Wild Finishes Provide Thrills at Athletics Champs

(ATR) On a hot and humid evening at Beijing’s iconic Bird’s Nest stadium, spectators were treated to close and thrilling finishes in all four finals on the program.

The United States, the Netherlands, Russia and Jamaica all won gold medals before a near capacity crowd on day seven of nine at the 15th IAAF World Championships.

China claimed its first gold medal earlier in the day, as Liu Hong took victory in the 20km race walk, narrowly edging her countryman Lu Xiuzhi in a photo finish. Liu’s winning time, in a race that took 49 competitors through Beijing’s city streets, was 1:27.45.

With the gold and silver medals, China moved into a tie for fourth in the medals table with six total.

The United States improved its championships-leading medals total to 14 with a gold medal performance by Tianna Bartoletta in the women’s long jump and a bronze from Aries Merritt in the men’s 110m hurdles.

Kenya remains in second overall with 11 medals, including six gold, but hanging over the African nation’s performance has been two positive drug tests confirmed by the IAAF earlier in the week.

Jamaica sits third with nine medals, including four gold, one coming from Danielle Williams victory in the women’s 100m hurdles.

Russia, winner of 17 medals at the home world championships in Moscow two years ago, finally struck gold on Friday as Sergey Shubenkov won the men’s 110m hurdles. It was only the second medal for the nation in Beijing.

Following Usain Bolt’s 200m medal ceremony on Friday, the cameraman who crashed into him while riding a Segway and shooting his post-race celebration presented the Jamaican star with a red bracelet.

Song Tao, of China’s CCTV, reportedly apologized. The two shook hands, and Bolt patted Song on the back a day after the mishap.

The championships conclude on Sunday in the Chinese capital. Seven sets of medals are on offer both Saturday and Sunday as the IAAF showcase event heads into the final weekend.

Schippers Storms to 200m Gold

Former Heptathlete turned sprinter, Dafne Schippers became the third fastest 200m performer in history, winning the event in a blistering 21.63.

The statuesque, 23-year-old Dutch sprinter surged from behind over the final ten meters, lunged towards the line, and surpassed Jamaican Elaine Thompson winning by 0.03 seconds.

"I know that when I stay relaxed in the first 100m that I have a little bit of power for the last stretch," Schippers told Eurosport. "I saw that she (Thompson) was a little bit before me and I thought stay relaxed. It’s crazy."

Schippers, who won silver in the 100m earlier this week, eclipsed the European record in the 200m which dates back to the East Germans in the1980’s.

Jamaican veteran Veronika Campbell Brown, 33, collected her fourth world championship medal in the event finishing third, 0.34 seconds behind Schippers.

Olympic Champ Eaton Near World Record Pace in Decathlon

Reigning Olympic and world champion Ashton Eaton clocked a new world decathlon best of 45 seconds even in the men’s 400m, taking command of the two-day decathlon after day one.

Eaton’s five-event total of 4703 points was a substantial 133 points better than his nearest challenger, Damian Warner of Canada.

Eaton, 27, who set the world mark of 9039 pointsat the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon in 2012, is just 25 points off his world record pace after five of ten events.

Regarding his astonishing personal best 400m time to close the day, Eaton said: "I could swear the clock was wrong. I’ve been running good 400m times this year, and I’ve PB’d [personal best] with 45.5, but this is hard to believe."

Warner, the recent Pan Am and Commonwealth Games decathlon champion, appears poised to win a silver medal and improve upon his bronze from Moscow 2013.

German decathletes stand third, fourth and fifth place after day one. Rico Freimuth is in third trailing the American by 297 points, while his countryman Kai Kazmirek is 302 points behind.

Eaton’s U.S. rival and two-time world champion Trey Hardee was forced to retire due to a lower back injury suffered during his final long jump attempt. Hardee, 31, persevered in the shot put, but withdrew after struggling on his first throw.

Eaton continues his world record quest as day two of the ten-event decathlon kicks off at 9 a.m. Saturday morning with the 110m hurdles.

Russian Wins Men’s 110m Hurdles

Sergey Shubenkov improved upon his bronze medal from Moscow 2013, winning a tight men’s 110m hurdles race in 12.98 seconds

He became the first Russian to break the 13-second barrier, while winning his country’s first gold medal of the IAAF championships.

Defending Olympic champion and world record holder Aries Merritt appeared to be in command after seven hurdles, but settled for bronze after Shubenkov surged, finishing .06 seconds off the Russian’s pace. Jamaican Hansle Parchment took silver.

Merritt’s performance was especially impressive considering that he’ll undergo a kidney transplant from his sister in just four days upon returning to the U.S.

The 30-year-old hurdles star was diagnosed with a rare kidney disorder in 2013 and his competitive status after the surgery remains uncertain.

Bartoletta Turns Back the Clock Ten Years

American Tianna Bartoletta stole victory from Great Britain’s Shana Proctor launching 7.14m/23-5 on her sixth and final attempt in the women’s long jump.

Bartoletta, 29, matched her gold medal from ten years earlier in Helsinki, then competing as Tianna Madison.

"It was a totally different experience from 2005, but I’m just glad I was able to execute the same way and come out with the win," Bartoletta said.

Bartoletta has often been in the shadow of three-time defending world long jump champion and 2012 Olympic medalist Brittney Reece. Reece, who has undergone hip surgery and advised her back was bothering her, was absent for Friday’s final after struggling in qualifications.

Proctor set a new national record of 7.07m/23-2 1/2 on her third try grabbing the event lead. However, the British jumper was relegated to silver after Bartoletta’s world leading jump.

Slovenian Ivana Spanovic grabbed bronze with a national record jump of 7.01m.

Written by Brian Pinelli

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