World Athletics Champs in Daegu

[mikesiva]

what a day it was yesterday for the Grenadian teenager Kirani James!

James beat all and sundry to win the men's 400m in a time of 44.60, ahead of defending champion Lashawn Merritt of the US (44.63), Belgium's Kevin Borlee (44.90), and Jamaican Jermaine Gonzales (44.99). Kenyan David Rudisha destroyed the opposition to win the men's 800m in a time of 1:43.91, ahead of Sudan's Abubaker Kaki (1:44.41) and Yuri Borzakovsky (1:44.49).

Tatyana Chernova of Russia won the women's helptathlon ahead of defending champion Jessica Ennis of Britain.

[mapoui]

tenks fuh the heads up mike. I wud have missed it otherwise.

wat a hearbreak wen Usain faulted. dat kid won a nice race in the event but I am not impressed at all by his comments

[mikesiva]

Bolt will get his revenge in the 200 tomorrow....

Dai Greene won Britain's first gold with an excellent come-from-behind 48.26 in the final of the men's 400 hurdles, overhauling Javier Culson of Puerto Rico (48.44). Lashinda Demus of the US won the women's equivalent in a time of 52.47, catching runaway leader and dethroned champ Melaine Walker (52.73), while Walker's Jamaican compatriot and world leader Kaliese Spencer had to settle for a disappointing fourth.

American Jesse Williams won the men's high jump with a height of 2.35, while silver went to Russia's Aleksey Dmitrik, and bronze to Trevor Barry of the Bahamas. The women's 200 is looking like a Jamaica-US clash, with Americans Allyson Felix, Shalonda Solomon and Carmelita Jeter advancing, along with Jamaicans Veronica Campbell-Brown, Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson, and Bahamian veteran Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie.

[mikesiva]

Medal table to date....


1 UNITED STATES (USA) 7 4 1 12
2 RUSSIA (RUS) 4 3 5 12
3 KENYA (KEN) 4 3 3 10
4 GREAT BRITAIN & N.I. (GBR) 1 3 1 5
5 GERMANY (GER) 1 2 1 4
6 JAMAICA (JAM) 1 2 0 3
6 PR OF CHINA (CHN) 1 2 0 3
8 ETHIOPIA (ETH) 1 0 1 2
9 BOTSWANA (BOT) 1 0 0 1
9 BRAZIL (BRA) 1 0 0 1
9 GRENADA (GRN) 1 0 0 1
9 JAPAN (JPN) 1 0 0 1
9 NEW ZEALAND (NZL) 1 0 0 1
9 POLAND (POL) 1 0 0 1
9 UKRAINE (UKR) 1 0 0 1
16 CUBA (CUB) 0 1 2 3
17 BELARUS (BLR) 0 1 0 1
17 ESTONIA (EST) 0 1 0 1
17 HUNGARY (HUN) 0 1 0 1
17 KAZAKHSTAN (KAZ) 0 1 0 1
17 PUERTO RICO (PUR) 0 1 0 1
17 SUDAN (SUD) 0 1 0 1
17 TUNISIA (TUN) 0 1 0 1
24 COLOMBIA (COL) 0 0 2 2
24 FRANCE (FRA) 0 0 2 2
26 BAHAMAS (BAH) 0 0 1 1
26 BELGIUM (BEL) 0 0 1 1
26 ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN (IRI) 0 0 1 1
26 LATVIA (LAT) 0 0 1 1
26 SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS (SKN) 0 0 1 1
26 SLOVENIA (SLO) 0 0 1 1
26 SOUTH AFRICA (RSA) 0 0 1 1
26 SPAIN (ESP) 0 0 1 1
26 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO (TRI) 0 0 1 1

[mikesiva]

The big man returned to action with an imperious display in the heats of the men's 200....

Jamaica's Usain Bolt cruised to victory in his heat in a time of 20.30, while his young compatriot Nickel Ashmeade won his heat in 20.47. Other heat winners include Walter Dix of the US (20.42), Norwegian Saidy Ndure (20.65), France's Christophe Lemaitre (20.51), and Alonso Edward of Panama, while in the final heat Trinidadian Rondel Sorrillo and Jamaican Mario Forsythe both clocked (20.68).

[Keith]

Damn it Mike, the US girls were too much for the Jamaicans in the 4X4 relay! Felix had a great start for the Americans...

[Keith]

Lightning struck as Bolt took the 200m final with a PB of 19.4 ahead of Dix... This really made my morning! After the race he looked into one of the cameras and said, " they eh ready for me yet, they eh ready!"

[mikesiva]

Usain Bolt made for his disappointment in the 100m by clocking the third-fastest ever time (19.41) to win the men's 200m ahead of American Walter Dix (19.70) and France's Christophe Lemaitre (19.80). It was a Jamaican sweep of that event, as Veronica Campbell-Brown took the women's equivalent in 22.22, ahead of Americans Carmelita Jeter (22.37) and Allyson Felix (22.42).

The United States took the men's mile relay in a time of 2:59.31, with silver going to South Africa (2:59.87) and bronze to Jamaica (3:00.10). The women's equivalent was also won by the US in a time of 3:18.09, ahead of Jamaica (3:18.71) and Russia (3:19.76). But it was an outstanding run by Australian Sally Pearson to win the 100 hurdles final in 12.28, to finish ahead of Americans Danielle Carruthers and Dawn Harper, who both clocked 12.47.

[Keith]

The Jamaican girls again lost to the US girls in the 4X100M final compliments to Sherone Simpson Simpson slow baton passing in the third leg smh.

[mikesiva]

The Jamaican girls again lost to the US girls in the 4X100M final compliments to Sherone Simpson Simpson slow baton passing in the third leg smh.

That's true, but that said, the Jamaican girls did clock a national record of 41.70 to finish second behind the Americans (41.56).

But how about that men's final!

Nesta Carter to Michael Frater, to Yohan Blake, to Usain Bolt, in a world record time of 37.04....

This was the only world record of the World Champs this year.

France came second in 38.20, and tiny St Kitts-Nevis third in 38.49....