Athletics Round-up: Jeremy Wariner anchored the United States to victory in the 4x400 metres relay in the third fastest time in history for his second gold of the World Athletics Championships in Osaka today.
LaShawn Merritt, Angelo Taylor and Darold Williamson had already
all but won the race when Wariner, the individual 400m champion,
took over for the final leg.
Wariner did not disappoint and stormed around the track to
cross the line in two minutes 55.56 seconds and help the US win the
event for the eighth time in 11 world championships.
The Bahamas quartet of Avard Moncur, Michael Mathieu, Andrae Williams and Chris Brown won silver in 2.59.18, and Poland grabbed a surprise bronze in 3:00.05 through Marek Plawgo, Daniel Dabrowski, Marcin Marciniszyn and Kacper Kozlowski.
In the women's race Allyson Felix collected her third gold medal
when she helped the US women's team win the women's 4x400m relay.
Felix teamed up with DeeDee Trotter, Mary Wineberg and Sanya
Richards to win in a time of three minutes 18.55 seconds and add a
third gold to her victories in the 200m and 4x100m relay.
The Jamaican quartet of Shericka Williams, Shereefa Lloyd,
Davita Prendagast and Novlene Williams finished second in 3:19.73.
The bronze medal went to the British combination of Christine
Ohuruogu, Marilyn Okoro, Lee McConnell and Nicola Sanders in
3:20.04.
American Bernard Lagat became the first man to win the 1,500 and
5,000 metres titles at the same world championships with a stunning
victory in the longer distance.
The Kenyan-born 32-year-old stormed through the last 200
metres to cross the line in 13.45.87 and claim 5,000m gold after
breaking a 99-year drought for his new country in the 1,500m
earlier in the week.
Lagat joined Hicham El Guerrouj, who achieved the feat at the
2004 Olympics, and Paavo Nurmi (1924 Olympics) in winning both
titles at a single global championship.
Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, world champion four years ago in Paris
as a teenager, looked like he might get close to Lagat at the death
but had to settle for silver in 13.46.00. Moses Kipsiro of Uganda
held off a charge from Lagat's compatriot Matthew Tegenkamp to
claim bronze in 13.46.75.
Lagat missed the world championships in 2003 through a
suspension for a doping charge that he was later cleared of and
again in 2005 due to his protracted wait to represent the US.
Earlier Bahrain's Maryam Yusuf Jamal held on to claim her
first world title with victory in a close-fought 1,500 metres
final.
The Ethiopian-born runner struck for home with 300 metres to
go but Russian Yelena Soboleva stayed with her and Jamal needed
every ounce of strength to hold her lead, crossing the line for
gold in three minutes 58.75 seconds.
Ukraine's Iryna Lischynska was close to tears after winning
the bronze medal in 4:00.69.
Kenya's Alfred Kirwa Yego won the men's 800 metres final by
the smallest of margins to become the youngest man to win a world
title at any distance below 1,500m.
The 20-year-old timed his run to perfection to sneak past
Canada's Gary Reed with his final stride and take the gold by just
0.01 seconds in one minute 47.09 seconds, the slowest winning time
for the event in world championship history.
Reed, who led the race from the outset, had to settle for
second in 1:47.10, and Russia's Yuriy Borzakovskiy finished third
in 1:47.39.
Although Kenyans have long dominated middle and long distance events, the last time their national flag was raised after the men's 800m was at Stuttgart in 1993 when Paul Ruto was victorious.
Elsewhere in the field events Finland's Tero Pitkamaki saved the
best until last by breaking the 90-metre mark with his final throw
to claim the men's javelin gold.
The 24-year-old former cross country skier was already
leading when he launched the javelin 90.33 metres to put a gloss on
his first world title and Finland's only medal of the
championships.
Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen sparked the competition to life
with his third attempt of 88.61 metres but Pitkamaki was next up
and immediately bettered the Olympic champion with a throw of
89.16m.
Thorkildsen's 88.61m was good enough for silver and American
Breaux Greer, who owns the best throw of the year at 91.29m,
claimed bronze with his penultimate 86.21m.
Pitkamaki's only defeat this year came after one of his
warm-up throws in Rome accidentally hit French long jumper Salim
Sdiri.
Blanka Vlasic won the women's high jump to become the first
Croatian to claim a medal at the 11th world championships.
The 23-year-old from Split won the competition with a best
clearance of 2.05 metres when her last two remaining rivals failed
at the same height.
Russia's Anna Chicherova and Antonietta Di Martino of Italy
finished tied for second after clearing 2:03. Vlasic, twice world
junior champion, secured her first major title at senior level
before failing with three attempts to set a new world record at
2.10.