Olahraga

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Women's 4x100m Relay - Final



After the USA exited the competition following their failure to complete their heat earlier tonight, the path was clear for Jamaica to cruise to their first World Championship gold medal in this event since 1991.

Whether the USA would ever have touched the Jamaican quartet - which included the 100m gold and silver 100m medallists Shelly-Ann Fraser and Kerron Stewart - is a moot point.

But unquestionably the pressure would have lifted following the USA's elimination from the heats earlier this evening after Muna Lee struggled to get hold of the baton from Alexandria Anderson and then abruptly pulled up clutching her hamstring.

In similar circumstances in the Olympic final last year, the USA had again exited the heats due to a baton mishap,  the Jamaicans made their own exchange blunder in the final but on this occasion they were not to make the same mistake.

The quartet of Simone Facey, Fraser, Aleen Bailey and Stewart managed three solid baton exchanges to take gold in 42.06 - albeit in a time 0.18 slower than they achieved in the heats earlier tonight.

The Bahamas took the silver medal in a season's best of 42.29, boasting a team which included the evergreen Chandra Sturrup and Debbie-Ferguson McKenzie - members of their country's gold medal-winning 4x100m team back in the 1999 edition of these championships in Seville.

To the delight of the home fans Germany excelled to take the bronze medal in a season's best 42.87 from the Olympic champions Russia (43.00).

Germany once again proved the old relay adage that teamwork and slick baton exchanges not to mention vociferous home support can provide the recipe for success, particularly as the host nation have not one woman in the top 30 of the 100m World Lists.

Facey, the lead-off runner for Jamaica, gave the favourites a slight advantage from Sheniqua Ferguson of the Bahamas on the first leg with the Russians led by Evgeniya Polyakova also prominent.

A storming second leg from Fraser, the World and Olympic 100m champion, put Jamaica firmly in control and the favourites extended that advantage on leg three thanks to Bailey.

Stewart took the baton two metres clear of the 2001 World 200m champion Ferguson-Mckenzie on the anchor leg with Germany moving up into bronze from Russia in the outside lane.

Down the home stretch Stewart was simply unstoppable as she powered across the line to deliver the gold medal.

A delighted Ferguson-McKenzie safely brought the Bahamas home in second spot but the loudest cheers were reserved for Germany who secured bronze, although anchor leg runner Verena Sailer rather embarrassingly lost her footing as she crossed the line and crashed to the track.

Russia had to settled for fourth with Brazil fifth in 43.13. Great Britain placed sixth in a season's best 43.16 with Trinidad and Tobago (43.43) and Colombia (43.71) occupying the final two positions.

Steve Landells for the IAAF

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Women's Hammer Throw - Final



In one of the most thrilling Hammer Throw competitions ever, Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland set a new World record at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium with a 77.96m* launch.

Throwing in the second round, the 24-year-old Pole broke the previous record of 77.80m set by Russian Tatyana Lysenko of Russia in 2006. It was the third World record set during the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics.

Sixth at the Olympic Games last year, Wlodarczyk emerged this season as the most consistent thrower in the world, with wins in 11 of her 13 competitions and eight of the season’s 14 farthest throws, all beyond 75 metres. Her final Berlin tune-up was a strong indication of things to come, when she threw 77.20m in Cottbus exactly two weeks ago (8 August) to break the national record held by the late Kamila Skolimowska.

As it turned out, she needed little short of another national record – her last moved her to No. 4 all-time – to dethrone the energised defending champion, Betty Heidler. The popular German’s appearance here turned this evening into the Championships’ first officially sold out session. And Heidler did her best to rise to the occasion.

Throwing first, Wlodarczyk set the tone for the evening with a solid 74.86m effort, to take immediate control. Two throwers later in was Heidler’s turn, and the 25-year-old responded admirably with a 75.10m throw to take the lead.

Wlodarczyk’s blast came in the second round, which ironically, would also end her evening prematurely. Jumping across the track towards her coach to celebrate her record, Wlodarczyk twisted her ankle badly, and was forced to watch the rest of the competition with her ankle wrapped and heavily iced.

With the Pole watching from the sidelines, the focus moved quickly, squarely and solely on Heidler. Despite the pressure on her shoulders, Heidler remained poised as the evening progressed, kept applying the pressure, and kept improving.

She threw 75.38m after watching the World record fall, and then further still in the third round reaching 75.73m. After a 73.45m toss in the fourth, her shortest of the evening, she improved again to 76.44m in the fifth, just 11 centimetres shy of her own national record set three years ago. With the vast majority of the capacity crowd still in their seats, Heidler saved her best spin and toss for last. When her last throw finally landed, it broke ground at 77.12m, launching her into territory that only four others have thus far treaded. Hers was the farthest non-winning throw ever in the event, and she ended the evening in the No. 5 spot of all-time.

Wlodarczyk did make one more appearance in the ring, but her final effort was hardly a throw, moreso simply a quick return to the scene of her finest hour, one that would make her $160,000 richer.

In the third round Heidler's teammate Kathrin Klaas unexpectedly put herself in bronze medal position with a 74.23m throw in the third round, the first in her career beyond 74 metres. The 25-year-old kept the crowd’s hopes high until she was overtake in the fifth round by Slovak Martina Hrasnova who threw 74.79m to steal the bronze. For each it was their best finish at a World championships.

2007 World and 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Wenxiu Zhang of China was fifth this time around with a 72.57m best, just ahead of Lysenko, who reached 72.22m on the night she witnessed her global mark fall.

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

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Men's 4x100m Relay - Final



Two out of three ain't bad!

When a man runs World sprint records of 9.58 and 19.19 in the space of a week, he can be forgiven for missing out on a third world record. After all, a time of 37.31 in the 4x100m Relay is nothing to be sniffed at - it's the second-fastest performance of all time! Another gold medal is always nice, too.

With three-quarters of the dream team from Beijing last year (the only change being Steve Mullings on first instead of Nesta Carter), it initially seemed as though the Jamaican speedsters had got off to a sluggish start. Drawn in lane seven, they did not seem to be gaining any distance in the first half of the race on Trinidad & Tobago drawn in the lane inside of Jamaica.

On reflection afterwards, however, it was more to do with the fact that Trinidad & Tobago were flying too!

It was only when the baton was handed from second-leg runner Michael Frater to Usain Bolt that Jamaica edged ahead. A smooth changeover to Asafa Powell gave them a lead that only grew bigger and bigger on the home straight as they stopped the clock in 37.31.

Olympic silver medallists Trinidad & Tobago, with a team that featured two 100m finalists, were a few metres behind with a time of 37.62. For Darrel Brown, Marc Burns, Emmanuel Callander and Richard Thompson, it was an improvement of 0.38 seconds on the national record they set last year. It is also a performance that even sprint powerhouse USA has only bettered on seven occasions.

That tally could have been eight, had the USA been present in the final. After yesterday's heats, Great Britain lodged a protest over the US team's final changeover and it was discovered to have been faulty. It meant the defending champions were out, along with the chance of a mouth-watering three-way showdown between Jamaica, USA and Trinidad & Tobago.

The British team held on for bronze with a season's best of 38.02, using the same team they had in the heats - Simeon Williamson, Tyrone Edgar, Marlon Devonish and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey.

Japan - fielding a team of Masashi Eriguchi, Naoki Tsukahara, Shinji Takahira and Kenji Fujimitsu - were unable to match their bronze medal from last year's Olympics, but finished strongly to clock a season's best of 38.30.

Former Olympic champions Canada clocked their fastest performance in 11 years with a time of 38.39. Their team comprised Sam Effah, Seyi Smith, Jared Connaughton and Brian Barnett.

Italy's full-strength team which impressed in the previous round ran marginally slower than they did in yesterday's heats. Their 38.54 was good enough for sixth.

Brazil, fourth at the last two global championships, could not quite match their finish from Osaka and Beijing and had to settle for seventh in 38.56.

Former World champions France, meanwhile, did not fare so well and the impressive anchor-leg ability of Christophe Lemaitre was not enough to get them into the race. The team was eighth in 39.21.

With Jamaica now in possession of the two fastest performances of all-time, you can't help but wonder how long it will be before the USA regains their position as the leading sprint relay nation.

Maybe when Bolt retires.

Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

amazed

Athletics: Bolt strikes gold a third time

2009/08/23

Pirate Irwin, AFP

BERLIN: Superstar Usain Bolt replicated his Olympic gold medal tally here at the world championships on Saturday when Jamaica won the men’s 4x100 metres relay title.

The Jamaican quartet, with 100m and 200m world champion Bolt running the penultimate leg, timed a championship record of 37.31 seconds while Trinidad and Tobago took silver in a national record of 37.62sec and Great Britain the bronze in 38.02sec.

Jamaica’s American rivals failed to make a major final for the second successive year, having been disqualified having won Friday’s heat.

Bolt said that it was great to get another three gold medals but he was beatable on his day.


“Am I getting used to winning? You cannot get used to winning,” said the 23-year-old, who celebrated his birthday on Friday.

“But winning three gold medals in Berlin is wonderful and I am proud of myself.”

British veteran Marlon Devonish said that his team hadn’t bothered thinking about the Jamaican challenge or, more specifically, Bolt.

The 33-year-old, who was a member of the quartet that stunned the Americans in the 2004 Olympic relay to take gold, said: “We just wanted to get the baton around as smoothly as possible. It’s what has helped us in the past and it has brought us another medal.

“It’s good for the guys to get some reward and hopefully it will put us in good stead for the future.”

The only difference from last year in Beijing for Bolt, who shattered the 100m and 200m world marks in devastating style earlier this week, was that his team failed to break the world record.

“With regards to not getting the world record, that is down to me as I am tired,” said Bolt.

“Yes, it’s all Usain’s fault...” joked team-mate and world 100m bronze medalist Asafa Powell.

Bolt, though, on a more serious note wasn’t getting carried away with the hype surrounding his performances.


“Am I the saviour of athletics? I don’t know. For me it is not hard to do what I did because I am just trying to be myself. But I don’t think I’m a legend yet by any stretch of the imagination.

“Year after year, I have to become champion and champion again.”

As well as winning three gold medals, Bolt revealed he would be receiving a piece of the Berlin Wall on Sunday as a farewell present.

“I don’t yet know what I am going to do with it,” he said. “I thought it was a small piece. I didn’t know it was going to be so big.” - AFP

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Women's Long Jump - Final



If at first you don't succeed, then try and try again. That is precisely the approach taken by Brittney Reese, the newly-crowned women's Long Jump champion.

The American hadn't had the best of luck at her previous two appearances at global championships. In both Osaka and Beijing, she jumped further in qualifying than she did in the final, finishing eighth in 2007 and fifth last year.

But 2009 has seen an improved Reese - not only physically, but psychologically. The 22-year-old jumped a PB of 7.06m in Belem earlier in the year and a wind-assisted 7.09m at the US Trials. Reese led the World Lists coming into Berlin, but there was a question mark over her ability to perform in a championship final.

Not any more. Reese opened with a 6.92m leap to throw down the gauntlet. The best responses came from defending champion Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia (6.78m), Portugal's Naide Gomes (6.77m) and Karin Mey Melis of Turkey (6.76m), but all were playing second fiddle.

Lebedeva then flew out to 6.97m in round two to take the lead. It was short-lived, however. Reese unleashed an almighty - if not technically refined - jump of 7.10m for a world lead, a PB, and pole position.

Gomes, the pre-event favourite who was competing with some strapping on her left ankle, responded immediately with the very next jump of competition, looking to have landed further than Reese, but it was judged to be a foul.

During this round Olga Kucherenko of Russia, facing possible exit from the competition after two fouls, pulled out a 6.77m leap on her third attempt to jump into a medal position. Keila Costa of Brazil was not so fortunate and she was the first to leave, having registered three fouls.

Former South African Mey Melis nailed her best result of the night in the third round with a 6.80m jump. It also proved a good round for Shara Proctor, who leapt to an Anguillan record of 6.71m.

At half way, anything less than 6.60m proved not good enough to get three more jumps, which meant it was the end of the road for Brianna Glenn of the USA (6.59m), Teresa Dobija of Poland (6.58m) and Nastassia Mironchyk of Belarus (6.29m).

However, it may as well have been the end of the competition for all of the finalists, as no one improved in rounds four, five or six. The only slight change in positions was Gomes moving up to fourth on countback, thanks to her 6.69m in round five. Had she been able to replicate her 6.86m from the qualifying round, Gomes would have been in a medal position.

But agonisingly it was to be another fourth-place finish for Gomes, matching her result from Osaka. Lebedeva held on for silver, and Melis took the bronze, winning Turkey's first ever field event medal at the IAAF World Championships.

Olympic champion Maurren Higa Maggi of Brazil was never a factor, jumping 6.68m in round one and passing her final two attempts to place sixth. European indoor champion Ksenia Balta of Estonia was eighth with 6.62m, also achieved in round one.

Reese's 7.10m is the best winning mark since 1993, the last time the World Championships was held in Germany, when Heike Drechsler won with 7.11m.

With relative youngster Reese now having broken her major championship duck, she will doubtless go on to bigger and better things. And it is scary to think about how far she could potentially jump once she irons out the flaws in her technique!

Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

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Men's Javelin Throw - Final



In a Javelin competition where the first round did not promise much, everything was over by the second thrower of round two.

The reigning Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway absolutely killed the competition hitting a 89.59m season’s best to win his first World title after winning two successive silver medals in 2005 and 2007.

With the second favourite reigning World champion Tero Pitkämäki of Finland in all kinds of trouble before the competition with flu and fever and an ear infection as well, the Finn just could not answer to the Norwegian this time. Surprisingly it was Cuban Guillermo Martinez in the lead after round one with a 83.43m season’s best with Japanese Yukifumi Murakami moving to bronze medal place in round two with a 82.97m result, just 13 centimetres off his 83.10m personal best in the qualification.

The three other Finns in the competition didn’t throw too impressively today with medal favourite Teemu Wirkkala going out of the last three rounds in ninth place with a 79.82m result, just four centimetres shy German Mark Frank’s 79.86m mark at this stage. Tero Järvenpää finished in 11th place with just a 75.57m best throw which wasn’t much in comparison to his fourth place at the Olympics last season.

None of the throwers did much of anything in rounds four or five with only Pitkämäki, who seemed to lack his energy today because of illness, the only man to go over 80 metres with 80.17m in these rounds. Thorkildsen, comfortably leading the competition and with another massive 88.95m throw in round three, fouled his fourth try and then passed the fifth.

Only in the last round Cuban Martinez, who had looked good both in qualification and early rounds of the final, became the second man to beat 86.41m season’s best already with the silver medal in his bag. Murakami stayed in the third place with 82.97m for the bronze and World leading Vadims Vasilevskis of Latvia was fourth with 82.37m, again no medal for him, and Pitkämäki fifth with 81.90m.

Another Finn Ruuskanen finished in simxth place with 81.87m in his first major championships with Olympic silver medallist Ainars Kovals of Latvia in seventh place this time throwing 81.54m and Mark Frank of Germany eighth with his sixth round throw of 81.32m.

Thorkildsen now holds all major titles at the same time, Olympic, World and European, as the first Javelin thrower ever.

Mirko Jalava for the IAAF

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Men's 5000m - Final



27-year-old Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia won another World title, his first in the 5000m distance, but it didn’t come easy this time.

It was the Ethiopian champion himself taking the lead in the race which turned out to be a very slow one. Bekele reached 400m in 64 seconds and then slowed down to 2:20.32 at 800m and 2:54.35 1000m. With the pack close together of course Bekele got the 2000m split too in 5:34.13 with Kenyan Joseph Ebuya just a hundredth behind at this stage.

Another Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge briefly took the lead after 2000m followed by two other countrymen Ebuya and Vincent Chepkok with Bekele in fourth, but the Ethiopian was back in the lead after 2900m reaching 3000m in 8:14.63 for a 2:40.46 last 1000m. Kipchoge again went to the front shortly after the 3000m split, but Bekele was back there after 3600m now accelerating quickly.

Bekele’s split for 4000m was 10:52.22 for a significantly faster last 1000m 2:37.51. Bekele made another move with 800m to go and suddenly Kenyan Ebuya stepped aside from the group for no apparent reason after 4250m. At the bell it was still Bekele closely followed by Kipchoge, reigning champion Bernard Lagat of United States, Briton Mo Farah and American Matt Tegenkamp.

Bekele was still in the lead with 200m to go and seemingly running away fron the rest, but things changed at the start of the final straight where Lagat caught the Ethiopian and passed him as well. But when everyone thought Bekele had finally been beaten, the champion came back taking another title with a smile on his face in the end. Bekele who ran the last 1000m in a super fast 2:24.87 and it seemed like this title really made a difference as the double champion was really celebrating with all of his heart after this win.

Bernard Lagat finished in second place capping another great championships for the American with a silver medal in addition to the bronze he won in 1500m. Qatari James Kwalia took the bronze in 13:07.78 with Ugandan Moses Kipsiro close to a surprise medal in a season’s best 13:18.11. Kipchoge was fifth in the end clocking 13:18.95 with Ethiopian Ali Abdosh, who only got to the final because of a successive protest, took the sixth place in 13:19.11. Briton Mo Farah seventh in 13:19.69, another top eight finish for him to go with the sixth place from Osaka 2007. American Matt Tegenkamp, who was close to a medal in Osaka in fourth, took the eighth place here in 13:20.23.

Bekele winning his 24th major championships title became the first man to win a 5000/10000m double in the World championships.

Mirko Jalava for the IAAF

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Women's 1500m - Final



Maryam Jamal of Bahrain retained her title despite crossing the line in second place during a confrontational not to mention controversial final which was packed full of incident.

Spain's Natalia Rodriguez crossed the line first in 4:03.37 but was quickly disqualified from the race after elbowing Ethiopia's long-time leader Gelete Burka to the floor with 200m remaining.

The Spanish record holder raced across to Burka, who finished the race in 11th, to console her but her rather muted celebrations hinted at her guilt and sure enough the officials wanted to look into the incident.

She was duly disqualified and Jamal was promoted to the gold medal to became the second athlete in the history of this World Championships event to land back-to-back titles.

Great Britain's Lisa Dobriskey, who initially thought she had won bronze, was upgraded to the silver medal in 4:03.75 - an agonising 0.01 behind Jamal.

The US champion Shannon Rowbury was promoted to the bronze medal position in 4:04.18 - to become the first US medallist in this event since Regina Jacobs landed silver ten years ago in Seville.

The race set off minus Morocco's Mariem Alaoui Selsouli who did not start and in what was a first lap characterised by the regular sight of elbows and arms clashing in the 11-strong field Burka, the World No.3, took them through 400m in 1:06.66.

By the time the Ethiopian had circled a second lap of the race Burka had taken the field through in a modest 2:15.13 - a stride ahead of Russia's Natalya Evdokimova, Nuria Fernandez of Spain and Jamal.

It was at this point of the race Burka then pressed on the gas in an effort to draw the sting out of the opposition with Jamal the pre-race favourite taking close order.

At the bell the Ethiopian led from Jamal with Rodriguez third, Dobriskey, the Olympic fourth-placer, handily placed in fourth and Rowbury fifth.

Down the back stretch of the final lap however, Jamal started to eat into Burka's lead and the top five started to concertina. This led to the major race incident as Rodriguez found her way blocked by Burka on the inside and barged Burka - it has to be said with little subtlety to the floor.

The Spaniard was forced to step on to the infield and Dobriskey skipped out of the way of the horizontal Burka.

Coming into the home straight Jamal held a slight advantage from Rodriguez with Dobriskey on the outside. It was the Spanish athlete, though, who powered home to cross the line first.

Yet the officials not unsurprisingly disqualified Rodriguez and it was Jamal by just 0.01 - who took gold in 4:03.74. Probably not caring one bit that she had just recorded the second slowest winning time in the history of this event at the World Championships.

Rodriguez's Spanish team-mate moved up to fourth in 4:04.91 with Wurth-Thomas of the USA fifth in 4:05.21. Her team-mate Anna Willard placed sixth to ensure the US had three finishers in the top six.

Burka dragged her body off the floor like a boxer who had been knocked to the canvas to finish 11th in 4:11.21. She was consoled by a guilty looking Rodriguez after the race but Burka did not appear to acknowledge the Spaniard and lay on the track in a state of some distress.

Steve Landells for the IAAF

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Women's Marathon - Final



Making her decisive break with just over a kilometre to go, Bai Xue of China became the youngest ever women’s World champion in the Marathon.

The 20-year-old prodigy from Heilongjiang Province captured a commanding victory, reaching the finish line at the Brandenburg Gate in 2:25:15 to collect the first gold medal of these championships for China and the first ever for the nation in the event.

Astoundingly, today’s was the 11th Marathon in Bai’s career and the fifth since the Beijing Olympics where she competed in the 10,000m and finished 21st. She ran her first 42.2Km contest when she was just 14, clocking 2:37:07. She has a personal best of 2:23:27 from last year when she finished second to teenager Yingying Zhang in Xiamen. Her performance today was her second fastest, but certainly her biggest.

Bai duked it out with Yoshimi Ozaki of Japan and Ethiopian Aselefech Mergia since about the 34 kilometre point before leaving the pair well behind with a move that neither could respond too. Ozaki held on for second in 2:25:25 while Mergia took bronze in 2:25:32.

With a conservative tempo dictating the quick morning tour of the German capital – temperatures at the start were 19 C and rose to 23 by the finish - a fairly sizable chunk of the 71 starters remained in contention during the early going. More than 40 ran together through the first five kilometres (17:42), 30 at 10Km (35:03), 25 at 15Km (52:10), and more than 20 five kilometres later.

The next six kilometres produced the biggest change, with just a dozen women in contention at the 30Km (1:44:33) checkpoint, a group that was whittled down to just four at about 1:46 into the race: Bai, Ozaki, Mergia and Russian Nailya Yulamanova, who was leading and pushing the pace.

But it became clear that the 28-year-old Russian, with a 2:26:30 best from her victory earlier this year in Rotterdam, was letting her ambitions get the better of her as she was the first to fall off the pace just a few ticks after the race clock the struck two hours.

The remaining trio forged on, taking turns with the lead until Mergia, the runner-up at this year’s Paris marathon, was the next to fall back just beyond the 40Km post. A kilometre later Bai pounced to take the lead and the win.

Behind the trio, Yulamanova’s troubles continued. She faded badly over the final two kilometres and eventually reached the line finishing eighth in 2:27:08. Chinese Zhou Chunxiu, the silver medallist two years ago, and Zhu Xiaolin rallied to finish fourth and fifth in 2:25:39 and 2:26:08 respectively.

Portugal’s Maris Barros finished well to take sixth in 2:26:50, ahead of Japanese No. 2 Yuri Kano (2:26:57).

American Kara Goucher, among the strong pre-race medal contenders, was with the leaders for the first 28 kilometres before fading back to eventually finish 10th in 2:27:48.

Kenyans, who were defending their World Cup crown, suffered from the outset. Julia Mumbi was the highest finisher but a distant 12th in 2:28:59.

With three finishers in the top five, China dominated the World Cup race with a combined time of 7:17:02. Japan was second (7:22:15) with Russia (7:24:42) taking the bronze.

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

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Men's 800m - Final



With a run as determined as it was thrilling, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa triumphed in the wildly unpredictable men’s 800m.

Running from the front for more than half the race, the 28-year-old South African held off the furious late race charge of nearly half the field to clock 1:45.29 and take home his first major title.

Mulaudzi, a former World champion indoors and the 2004 Olympic silver medallist, took control of the race from the break and never relented, although he encountered quite a bit of resistance.

He led at the bell (53.44), where he was pressured by American Nick Symmonds and Russian Yuriy Borzakovskiy, but held his ground, forcing Borzakovskiy, who beat him to gold at the Athens Games, to step back. He held his ground down the backstretch and into the turn, where others began to make their move. First it was Yusuf Saad Kamel who began to move up, with a surge similar to the one which propelled him to the 1500m title earlier this week. But to the extreme outside, it was defending champion Alfred Kirwa Yego who had the most power down the homestretch.

Beginning his kick in sixth place, the diminutive Kenyan first picked off the slowly fading Symmonds, then Moroccan Amine Laalou, then Borzakovskiy and finally edging Kamel by the narrowest of margins to capture the silver. Both were credited with 1:45.35.

But none were capable to take down the determined Mulaudzi today who finally added gold to his formidable war chest.

Borzakovskiy was fourth in 1:45.57, just ahead of Laalou (1:45.66) and Symmonds (1:45.71). European champion Bram Som, who was added to the field on appeal, was seventh (1:45.86).

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

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Women's 4x400m - Final



The United States made sure no guess work was needed for the winner of the women’s 4x400 Metres Relay. Jamaican born Debbie Dunn started quick in the first leg giving an early lead which was stretched surprisingly big in the first exchange.

Rosemarie Whyte of Jamaica followed with Russian Anastasiya Kapachinskaya coming to the exchange just before the Jamaican with other teams way back already at this stage. Allyson Felix continued completed a fabulous second leg with USA extending it’s lead before the second exchange. Jamaica and Russia were battling side to side in the home straight with Tatyana Firova beating Novlene Williams-Mills to the exchange. Great Britain was in fourth place with two leg of the relay completed.

Lashinda Demus, the silver medallist in the 400m Hurdles here, went out really fast in the third leg, too fast in fact as she faded badly in the home straight still clocking 50.10 for her leg, Russia’s Lyudmila Litvinova brought her team to the last exchange in second place with Jamaica’s Shereefa Lloyd close behind.

Sanya Richards anchored USA well accelerating quickly in the first curve after Demus had lost a lot of ground on the Russians and Jamaicans. The 400m World champion clocked 48.43 for the anchor leg and another gold medal for the American in 3:17.83, naturally a world leading time for the 2009 season. Shericka Williams of Jamaica had a really ace on her sleeve as she stormed past 400m bronze medallist Antonina Krivoshapka during the final leg to capture a silver medal for Jamaica with the Russian unable to answer. Jamaicans were timed a 3:21.15 season’s best with Russia clocked 3.21.64, another SB. Great Britain kept their fourth place until the end with Nicola Sanders crossing the line in 3:25.16 SB and Germany took fifth place in 3:27.61.

Mirko Jalava for the IAAF

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Men's 4x400m - Final



The USA brought the curtain down on a memorable 12th IAAF World Championshis In Athletics by blitzing to a predicted gold medal in a world leading 2:57.86.

In a race shorn of Olympic silver medallists Bahamas, who were disqualified in yesterday's heats, the USA won at a canter with a team boasting the combined talents of the World individual 400m gold and silver medallists - LaShawn Merritt and Jeremy Wariner as well as the reigning World and Olympic 400m hurdles champions Kerron Clement and Angelo Taylor, respectively.

Great Britain edged a battle with their 'old enemy' Australia to take the silver medal in 3:00.53 - their first global medal in the men's 4x400m for 12 years.

The Australian quartet hung on for bronze 0.37 adrift to claim their first ever World Championships medal in this event - but, really, this was all about the USA. Taylor gave the USA a solid, though far from specatuclar start with Arismendy Peguero of the Dominican Republic and Great Britain's Conrad Williams also enjoying prominent first leg runs.

When the stagger unwound on the back straight of the second leg Wariner held a slight lead with the Domincan Republic, Australia, Great Britain and Poland all in close order.

It was on this second leg when the USA stamped their authority on the race. Wariner, who had disappointed in the individual 400m, ran like a man possessed and handed the baton on to World 400m hurdles champion Kerron Clement with a ten metre lead. Wariner had posted a scintillating leg of 43.68.

In the scrap for the minor medals World individual 400m finalist Michael Bingham of Great Britain had established a clear gap on the remainder of the field with Australia courtesy of Ben Offereins in third.

Clement then proceeded to further extend the USA's advantage with a 44.76 penultimate leg but there was interesting development behind.

Australia's Tristan Thomas blasted past Great Britain's Rob Tobin down the back stretch to take second spot.

However, Tobin used his superior relay experience to burst past the Aussie 400m hurdles specialist down the home straight.

Clement handed the baton to the Olympic 400m champion LaShawn Merritt with at least a 15m lead. Great Britain with Martyn Rooney running anchor took the baton three metres clear of Australia.

Merritt ran a controlled anchor leg of 44.15 to help USA cruise to their sixth World Championships men's 4x400m gold and third in succession.

Meanwhile Australia's fourth leg runner Sean Wroe had closed the gap and was in striking distance of Rooney, before the tall Brit responded to the challenge to kick clear and secure the silver. The Australians had the consolation of bronze.

The Belgian quartet can be proud of their efforts to earn fourth spot in 3:01.88 with Poland fifth in 3:02.23. Completing the picture were the Domincan Republic (3:02.47), France seventh in 3:02.65 and Nigeria eighth in 3:02.73.

Steve Landells for the IAAF

orgjauh

Bolt lariskan tiket Liga Emas Zurich

ZURICH - Kemunculan bintang pecut sensasi Jamaica, Usain Bolt, yang masih segar dengan kejayaan merangkul tiga kejuaraan di Kejohanan Olahraga Dunia, minggu lalu pastinya melariskan jualan tiket peringkat kelima Liga Emas di Zurich yang bermula hari ini.

Stadium Letzigrund, yang mempunyai 26,000 kapasiti pasti bakal dibanjiri penonton yang tidak sabar untuk melihat aksi bintang besar olahraga dunia itu, yang menggegar trek di Berlin dengan dua rekod baru dunia.

Bolt, 22, yang mencatat rekod 100 dan 200 meter dunia dengan kepantasan 9.58 dan 19.19 saat, bagaimanapun tidak akan disaingi pencabar utama dari Amerika Syarikat, Tyson Gay, pemenang pingat perak Kejohanan Dunia yang mengalami kecederaan pangkal paha.

Meskipun memberi amaran bahawa dia tidak memburu rekod dunia di Zurich, namun cabaran Bolt tidak boleh diambil ringan kerana dia bakal ditentang pelari seperti rakan senegara, Asafa Powell, Darvis Patton dan Michael Rodgers dari Amerika Syarikat serta dua pelari Trinidad & Tobago, Richard Thompson dan Marc Burns.

Powell pernah menyamai rekod dunia ketika beraksi di Zurich tiga tahun lalu dengan masa 9.77s, dan memberi jaminan akan menampilkan satu saingan terbaik pada kejohanan kali ini.

Selain Bolt, peringkat kelima Liga Emas turut menjadi tumpuan dengan kehadiran Kenenisa Bekele, yang menyamai kejayaan Sukan Olimpik dengan muncul juara berganda, 5,000 dan 10,000m pada Kejohanan Dunia.

Fakta bahawa kejohanan di Zurich, pusingan kelima daripada enam peringkat Liga Emas berlangsung sangat rapat dengan Kejohanan Dunia merupakan bonus kepada atlet dan penganjur untuk melihat lebih banyak rekod dunia dicatat.

"Saya berada dalam keadaan yang sangat baik ketika ini. Sekiranya cuaca kekal OK pada Jumaat ini, maka saya mahu mencatat masa yang bagus di Zurich.

"Selepas menukar rancangan di Berlin dengan berlari dalam dua acara pada Kejohanan Dunia, agak susah untuk mencipta rekod dunia ketika itu, jadi saya akan cuba melakukannya (rekod baru) di Zurich,'' ujar Bekele, 27.

Tidak seperti Bolt, Bekele merupakan salah seorang daripada empat atlet yang masih berpeluang memenangi jackpot AS$1 juta (RM3.4 juta) - wang yang diberi kepada atlet yang berjaya memenangi semua enam sirkit Liga Emas.

Dalam saingan wanita, tumpuan pasti terarah kepada pelari Jamaica, Kerron Stewart dan Sanya Richards dari Amerika Syarikat, yang masing-masing belum dikalahkan dalam acara 100 dan 400m.

Atlet keempat yang berpeluang memburu jackpot RM3.4 juta adalah bintang lompat bergalah Rusia, Yelena Isinbayeva yang kalah mengejut pada Kejohanan Dunia.

Turut menjadi tumpuan adalah perlumbaan 400m lelaki yang bakal menampilkan dua jaguh Amerika Syarikat, Lashawn Merritt dan Jeremy Wariner.

Dalam 110m lari berpagar, juara dunia, Ryan Brathwaite dari Barbados bakal dicabar sengit empat pelari Amerika, Terrence Trammell, David Payne, David Oliver dan Aries Merritt.

Saingan 100m wanita pula menyaksikan persaingan sengit antara Stewart dengan pelari Amerika Syarikat, Carmelita Jeter serta rakan senegaranya, Shelly-Ann Fraser, yang baru dimahkotakan kejuaraan dunia. - AFP

orgjauh

Atlit yg masih berpeluang merebut AS$1 juta

1) Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) - 3000m/5000m



2) Kerron Stewart (JAM) - 100m



3) Sanya Richards (USA) - 400m



4) Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) - Pole Vault

karambunai

orang jauh mmg suka sangat gan olahraga ek? keep updating ya

orgjauh

395# karambunai

minat je...sebagai pemerhati

orgjauh

Hanya tinggal 3 atlit berpeluang merebut AS$1 juta selepas berakhirnya siri ke 5 liga emas di Zürich, Switzerland.

1) Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) - 3000m/5000m
2) Sanya Richards (USA) - 400m
3) Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) - Pole Vault

orgjauh

Golden league Zürich, Switzerland

World record for Isinbayeva in Zürich - 5.06m



28 August 2009 - Zürich, Switzerland - In one of the most dramatic comebacks of recent athletics history, Yelena Isinbayeva, who no heighted in the final at last week's 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, this evening improved her World Pole Vault record (5.05m set in Beijing last summer) with a first time clearance at 5.06m* at the Weltklasse Zürich - ÅF Golden League meeting.

The victory which also keeps Isinbayeva in the hunt for the $1 Million Jackpot, was already hers after earlier first time clearances at 4.71 and 4.81 which comfortably defeated the best that World champion Anna Rogowska of Poland - 4.76 on the second attempt - could manage for second. Brazil's Fabiana Murer was third, 4.71m

Chris Turner

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Mungkin kekalahan mengejut Isinbayeva di kejohanan dunia menjadi pemangkin kejayaannya di zurich.........

orgjauh

Golden league Zürich, Switzerland

From Berlin disappointment to World record No. 27 - Isinbayeva's remarkable comeback

Zürich, Switzerland - It’s amazing what coming clean can do for a person’s peace of mind.

Just 24 hours after admitting to the world that her shock failure at the World championships was due to nothing more than complacency on her part, Yelena Isinbayeva changed course. Following the advice she charted for herself to bounce back from her Berlin breakdown, Isinbayeva returned to the track tonight at the Weltklasse Zürich - ÅF Golden League to do what she has already done 26 times before: set yet another World record.

“I feel awesome, I feel great!” a beaming Isinbayeva said after raising her own record to 5.06m*. It was her 15th record outdoors, adding a centimetre to the mark which brought her a second Olympic title in Beijing last year.

It also came after her dramatic no-height at the World championships, perhaps the biggest single implosion of the championships. Certainly Isinbayeva characterized it as such yesterday, when she admitted that while her body may have been in Berlin, her head clearly wasn’t. Which made her record her tonight all the more special.

“It’s really unbelievable to set a World record after such a big defeat in Berlin,” Isinbayeva said. “But I’m happy with that defeat now. It made me more hungry. And maybe I wouldn’t have beat the World record.”

“And after that defeat I recognised that it’s really important for me to concentrate on the win, and then to set World records. Before I maybe felt that victories weren’t that important for me. But now, today, I changed my mind. I was happy for the victory.”

The victory was indeed important, keeping her alive in the chase for the $1 million ÅF Golden League Jackpot, along with World champions Sanya Richards of the USA and Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia. The win was sealed early enough, coming with just her second jump of the competition. Opening with a first attempt clearance at 4.71m, she sailed over 4.81 with her first as well, which was too high for Anna Rogowska, the Pole who tool best advantage of Isinbayeva’s meltdown in Berlin to take the World title.

Her record came with her next leap, a confident, hefty and elegant clearance which showed that the old Isinbayeva, albeit a new, improved and more mature version, was back.

“I felt great! It was crazy when I cleared it,” she said. “I thought to myself, ‘That felt so easy.’ It seems like I should do what I did today in every competition.”

Again, recalling the conversation she had with journalists yesterday, Isinbayeva said that her experience in Berlin “Was just a problem with myself. It was necessary to be defeated in Berlin,” she said, to force a change in her thinking and in her attitude. “And to see my sport from another side, and not from the top. So this was very useful for me.”

“The main problem is in the head, in my concentration,” Isinbayeva said. “And today I was concentrating 100 percent.”

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

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Golden league Zürich, Switzerland

Bolt takes lead at 80m and finishes with 9.81

105 minutes before the men’s 100m ‘A’ race during the opening ceremony ‘parade of champions’, who in this eco-friendly age were pulled around the track in rickshaws, Usain Bolt, as relaxed and as full of energy as ever, exchanged places with his driver for 100 metres of his circumference of the stadium. The World record holder’s turn of speed on the top bend indicating that should ever the sprinting work dry-up he has a new profession in the waiting! Forget the Long Jump Usain, ‘Rickshaws R’ Us’!

After roughly 80 metres of the 100m it looked as if the World and Olympic champion’s legs might have been left jaded by his earlier taxi service but no, as despite Asafa Powell still being ahead at that point Bolt did not disappoint and came away clear to record a 9.81 sec success. Powell despite tying up a little in the final metres still produced 9.88 for second place, and two others went below 10sec – Darvis Patton (9.95) and Michael Rodgers (9.98).

Bolt admitted his early race display was lackluster by his standards: “it was alright, I would say this was a shaky race. My body was sitting at the start, I was a little bit tired through the race. But again, it’s alright. All things considered, the time is not bad. I need to pick up my speed as my body did not respond well to the race.”

Powell realised he had let a good opportunity slip: “I just need to work more on the last part of the race. Now I know that I can also beat Usain when everything works out fine for me.”

The evening was to conclude with another outstanding Bolt finish, bringing home a Jamaican squad in the Zürich Trophy 4x100m in 37.70 secs, and if that performance didn’t excite the Letzigrund stadium crowd enough a few moments later the cheering erupted once more when it was declared that the Swiss quartet in sixth had set a national record (38.78).

Chris Turner