Wild Gold

It was a wild night at the World Athletic Championships in Doha with spectacular performances bot on track and field.

But nothing came close to the 5,000m win for defending world 5,000m champion Muktar Edris, who only made it to Doha as a wild card entrant.

Wild card winner

Edris put behind a trying year to upstage a strong field to run away with the gold once again.

The Ethiopian fell out of favour after being ranked only 17th in his country and has not had a season to remember. He had two appearances on the IAAF Diamond League circuit this year, finishing 11th in Oslo over 3000m and 18th in Lausanne over 5000m. Before that, he had failed to finish the 10,000m at the Ethiopian Championships.

He was given the wild card by virtue of winning the gold in London, where he had ended the reign of England’s Mo Farah.

While Edris and his teammates Ethiopian teammates – Selemon Barega and Telahun Haile Bekele – were working as a team to gain the gold for their country. It was not Edris that anyone expected to take the shine off his teammates as well other top contenders including Paul Chelimo of the USA and the Ingebrigtsen brothers of Norway.

The lead exchanged hands several times before Canadian record-holder Mo Ahmed took the lead with three laps to go.

Kenyan teenager Jakob Krop made his move with 300 metres to go and Chelimo tried to go with him. Edris, meanwhile, was closing on the lead quartet. Approaching the home straight, Barega and Edris moved past Jakob into the lead, hitting their top gear. Both sprinting for the line, Edris edged ahead of Barega with about 40 metres remaining and crossed the line in 12:58.85, having covered the final 1000m in 2:24.92.

It was just the third time in World Championships history that the 5000m title was won with a sub-13-minute time. Edris also joins Farah and Ismael Kirui as a multiple winner of the world 5000m title.

Barega took silver in 12:59.70 while Canadian Mohammed Ahmed earned a surprise bronze in 13:01.11.

 “I’ve struggled so much over the past few years and have overcome many injuries, so I am grateful to win today.  I injured my ankle one year ago, then I got some abdominal problems and I didn’t do well in my races. But I didn’t feel pain before coming here, so I told myself that I could fight for the victory, said Edris.

Halimah pulls off a surprise

Halimah Nakaayi of Uganda turned on the power in the homestretch to pull off an upset victory in the women’s 800m final.

Uganda never had a World Championships finalist in the women’s 800m but now they have a gold medalist.

Pre-race favourite Ajee Wilson and Jamaican Natoya Goule were in command at the bell. But with just over 250 metres to go, Halimah reeled them in and with a hefty kick in the final stretch tucked in behind the pair and lodged herself comfortably. 

Wilson kept the pace fast and forged on, passing the bell in 57.94, maintaining her lead down the back straight. But Halimah’s late pounce with 30m to go saw her reaching the finish line in 1:58.04, a national record.

A tiring Ajee was also passed by  late kick from her American teammate Raevyn Rogers, who took silver in in 1:58.18. Ajee held on for third, clocking1:58.84.

“I was feeling so good, I knew something special was going to happen tonight. So I just kept pushing and pushing. I was feeling strong and in the end I got it,’ said a jubilant Halimah.

Warholm prevails

Norwegian Karsten Warholm prevailed in the battle between three of the four fastest men in history in the men’s 400m hurdles final.

Warlhom, American Rai Benjamin and Qatari Abderrahman Samba were the only runners in the field to have clocked sub-47 in the event and the final lived up to its billing.

Warlhom won the electric final in a time of 47.42 – 0.24 clear of Rai Benjamin with Samba taking the bronze in 48.03.

It was Benjamin who appeared to make the faster start, but down the stretch, it was the Norwegian who slowly started to make gains on the American and by halfway he held a slight advantage.

As the field entered the home straight Warholm held a clear metre-and-a-half advantage on Benjamin with Kyron McMaster of British Virgin Islands emerging as the likely bronze medalist.

In the battle for bronze, Samba spurred on by the home support, dug deep and summoned the energy to overhaul McMaster in the final few strides.

For Warlhom it was his second title in the series after also winning in London two years ago as a young 21-year-old outsider.

“It is easy to say afterwards that this was going to happen but I wasn’t too sure, to be honest. This was a very hard race. I had a pain in my chest. I thought I was going to die but here I am a world champion. This is only the beginning for all of us. Tomorrow I’ve got to get up and work again. Norway is only a small country, so to be showing up on the world stage is amazing,” said Warlhom.

He joins fellow legends of the event Ed Moses, Felix Sanchez and Kerron Clement as back-to-back winners of this title.

Making amends

In London, two years a mid-race blunder cost Beatrice Chepkoech a medal. But in Doha this time around there was no stopping the Kenyan  from winning the steeplechase in dominant style.

The world record-holder took the lead from the start and within the space of one lap she had built up a four-second lead over a chase pack led by 2015 world champion Hyvin Kiyeng, defending champion Emma Coburn, Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai and Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi.

With three laps to go, Chepkoech’s lead had grown to 50 metres. She passed the 2000m point in 5:55.28.

The clock read 7:47.21 as the bell sounded for the final lap and Chepkoech was away and gone, her lead insurmountable.

Chepkoech successfully negotiated the final barrier and crossed the line in a championship record of 8:57.84, Coburn following in a lifetime best of 9:02.35 to take the silver medal.

Gesa Felicitas Krause broke her own German record with 9:03.30 for bronze.

With nine women finishing inside 9:20, it was the highest quality steeplechase final at a major championships.

Swede success

Swede Daniel was not at his best, but it was still enough to see him scrapping to the discus world title in a tight, tense competition.

The Diamond trophy winner had dominated the season hurling the 2kg disc 71.86m for joint fourth on the world all-time list.

But in the final, he only managed 67.59m, which as still enough to give him the crown. Fedrick Dacres earned Jamaica’s first medal in this event in World Championships history with a best of 66.94m

Meanwhile, in bronze Lukas Weisshaidinger also made history by becoming Austria’s first male World Championship podium winner with a 66.82m throw. He had to use his training discus after officials declared with first choice discus damaged.

Stahl opened with a handy 66.59m and gave a fist punch of satisfaction following his rock-solid start. It was Weisshaidinger, however, who nosed ahead of the Swede with a 66.74m in round one.

Stahl gained a grip on the competition with his next, hurling his disc out to 67.18m. He continued to apply the pressure in round three, extending his best with a 67.59m.

Defending champion Andrius Gudzius (61.55m) of Lithuania was among the quartet to exit the competition at the halfway cut after a below-par performance.

“This is historic for Sweden. I am really happy to win the first global gold for my country in the discus. I have been fighting for this for many years. I am speechless now. This year has been about hard work, improving my technique and traveling around the world and winning a lot of meets. I had two goals: to make the final and then win gold,” said Stahl.

Lasitskene soars again

Mariya Lasitskene, jumping under her maiden name Kuchina, is now the first three-time world champion in the women’s high jump.

She topped 2.01m to take the title in Beijing four years ago, and 2.03m in London in 2017. She went even higher this year, piecing together a perfect scorecard through the winning height of 2.04m.

“It was like in a fairy tale to get a third world title,” said the 26-year-old authorised neutral athlete.

Teammate Yaroslava Mahuchikh,who turned 18 just 11 days ago, took the silver with the same height clearance.

After Lasitskene sailed clear on her first try at 2.04m, Mahuchikh followed with a decent first attempt, close enough to suggest the teenager had more in reserve. Her second was even closer. On the third she brushed the bar on the way down, but it stayed on.

Knowing that 2.06m would be out of reach, Mahuchikh called it a night, content with surprise silver. Lasitskene then bowed out after three tries at 2.08m.

The last time two jumpers topped 2.04m at a World Championships was at the second edition in Rome 22 years ago. That battle between Stefka Kostadinova and Tamara Bykova resulted in a world record, the latter’s 2.09m, which still stands today.

“Today, we had an incredible competition, I did not have any other choice than to jump higher and higher. Now, I feel like I left all my power and energy in the field. If Yaroslava decided to jump 2.06m, I also was ready to extend our fight,” said the champion.

The heat is on

Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, a silver medalist in the previous night’s 100m, was fastest of the women’s 200m qualifiers in 22.32 as several of her main expected rivals have dropped out of contention.

Defending champion Dafne Schippers and 100m bronze medalist, Marie-Josee Ta Lou both failed to start because of injuries.

Asher-Smith, the European 100m and 200m champion, won her heat with controlled ease, and looks set for another strong podium finish.

Three United States runners filled the next places behind her, topped by Britanny Brown, who ran a personal best of 22.33. Niger’s Aminatou Seyni qualified sixth fastest in a national record of 22.58.

In the heats of the women’s 400m, Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo won her heat in 51.30 rather comfortably.

Miller-Uibo, who tops the world 200m lists this year with 21.74, is only running the single lap event here, and would be favourite for the gold.

Bahraini rival Salwa Eid Naser, the world silver medalist, won her heat in 50.74.

Jamaica’s defending and Olympic champion Omar McLeod won his 110m hurdles heat in 13.17, with Diamond League champion Orlando Ortega of Spain also looked impressive as he won in 13.15, the fastest in qualifying for Wednesday’s semi-finals.

Noah Lyles of the United States, three times Diamond League champion over 200m, clocked 19.86 as he held off Alex Quinonez of Ecuador, who took the second automatic qualifying place in 19.95.

Britain’s 2014 European champion Adam Gemili edged Turkey’s defending champion Ramil Guliyev in the opening semi-final, 20.03 to 20.16. And Canada’s Olympic silver medalist Andre De Grasse, back in the running after long-time hamstring problems, won the last semi in 20.08.

China’s Lyu Huihui, who took world silver in 2015 and bronze two years ago, heads the women’s javelin qualifying for the final with 67.27m, ahead of Germany’s Christin Hussong, the only other to beat the automatic qualifying distance of 63.50m, who reached 65.29m.

Also through are the Czech Republic’s defending champion and world record-holder Barbora Spotakova, Olympic champion Sara Kolak of Croatia and Tatsiana Khaladovich of Belarus, the 2016 European champion.

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