming into the final event of the grueling two-day decathlon with a huge lead, Pappas struggled to an 11th-place finish Wednesday night in the 1,500 meters and fell into the arms of U.S. teammate Paul Terek. It was a personal-best time in the 1,500 for Pappas, who has always struggled in that event.

He finished with 8,750 points. Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic was second with 8,634 and Dmitry Karpov of Kazakhstan won the bronze medal. Three-time defending champion Tomas Dvorak was fourth.

"When I crossed the finish line, I was trying not to fall over,'' said Pappas, who at 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds towers over most of his opponents.

Pappas, who was fifth at the Sydney Olympics, now will be considered a favorite for the 2004 Athens Games, where he'll also be a crowd favorite -- his great-grandfather emigrated to the United States from Greece.

Pappas' victory was one of the few bright spots for the U.S. team, which has been engulfed in controversy and has had mediocre results -- including medal shutouts in events Americans usually rule, such as the men's 100 and the women's pole vault.

In other finals Wednesday, Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj won his fourth consecutive world title in the men's 1,500; Poland's Robert Korzeniowski won his third world title in the 50-kilometer walk; Russia's Svetlana Krivelyova won the women's shot put, and Mexico's Ana Guevara extended her winning streak to 20 races with the gold medal in the women's 400.

Also, Perdita Felicien of Canada, who has won two straight NCAA titles for Illinois, upset the favorites to win the women's 100 hurdles. Miesha McKelvy of the United States took bronze.

Kelli White, who won the women's 100 on Sunday, easily advanced to the 200 final scheduled for Thursday. Joining her in the final was U.S. teammate Torri Edwards, who won silver in the 100.