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[Smallville22]

World Championships - Isinbayeva set to ignite Moscow crowd

Yelena Isinbayeva, the greatest women's pole vaulter of all time, gears up for a lift from her home crowd in what will probably be the Russian's last major championship final on Tuesday.
Isinbayeva, who holds the outdoor world record of 5.06 metres and was virtually unbeatable in the discipline between 2003 and 2008, has not won a global title since Olympic gold five years ago in Beijing.
The 31-year-old had said she will end her illustrious career after the competition at the Luzhniki stadium, although she rowed back from that after qualifying by saying her mind was not yet made up.
While Isinbayeva contemplates retirement, the precocious Kirani James, 20, is set to continue his global domination of the men's 400 metres by adding a second world gold.
The Olympic champion has American LaShawn Merritt - the only man to beat the Grenadian this season - to contend with.
In the absence of injured Olympic champion and world record holder David Rudisha, the men's 800m title is wide open, although Ethiopia's 19-year-old 2012 world indoor winner Mohammed Aman has enjoyed an impressive season.
Americans Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds, along with Saudi Arabia's Abdulaziz Ladan Mohammed should provide the main threat to the African.
The women's 3000m steeplechase final has also been robbed of a marquee name after Russia's Olympic and world champion Yuliya Zaripova of Russia had to withdraw after suffering a season-ending leg injury in training.
Ethiopian duo Sofia Assefa and Hiwot Ayalew, Kenya's African record-holder Milcah Chemos Cheywa - the last woman to beat Zaripova - and compatriot Lydia Chepkurui should fight it out for the medals.
Briton Mo Farah, having secured 10,000 metres gold on Saturday, starts his bid to repeat his Olympic distance double when he lines up in the morning's 5,000m heats.
In the men's discus final, Germany's Robert Harting starts as hot favourite to secure a third successive world title, although the Olympic and European champion could be tested by Pole Piotr Malachowski.
Golds in the heptathlon and women's 20-km walk will also to be decided on Tuesday.

Key times on day three (UK times)

Morning session

06:30 - Women's Long Jump Heptathlon

06:35 - Women's 20 Kilometres Race Walk - Final

06:50 - Men's High Jump - Qualification

07:20 - Men's 5000 Metres - Heats

08:10 - Women's Javelin Throw - Heptathlon Group A

08:25 - Women's Triple Jump - Qualification

09:25 - Women's Javelin Throw - Heptathlon Group B

Afternoon session

16:00 - Men's Discus Throw - Final

16:05 - Women's 400 Metres Hurdles - Semi-Final

16:35 - Women's Pole Vault -Final

16:40 - Men's 400 Metres Hurdles - Semi-Final

17:10 - Women's 800 Metres - Heptathlon

17:40 - Women's 1500 Metres - Semi-Final

18:10 - Men's 800 Metres - Final

18:25 - Women's 3000 Metres Steeplechase - Final

18:50 - Men's 400 Metres - Final

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Farah through to 5,000m final

Defending champion Mo Farah qualified with ease for the 5,000m final at the World Championships in Moscow.
World junior champion Muktar Edris took the race in a time of 13:20.82 and, although Farah crossed the line in the fifth and final automatic qualification spot, it was a comfortable run for the Olympic champion.
Farah’s training partner Galen Rupp finished in fourth spot. Edwin Soi and Isiah Koech made up the other automatic qualifiers from heat two.
The 30-year-old said: "I just had to get the job comfortably done. The body feels good, the rest of the team has been looking after me.
"It would mean a lot to me to be double champion and hopefully I can make my country proud."
Farah won the 10,000m on Sunday for his first World Championships victory at the longer distance, and is bidding to become only the second man after Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele to do the long-distance double at both an Olympics and a World Championships in Moscow.
Ethiopia's Hagos Gebrhiwet won the first heat despite almost taking the wrong bus from the hotel and arriving just in time for the race.
"We arrived so late that we went straight into the race without a proper warm up but luckily everything went well," he said.

5000m results:

Heat one

1. Hagos Gebrhiwet (Ethiopia) 13:23.22 Q

2. Yenew Alamirew (Ethiopia) 13:23.48 Q

3. Bernard Lagat (U.S.) 13:23.59 Q

4. Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa (Kenya) 13:23.94 Q

5. Ryan Hill (U.S.) 13:24.19 Q

6. Elroy Gelant (South Africa) 13:25.07 Q

7. Brett Robinson (Australia) 13:25.38 Q

8. Sindre Buraas (Norway) 13:26.69 Q

9. Zane Robertson (New Zealand) 13:27.89 Q

10. John Kipkoech (Kenya) 13:31.21

11. Phillip Kipyeko (Uganda) 13:33.68

12. Arne Gabius (Germany) 13:34.26

13. Aziz Lahbabi (Morocco) 13:37.75

14. Sergio Sanchez (Spain) 13:52.05

15. Grevazio Mpani (Malawi) 14:15.65

. Abdoulaye Abdelkarim (Chad) DNS

Heat two

1. Muktar Edris (Ethiopia) 13:20.82 Q

2. Edwin Cheruiyot Soi (Kenya) 13:21.44 Q

3. Isiah Kiplangat Koech (Kenya) 13:22.19 Q

4. Galen Rupp (U.S.) 13:23.91 Q

5. Mohamed Farah (Britain) 13:23.93 Q

6. Dejene Regassa (Bahrain) 13:25.21 Q

7. Othmane El Goumri (Morocco) 13:31.08

8. Ben St Lawrence (Australia) 13:33.64

9. Aelemayehu Bezabeh (Spain) 13:34.68

10. Bayron Piedra (Ecuador) 13:35.38

11. Yuki Sato (Japan) 13:37.07

12. Diego Estrada (Mexico) 13:48.30

13. Rinas Akhmadeev (Russia) 13:58.38

14. Jake Robertson (New Zealand) 14:09.50

. Moses Ndiema Kipsiro (Uganda) DNS

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Lashmanova wins world 20km walk title, Sokolova disqualified

Olympic champion Elena Lashmanova led a Russian one-two in the women's 20km walk at the World Championships as the hosts again underlined their superpower status in the discipline.
World record holder Lashmanova secured a first world title by edging out team mate Anisya Kirdyapkina by just three seconds after clocking 1:27:08 on a hot morning in the capital.
The 21-year-old should have won by a greater margin, but twice almost broke stride after getting confused as to where the finish line was on her final lap in the Luzhniki stadium.
The hosts were denied a podium sweep after Vera Sokolova, who was in third place, was shown a third yellow card and disqualified soon after entering the arena with just over one lap of the track to complete.
Her mishap allowed China's Liu Hong, a world silver medallist in 2011, to take bronze in 1:28.10.
Russia's triple world champion Olga Kaniskina, beaten to Olympic gold by Lashmanova in London last year, pulled out of the event on the eve of the championships.
Russia also won men's 20km walk gold on Sunday when Aleksandr Ivanov triumphed.

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Johnson-Thompson eyes bronze after two PBs, Grabarz through

Katarina Johnson-Thompson roared into medal contention in the heptathlon with two personal bests in Tuesday’s morning session at the World Athletics Championships.
The 20-year-old recorded a long jump PB of 6.56m before setting another personal milestone at the Luzhniki Stadium with a throw of 40.86m in the javelin.
Johnson-Thompson’s long jump effort was second only to Claudia Rath in Group A, with the German recording 6.67m for a PB of her own.
Rath is sixth in the overall standings, one place behind Johnson-Thompson approaching the final event - the 800m which takes place at 5.26pm BST on Tuesday evening.
If the Brit can finish less than 0.41 seconds behind Rath and more than 2.92 seconds ahead of Netherlands’ Dafne Schippers, who is currently third, then she will claim bronze.
Meanwhile, Robbie Grabarz soared into the high jump final as the joint number one qualifier.
The Olympic bronze medallist has endured a frustrating season to date, his best heading to Moscow sitting at 2.31m, six centimetres off his personal best.
But Grabarz showed no signs of struggle on the world stage as he cleared his all of his four heights at the first time of asking, including 2.29m, to ease into the championships.
And the 25-year-old admits his safe passage was all down to remaining calm this year when things haven't been going his way.
"It was really nice to come out and qualify strongly," he said. "Early starts aren't really a problem to me so that probably played into my advantage, I saw a couple of the other guys really struggle.
"It's been a rubbish season really but I've had to be patient and we'll see what happens on Thursday."

 

[Smallville22]

Athletics - Pistorius will go to trial for murder of Reeva Steenkamp

South African police have completed their murder investigation into global track and field star Oscar Pistorius, who will appear in court next week to receive detailed charges for the Valentine's Day shooting of his girlfriend.
The double-amputee, known as "Blade Runner" for the prostheses he wears in competition, is due in court on August 19 for a hearing that will likely be brief and procedural. He was released on bail in February after being charged with murder.
Police said on Tuesday they had used forensic experts, ballistics experts, psychologists and technology experts to investigate the February 14 death of Reeva Steenkamp, who was shot by Pistorius through a closed bathroom door at his upmarket Pretoria home.
"It is expected that he will be served with an indictment and that the matter will be postponed. The prosecution, in collaboration with the defence team, will agree on a trial date," police said in a statement.
In the South African legal system, an indictment is a more detailed charge sheet that is used to move a case from a lower court to a high court.
Pistorius, 26, has admitted to firing four shots at Steenkamp, 29, hitting her in the head, arm and hip.
South African police stumbled in their initial investigation and were forced to replace their lead detective when it emerged he was facing attempted murder charges for shooting at a minibus.
The new investigator, appointed in late February, has handled some of the country's highest-profile cases.
In pre-trial testimony, Pistorius's lawyers told a magistrates' court the shooting had been a tragic mistake and the athlete was acting in self-defence against what he thought was an intruder.
Prosecutors accused him of premeditated murder for killing Steenkamp, a noted model and budding reality TV star.
Pistorius was one of the most celebrated athletes of the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics in London, making the Olympic 400m semi-final and winning Paralympic gold over the same distance.
His arrest and subsequent murder charge a few months later shocked millions around the world.
In South Africa, his triumph over adversity made him a hero for both blacks and whites, transcending the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.
Pistorius has mostly kept out of the public eye since he secured bail. He has had one court appearance, in June, which lasted about 10 minutes.

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Harting completes world discus hat-trick

Germany's Robert Harting won his third successive world discus title in impressive style when his 69.11 metre throw, the fourth-longest of the season, was too good for perennial runner-up Piotr Malachowski of Poland who took another silver.
Germany's Robert Harting won his third successive world discus title in impressive style on Tuesday when his 69.11 metre throw, the fourth-longest of the season, was too good for perennial runner-up Piotr Malachowski of Poland who took another silver.
Harting, also the Olympic and European champion and world runner-up in 2007, has been the most consistent performer all season but with Malachowski the only man to break 70 metres this year it was always likely to be close.
The German set the early pace with a 68.13-metre second throw then, after clattering his third into the cage, launched his gold-winning fourth.
Malachowski responded strongly but his 68.36 was not enough and Harting, with the title in the bag, sent his final throw 68.08. Former world and Olympic champion Gerd Kanter of Estonia took the bronze with 65.19.
Harting then toyed with a mass of photographers waiting for his now-trademark celebration and duly delivered by ripping off his vest before starting his lap of honour.
"It was a bit of a joke for the photographers - it was to make them do a bit of sport and chase me," said Harting, who first ripped his vest off after his dramatic personal best, last-throw victory over Malachowski in the Berlin world championships of 2009.
"It was a special win because this year was very hard for me. My body didn't have everything right so my mind power had to be right," the 28-year-old told reporters.
"Every year it gets harder."
Malachowski was frustrated with his night's work, especially as he was keen to match compatriot Pawel Fajdek's victory in the hammer on Monday.
"I don't know what happened but my first three throws were just not me," he said.
"Maybe I was too nervous, too motivated and I felt there was no real energy in my attempts.
"I'll have to try to get some revenge on Robert in the next competition - he is in great shape and is a great competitor."

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Aman hurtles to Ethiopia's first 800m world title

A grimacing Mohammed Aman hurtled to the front in the final 10 metres to become the first Ethiopian to win an 800 metres world title on Tuesday.
Aman, the only man to beat world record holder David Rudisha since 2009 and pre-race favourite in the absence of the injured Kenyan, pipped American Nick Symmonds for victory in 1:43.31.
Djibouti's Ayanleh Souleiman was third.
It was Ethiopia's first world gold at a distance below 5,000 metres.
World indoor champion Aman, a disappointing sixth in last year's amazing Olympic final in which Rudisha smashed the world record, found himself boxed on the inside on the final lap but as the pace wound up towards the finish he found space for his late charge.

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Melnichenko wins gold as Johnson-Thompson dream ends

Ukrainian heptathlete Ganna Melnichenko won her first major title at the world championships as Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fifth.
With 68 points separating the top two going into the final 800 metres event, Brianne Theisen-Eaton needed to finish 4.69 seconds ahead of Melnichenko to take gold but the Ukrainian shadowed her rival round the two laps.
The 30-year-old collapsed on the track after crossing the line and held her head in disbelief as the final result flashed up, bringing the hundreds of Ukrainians in the crowd, easily recognisable in bright blue and yellow T-shirts, to their feet.
World junior champion Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands charged down the home straight to finish third and secure the bronze medal with a national record of 6,477, an effort that left her needing to be helped off the track by officials.
Johnson-Thompson needed to make up three seconds on Schippers but despite a second place finish, she couldn’t overhaul her Dutch rival for the bronze medal.
Melnichenko finished the seven events with a personal best total of 6,586 points, 56 more than Theisen Eaton, who was given a congratulatory hug at the finish by her husband and world decathlon champion Ashton Eaton.
The pair, who married last month, are the first husband and wife to win medals in a global combined-event competition.
"I watched Ashton the last couple of years winning all his medals and could only sit back and imagine what that felt like," the 24-year-old said.
"After the 800-metres he just said to me 'good job and enjoy your victory lap'.
"We'll probably just go home now, sit on the couch for a few days watching television and eating crappy food."
Melnichenko told reporters: "I realised that I could win after the javelin throw.
"The time between the javelin and the 800 metres was the most exhausting time ever."
Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill of Britain and Russia's defending world champion Tatyana Chernova missed the event due to injury.

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Isinbayeva wins fairytale third world pole vault gold

The world championships finally caught fire on Tuesday as the fans turned up to say farewell to Yelena Isinbayeva, only for the Russian pole vault queen to roll back the years and win an emotional gold medal against all the odds.
Without a global title since 2008, struggling for form and due to retire after this event, the 31-year-old fed off the energy produced by a finally near-full and raucous Luzhniki Stadium to triumph with a leap of 4.89 metres.
Ever the show-woman, Isinbayeva ended the night with an assault on her own world record, set in her pomp when she won the second of her Olympic titles in Beijing.
With chants of "Yelena" ringing in her ears, she fell short, but there was no trace of disappointment from her, the crowd or the organisers who finally got the memorable night they had craved.
There was plenty of drama elsewhere as LaShawn Merritt won the 400 metres as defending world and Olympic champion Kirani James hit the wall on the home straight.
The hundreds of yellow and blue-clad Ukraine fans, who had done their best to bring atmosphere to the stadium during the first few days, also got their reward when Ganna Melnichenko triumphed in the heptathlon.
Russia's Elena Lashmanova won the 20km walk but only just, after she stopped with a lap of the track to go thinking the race was over.
Robert Harting claimed his third successive discus gold, Ethiopia's Mohammed Aman won the 800 metres and Milcah Chemos Cheywa took the women's steeplechase but outside their own countries they will not get a look-in on Wednesday's sports pages.
Most big athletics events advertise themselves with an image of a sprinter but the posters around Moscow have a pole vaulter as their centrepiece - and now the world knows why.
Twice Olympic and world champion, four-times world indoor champion and multiple world record holder, Isinbayeva has been an icon of the sport.
But after finishing sixth in the last world championships and third at the 2012 Olympics it seemed as if the glory days were behind her.
American Jenn Suhr and Yarisley Silva of Cuba, who had the five best vaults of the year, came to Moscow as favourites.
The home fans had other ideas, however, having finally decided to attend in numbers after nights of embarrassingly low crowds.
Tuesday felt different - they even mustered their first Mexican wave - and Isinbayeva, who knows better than anyone how to work a crowd, surfed the wave of goodwill.
With four athletes left, the bar went to 4.82 - beyond her best of the season. She cleared it on the second attempt, only for Olympic champion Suhr to follow her over to regain the lead on countback.
The bar was hoisted to 4.89 and, writing a script the organisers could only have dreamed of, Isinbayeva soared over at the first attempt.
Suhr and Silva could not match her, taking silver and bronze respectively, and the Russian tore off to climb into the crowd and hug her coach.
After the sideshow of the world record attempts there came a joyous lap of honour, complete with spectacular cartwheels and backflips, and she was still talking to TV crews 90 minutes after her victory.

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Merritt powers to world 400 metres gold as James fades

LaShawn Merritt satisfied his hunger for success by regaining the 400 metres title at the world championships on Tuesday with a tactically perfect run as defending champion Kirani James faded badly to finish seventh.
Merritt took the race out from the gun and went hard over the first 200 but, unlike James, the American had plenty left in the tank coming into the home straight to seal victory in a world-leading 43.74 seconds.
His compatriot Tony McQuay made it a one-two for the U.S. who have now won all but four of the men's world titles in the event, in 44.40.
Fast-finishing Luguelin Santos of the Dominican Republic edged out Belgium's Jonathan Borlee for bronze in 44.52.
"I've said it many times already, I was hungry. Probably the hungriest person in the field," Merritt told reporters.
"Not only was I starving for a great performance, I was also starving like I didn't eat a lot today, so I was really starving. I wanted to go out and put a great race together, I was ready mentally and physically to put a 43 together, and that's what I did."
Merritt, the 2009 champion, held a slight lead as he and James came off the final bend and with arms pumping high, the
American seemed to have endless reserves of energy as James he went backwards through the field.
"It was poor execution on my end, I need to go back to the drawing board and think again," James told the BBC.
"I didn't come to the world championships expecting this. I just need to move on now."
Merritt returned from a 21-month doping suspension in 2011 after a positive test for using an over-the-counter male enhancement product that contained a banned substance and promptly lost his world title to the then teenage upstart, whose victory prompted street celebrations in his home country.
Having been outsprinted by James in Daegu in 2011, Merritt then lost his Olympic crown last year to his young rival after pulling up with a hamstring injury in his heat.
"I've always worked hard, even last season I had an undefeated year up until the Olympic Games. Just unfortunately I got hurt, I was ready to go last year," the 27-year-old said.
Merritt has been back with a bang this year and coming into the championships was the only man to have got the better of James this season, at the Eugene Diamond League in June.
"It isn't a shock that Merritt won the race, it is the way he won the race and the way James lost it," world record holder Michael Johnson told the BBC.
"James didn't want to run too fast too early but he had to, to keep up. Kirani had nothing left to give at the crucial moment."

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Golden Isinbayeva soars again

Like all things aerodynamic, Yelena Isinbayeva was born to fly through the air with the greatest of ease.
The pole-vaulter extraordinaire has been blessed with the supple body-bending skills of a gymnast, the flexibility of an acrobat and the ability to soar to heights never attained before by a woman in a sport she has redefined.
At 31, with talk of retirement and questions hanging over her ability to rekindle memories of former glories - the two Olympic titles, the show-stopping world records - she delivered a third world title in front of an ecstatic home crowd on Tuesday.
The Volgograd-born pole vault queen knows how to please a crowd. Withdrawing herself into her own bubble, blocking out the world before a competition, Isinbayeva comes alive with 20 metres of runway ahead, a long pole in her hand and a bar set high into the night sky.
Graceful, supple and powerful, her sporting prowess was honed in her childhood years when she trained as an artistic gymnast from the age of five to 15 before being considered too tall and taking up pole vaulting.
That she was cut out to shine in track and field was shown at the 1998 World Youth Games.
Aptly, this took place in Moscow where a 4 metre leap to secure victory was a portent of things to come. Two years later in 2000, the year that the women's pole vault became an Olympic event at the Sydney Games, she won the world junior championships.
Under the guidance of mentor and coach Yevgeny Trofimov, with whom she split with in 2005 before returning to in 2011, Isinbayeva flourished.
Dubbed 'Sergei Bubka in a skirt' by Russian media because of her domination and habit of increasing the world record a centimetre at a time, Isinbayeva gained considerable financial reward from each new mark.
Ukrainian Bubka regularly broke the men's record between 1984 and 1994 and his outdoor mark of 6.14 metres and indoor one of 6.15 still stand.
American Stacy Dragila set the benchmark before her with 10 world records between 1999 and 2001 but Isinbayeva has broken new ground, setting 15 outdoor world records and 13 indoors.
Her rivalry with compatriot Svetlana Feofanova helped spur her on. Feofanova twice took the world record in 2004, only to be usurped again by Isinbayeva each time within a month.
She set her first world record in 2003, clearing 4.82m in Gateshead. Her five-metre feat came in 2005 and her clearance of 5.06 in Zurich in 2009 stands as the world record.
In her golden period, Isinbayeva won world title in 2005 and 2007, and Olympic gold in 2004 and 2008.
Although her powers waned in major championships finals after that Beijing success, her status as a superstar in her homeland never diminished, even after an 11-month break before returning to the sport in 2011.
Now she has set new goals - to become a mother and then bow out in another blaze of glory at the 2016 Olympics.
The white-haired and moustachioed Trofimov, it seems, will count down the minutes until her return.
"There is this Italian Composer Francesco Sartori, he composed a wonderful piece - Time To Say Goodbye. But the time to say farewell has not yet come," he told Itar-Tass.

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Johnson-Thompson comes of age with impressive fifth at worlds

Katarina Johnson-Thompson confirmed her arrival as the next big thing in British heptathlon after coming within a whisker of a medal on her World Championship debut in Moscow.
The 20-year-old produced a huge personal best of 6449 points to finish in fifth place, only 28 shy of bronze and just 20 points short of Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill's British under-23 record.
Going into the final 800m event needing a personal best to stand a chance of breaking into the top three, she recorded one after crossing the finish line in 2:07.64minutes but it was not enough.
Ganna Melnichenko raced away with gold while Brianne Theisen Eaton took silver with Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands claiming bronze in Moscow with a total of 6477.
Johnson-Thompson had targeted just a place in the top eight in Russia but insists she will be aiming a little higher when she next meets the world's best on the biggest stage.
"I'm over the moon with how it went, I'm delighted with how I performed," said Johnson-Thompson, who still has two years to break London 2012 gold medallist Ennis-Hill's under-23 mark.
"Basically ever since the 200m I have had four personal bests and I can't really ask for more. Getting past 40 metres for the first time in the javelin has got to be the highlight for me.
"I thought this was a good chance and I'm so pleased to have brought it out the bag. I almost regret a bit that I didn't target a medal because I would have believed in myself a bit more at the start.
"It's weird to think that I can target medals if I just sort out my throws, all I really wanted was top eight, a progression and a personal best so I cannot complain."
Elsewhere Perri Shakes-Drayton looks in good shape to continue the British medal rush in the 400m hurdles after advancing to the final as the second fastest qualifier.
Joining her there will be fellow Brit Eilidh Child whose third-place finish in her semi-final was good enough to secure automatic qualification to her first world final.
Shakes-Drayton will also contest her maiden global outdoor final and she admitted it was nice to have buried the demons of last year when she just missed out on the London 2012 medal showdown.
"I feel good, I had to make the final before I can think about anything else," said Shakes-Drayton. "Anything can happen in the final, I have done the qualifying bit and that is a real relief.
"It's so draining both mentally and physically, even out there lining up for the race at one point it came into my head, the memories of London but I had to put that behind me.
"This is the first top-level final that I have made and I have two days to relax and look after myself now."
There was bad news for Britain's men in the 400m hurdles however as defending world champion Dai Greene, Rhys Williams and Sebastian Rodger all went out in the semi-finals.
And Greene, who has been hindered all season with a variety of injuries and illness including a hernia and a calf problem, admitted he was struggling from the get-go.
"It was very lacklustre from the start, I was struggling to get the intensity up in the early stages of the race," he said.
"The intensity levels are so difficult to get up, that's what I've been missing in the last few weeks and it showed out there."
Meanwhile Andrew Osagie finished fifth in the 800m final while Hannah England, who won world silver two years ago, is safely through to the 1500m final.
England was fifth in her semi-final and admitted afterwards that she is coming into form at just the right time in Moscow.
"It feels good to have put two good races together in two days, that is great to have under your belt and I'm looking forward to going out and giving everything in the final," she said.
And finally Eilish McColgan, who broke the Scottish record in her heat on Saturday, had to settle for tenth in the women's 3,000m steeplechase final.

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Defar returns to centre stage in Moscow

Ethiopia's twice Olympic champion Meseret Defar takes to the track for the first time at these world championships in Wednesday's 5,000 metres heats after deciding not to run the 10,000 earlier in the week.
Defar, the 2007 world champion, starts as favourite for a second title in the absence of her great rival and compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba, who won the 10,000 crown on Sunday before saying she would not run the shorter distance.
Champion from Daegu two years ago, Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya is also absent as she is expecting her first child.
With no evening session, the men's 50km walk will be the only medal to be decided and the hosts will have high hopes of another gold from 2009 world champion and Olympic winner Sergey Kirdyapkin.

Key times on day three (UK times)

Morning session

05:30 06:30 Men's 50 Kilometres Race Walk - Final

06:30 07:30 Women's Hammer Throw - Qualification Group A

06:40 07:40 Women's 5000 Metres - Heats

07:25 08:25 Men's Long Jump - Qualification

07:35 08:35 Men's 1500 Metres - Heats

08:10 09:10 Women's Hammer Throw - Qualification Group B

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Why Christine Ohuruogu will never be fully loved by the British public

When Christine Ohuruogu’s name flashed up in first place on the big screen in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium it confirmed her status as one of Britain’s most successful athletes of all time.
The Brit lunged past favourite Amantle Montsho on the line to take 400m gold and reclaim the world crown she won in Osaka six years ago.
Ohuruogu’s knack of only producing sub-50 second runs in major championships is unrivalled and she is undoubtedly one of the greatest tacticians currently operating in world athletics.
Yet for many she will never be up there with British heroes Dame Kelly Holmes, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Sally Gunnell - or mentioned in the same breath as Paula Radcliffe, Tessa Sanderson and Denise Lewis - despite her two world titles, Olympic gold and silver medals and a national record to boot.
And she doesn’t deserve to be either.
The problem stems from 2006 when Ohuruogu was suspended from competing for missing three out-of-competition drugs tests. It was a massive blow to British athletics, more so as she was being touted as a potential face of the London games.
To her credit she immediately apologised but insisted she was guilty of nothing more than not informing the testers of when she moved training venue.
Ohuruogu was cleared twice by drugs testers either side of her third missed test and three independent inquiries concluded “forgetfulness” was behind her mistake. But every other athlete adhered to the strict rules by practically having their life governed by the doping whereabouts scheme.
Just because Ohuruogu’s story appears to add up doesn’t mean we should necessarily excuse her and blindly celebrate her success.
She returned from her year out to win gold at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka before following it up with success in Beijing after overturning her lifetime Olympic ban.
And although she couldn’t quite close down America’s Sanya Richards-Ross at London 2012, this week she reaffirmed herself on the world stage with a stunning run in Moscow.
But the mistakes of her younger self leave a cloud of doubt hanging over her. It shouldn’t matter that she was banned before her international success; the fact is she fell foul of the drugs laws and if the sport wants credibility they must acknowledge as much – however harsh it seems.
Athletics is teetering on the edge after the revelations surrounding Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell and although the World Championships have shifted attention back to the track, it won’t be long before doping becomes the sport’s hot topic again.
It’s a disservice to the hard-working athletes who continue to be tested that her negligence, or worse, is allowed to be ignored and the worldwide audience has every right to view Ohuruogu with uncertainty after the events of seven years ago.
Anyone can miss a drugs test through complacency but missing three should rightly raise suspicion otherwise it renders the whole system redundant. It was Ohuruogu’s responsibility to ensure the drug testers were informed of her whereabouts and she must suffer the consequences now she’s a global star.
It’s the classic doping cliché, but if Britain celebrated her achievements akin to how they reacted to Jess Ennis-Hill’s London triumph then it sends out the wrong message to the youngsters of ‘Inspire a Generation’.
Regardless of whether Ohurougu cheated or not - and she is adamant she did not - it was her responsibility to take the tests and she must face up to that.
Yes, what she has achieved is remarkable and may never be repeated by a British athlete, but if we are to class her career in the same bracket as Holmes, Ennis and Gunnell then it devalues the entire sport.

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Furious Tomlinson slams Rutherford as Olympic champion crashes out

Britain's Chris Tomlinson was left furious after compatriot and Olympic champion Greg Rutherford failed to reach the long jump final.
Rutherford, 26, suffered a hamstring tear at the Paris Diamond League meeting in early July, and his jump fell short of the 7.89m cut-off point.
With only three men reaching the automatic qualifying standard of 8.10m, the cut-off point to make Friday's final was reduced – a distance that Rutherford was agonisingly close to reaching.
Rutherford spoke to the BBC after the event: "The season wasn't going too badly up until Paris, when I ruptured a hamstring. I broke all the rules, really, in rehabbing quicker than I think anybody has in history from a ruptured hamstring.
"Training has been going really well and I woke up today and thought, 'This is going to be a good day'. But I knew after the final jump when I saw 7.87m come up that it wouldn't be enough and, even if it was enough, it's not really competitive. So I knew straight away."
Rutherford's failure was met with anger by fellow British long jumper Tomlinson, who took to Twitter to express his frustration having being overlooked for the World Championships to allow the injured Olympic champion to compete.
He wrote in a tweet, which was subsequently deleted: "Words can't describe my anger. Season ruined on media profile & not current athletic form. Thanks for the support from the athletics community."
Tomlinson later posted another tweet saying he needed to calm down in order to have a more measured reaction.

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Ireland's Heffernan wins walk title at 35

Ireland's Robert Heffernan won the World Athletics Championship 50km walk title on Wednesday as the 35-year-old finally tasted glory after 13 years of heartbreak and near-misses.
Heffernan, fourth in the 2012 Olympic 50km and fourth in both walks at last year's European championships, broke clear of Mikhail Ryzhov after 35km to deny Russia a clean sweep of the walks after they took gold in both 20km events earlier in the week.
The Irishman, who withdrew before the 2011 race after his mother died suddenly, piled on the pressure in the latter stages, opening a 25-second gap going into the last 5km as the temperature rose following a cool start to the day and triumphed in three hours, 37 minutes and 56 seconds, the fastest time of the year.
Ryzhov took silver more than a minute behind while double Olympic silver medallist Jared Talent won bronze for Australia.
"I knew I was in the shape of my life, physically, mentally, preparation-wise everything was right and I had no excuses," he told journalists after winning Ireland's first world gold in 18 years.
"It was the Rocky scenario; I wanted to come here and beat the Russians in Moscow and that's what I did."
It was Ireland's third-ever world gold following the 5,000 metres victories of Sonia O'Sullivan in 1995 and Eamonn Coghlan in 1983.
"It's surreal, I can't quite believe it - though I always thought I could do it," he said. "When I came into the stadium and looked up at the big screen and saw myself it was like an out of body experience.
"Then I thought 'hey, I'm looking good and I'm going to win this' and was able to relax and really enjoy that final lap."
If anyone deserved to enjoy his moment in the sun it was Heffernan, who has worked long and hard with precious little reward in a backwater of the sport.
Racing the 20km distance he was 28th in the Sydney Olympics, disqualified in Athens and eighth in Beijing.
It was a similar story in the world championships and after finishing 15th in 2009 he had had just about enough of being an "also-walked."
However, encouraged by his hero, Poland's four-time Olympic gold medallist Robert Korzeniowski, he decided to carry on and came agonisingly close to a medal with two fourth place finishes in the 2010 European championships.
He travelled to South Korea a year later fully confident of going at least one place better, only to get the shocking news of his mother's death, leading to him returning home.
Putting more emphasis on the longer distance he finished ninth at the London Olympic 20km then took another fourth, having led early on, in the 50km.
"London was not a disappointment," he insisted on Wednesday.
"Everyone keeps telling me it was but I put in a great performance that just wasn't good enough to win a medal on the day."
Heffernan said his training and motivation since then had been ideal and he had to stop himself looking for excuses in the last few days before Wednesday's race. "Everything had gone perfectly and I just had to say to myself 'you have no excuses now, just go out there and execute the plan'.
"And that's what I did. I wanted to beat the Russians in their own back yard but I was just concentrating on my technique."
As the sun began to beat down after cool, wet conditions at the start, Heffernan began to pile on the pressure after around 35km. Ryzhov was the only man to stay with him but he eventually fell back as the gap stretched to 20 seconds with 5km to go.
Concentrating hard to avoid a heartbreaking late disqualification, Heffernan also made a mental note to complete the 500 metres circuit-and-a-bit of the Luzhniki track after
Russia's Elena Lashmanova almost blew her victory by stopping prematurely in Tuesday's 20km race.
His vast experience ensured he made no mistake, however, despite the pain of one of the most excruciating events in the programme.
"The last 10km are like a crucifixion so all you can do is prepare mentally for it," he said.
"But I was able to enjoy it at the end. Two years ago was the saddest time of my life, an awful experience I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
"That sort of thing helps you appreciate the good times."
Irish team mate Brendan Boyce, who finished 25th in a personal best time of 3:54.24, said Heffernan fully deserved his success after working so hard for so long and said the two planned to celebrate as only the Irish can.
"We are actually due to fly home very early tomorrow," Boyce said. "We'll see how that goes!"

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Isinbayeva credits coach for return to world summit

Watching her every move like a hawk from his front row seat in the Luzhniki Stadium, Yefgeny Trofimov never lost faith that Yelena Isinbayeva could rise again.
The white-haired and moustachioed coach was there when the Russian began her journey to pole vault greatness as a 15-year-old, and it was fitting that she ran to embrace Trofimov first after her "resurrection".
Isinbayeva, who has jumped higher than any female vaulter, secured a third world title in front of an ecstatic crowd on Tuesday, lighting up a world championships that has desperately needed a big-name homegrown winner.
After announcing she would take a second break from a sport she has redefined with countless world records, Isinbayeva hailed Trofimov as the man behind her rejuvenation following a loss of form.
"Before 2009, I'd never faced defeat. I'd never faced troubles or difficulties. Everything was easy to me, but since 2009 I've been very, very down," she told reporters.
"I lost everything. Of course it hurt me a lot. I thought maybe I have to stop because I'm not able to jump higher anymore. But my coach said: 'don't give up, don't give up, I believe in you, soon you will come back to your top'."
Isinbayeva split with Trofimov after her first Olympic gold in 2004 to team up with Ukraine pole vault great Sergey Bubka's mentor Vitaly Petrov.
Her success continued until, out-of-form, she put away her poles in 2010, taking 11 months out before returning to the sport and rekindling her partnership with Trofimov.
She took bronze at last year's London Olympics, thought about retiring then, but got her appetite for vaulting back.
"He was a wise man; he never forced me, he listened to me. So then in March he said, 'Shall we try, let's give it a shot'. That's how it all began," she added.
"He never put his arms down, he always believed in me," she said. "He resurrected me, he resuscitated me. Instilled so much faith, he promised me that I would return to my best."

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Olympic champion Defar canters through heat

Ethiopia's twice Olympic champion Meseret Defar set the fastest time in women's 5,000 metres qualifying, winning the second and last heat in which 10 of the 11 starters all progressed to the final.
A slow first heat, won by Kenyan Mercy Cherono, gave the also-rans who followed in heat two a time target to aim for and a good pace ensured all except Georgian Giuli Dekanadze, who was lapped by the field, went through.
Defar, world champion in 2007 but bronze medallist in each of the last two editions, said she had "prepared well" for Moscow, where her task has been made easier with team mate Tirunesh Dibaba, winner of the 10,000 metres, not bidding for a distance double.
"I am ready for the final," Defar said. "It will be a battle between Kenya and Ethiopia again."
Kenya's Asbel Kiprop and Silas Kiplagat battled it out for 1,500 metres gold and silver two years ago in Daegu, South Korea, and both eased into Friday's semi-finals with heat wins.
Kiprop is favourite to defend his title after clocking a stunning 3:27.72 in Monaco on July 19, putting him fourth on the all-time list, but he guarded against complacency.
"I never under-estimate anyone," the tall Kenyan said.
In women's hammer qualifying Germany's Betty Heidler was a notable casualty, the 2007 world champion and twice silver medallist putting her failure to reach Friday's final down to "technical problems".
Guts, guile and no lack of self-belief propelled Irishman Robert Heffernan to 50km race walk victory.
While the Russian enjoyed the cheers of a nation, the 35-year-old Heffernan had the one supporter who mattered most as he scooped Ireland's first world gold in 18 years.
"My wife is here with me and we are so happy," he said with understatement after denying the hosts a clean sweep of the walks after they took gold in both 20km events earlier in the week.
"I believed I could be the winner," he added after a career of near medal misses.
"It was very tough but I tried to stay positive. The last 10km are like a crucifixion."
With no evening session on Wednesday as the nine-day championships take a breather, the walk and a handful of qualifying represented thin fare.
Two long-jump champions at opposite ends of their careers experienced contrasting fortunes, with Briton's Olympic winner Greg Rutherford failing to reach the final and 'golden oldie' Dwight Phillips continuing his dream of a last hurrah.
Rutherford declared himself fit at the last minute for the championships after suffering a hamstring tear five weeks ago, but his best of 7.81 metres on Wednesday fell short.
"I just didn't have what it took out there today. Believe me, I gave everything," the 26-year-old said.
"My last training session, I had it two days ago and it felt fantastic."
American Phillips, 35, postponed his retirement for a year to try and become the first US athlete to win five individual world championship titles in the same event.
"Today my body felt great. Once you are in the final anything can happen," Phillips, world champion in 2003, 2005, 2009 and 2011, said after a season's best effort of 7.95.

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Moscow missing injured Olympic heroes

Injury is a risk for athletes who regularly push their bodies to the extremes in the never-ending search for faster, higher, stronger performances and post-Olympic 2013 seems to have been a particularly bad year for casualties.
The exertions of competing in last year's Games have left many battered and bruised, so the world championships in Moscow have been hit by a string of absentees and the event has been at risk of becoming more about who is not competing than who is.
For twice-Olympic 1,500 metres champion and London 2012 organiser Sebastian Coe it was only to be expected.
"Athletes that have emerged from a big Olympic year tend to be injury prone. We've lost people along the way this year and the doesn't surprise me," he told a news conference in Moscow last week.
"When I came out of my 1984 Olympic campaign, my father, who was my coach, described training me the following year like training an eggshell because an Olympic year is hard.
"It is mentally and physically bruising," added Coe, who struggled with injury the year after retaining his Olympic 1,500 title in Los Angeles.
"You do more things and you do them with greater intensity in an Olympic year."
The Moscow casualty list includes Kenya's Olympic and world 800 metres champion David Rudisha and twice world marathon winner Abel Kirui, Jamaican Yohan Blake - the 2011 100 metres gold medallist - and Olympic 1,500 champion Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria.
The heptathlon was particularly hard hit with the three London medallists, Britain's Jessica Ennis-Hill, Lilli Schwarzkopf of Germany and Russian Tatyana Chernova all missing due to various ailments, leaving unheralded Ukrainian Ganna Melnichenko to win her first major title at the age of 30.
Plenty of athletes have arrived in the Russian capital seemingly held together with sticking plaster.
"Am I the same as I was last year? I think physically I actually feel a little more worn down," Olympic decathlon champion Ashton Eaton told a news conference before winning the world title.
"You see a lot of Olympic champions not at this meet. I think it does take a toll on your mind and your body."
For an athlete, competing at the Olympic Games is the pinnacle of their career and the thing that makes the years of training and sacrifice worth it.
Consequently, many struggle to maintain that level of performance and some may never attain it again.
Of those athletes in Moscow, few will expect to emulate the heights that were so joyously witnessed by thousands over 10 glorious days in London's Olympic stadium.
"This year the results were relatively slower than we had in previous years. It's just because of the Olympics. Many of the athletes still feel tired and drained after the tough preparation and high-grade competition at the Olympic Games," US men's coach Mike Holloway said.
However, there is always an exception to the rule and unsurprisingly, the sport's biggest superstar Usain Bolt proved to be just that, though he was not quite as sharp as four years ago in Berlin where he set world records in the 100 and 200 metres after winning both titles at the 2008 Olympics.
"After Olympics people are tired, they put their bodies through a very strenuous period last year," said US 110 hurdles world record holder Aries Merritt.
"When it (the world championships) falls after Olympic year I think people suffer - though that wasn't the case in Berlin when Usain Bolt was able to do amazing things a year after Beijing."
However, even the world's greatest sprinter was more workmanlike than 'wow' when winning the 100 metres final in 9.77 seconds on a stormy night on Sunday.
Sadly for those who do win gold in Moscow, their moment of glory will be tainted by those asking what might have been.
Heptathlon champion Melnichenko's total of 6,586 points was a personal best but it was also the lowest winning score in the history of the world championships.
Ethiopia's new 800 metres world champion Mohammed Aman has inevitably been faced with questions about the absence of world record holder Rudisha who has a knee injury.
Aman could finish only sixth in the Olympic final when Rudisha smashed his world record in what was essentially not a race but a two-lap time trial against the clock for the tall Kenyan.
"I am very sad for him because injuries are very hard on athletes," said Aman, who is no slouch himself and the only man to have beaten Rudisha since 2009.
"I am very sorry for him, but I don't do sport for Rudisha, I do it for me. I didn't say that because Rudisha is not involved, that the gold is for me. I didn't say that because there are some very strong athletes here."

 

[Smallville22]

World Championships - Moscow braced for classic men's 400 hurdles final

Having taken a night off on Wednesday, fortuitously timed for Yelena Isinbayeva's emotional pole vault victory to soak in, the action comes thick and fast again at the World Championships on Thursday with six gold medals up for grabs.
It could be regarded as "barrier night" on the track with both 400 metres hurdles finals as well as the men's steeplechase. On the infield, there is the men's high jump and women's triple jump, with the women's 1,500m finishing off the action.
The men's one-lap hurdles has produced some great finals in recent years and Thursday's race could be another as American Michael Tinsley starts favourite but faces a stiff challenge from Puerto Rico's Javier Culson, compatriot Kenny Clement, Cuba's Omar Cisneros and the evergreen Felix Sanchez.
It is a different story in the women's race, where Czech Zuzana Hejnova looks a class above the field, who should be scrambling amongst themselves for silver.
Abeba Aregawi will be similarly favoured in the 1,500m after winning all five of her Diamond League races this season but the Ethiopian-turned-Swede was caught out tactically in last year's Olympic final and needs to show she has learned from the experience.

Key times on day six (UK times)

Morning session

06:30 Men's Javelin Throw - Qualification Group A

06:40 Women's High Jump - Qualification

06:55 Women's 800 Metres - Heats

07:20 Men's Shot Put - Qualification

07:55 Women's 200 Metres - Heats

10:00 Men's Javelin Throw - Qualification Group B

Afternoon session

16:00 Men's High Jump - Final

16:05 Men's 4x400 Metres Relay - Heats

16:40 Women's Triple Jump - Final

16:45 Women's 200 Metres - Semi-Final

17:20 Men's 3000 Metres Steeplechase - Final

17:45 Women's 400 Metres Hurdles - Final

18:00 Men's 400 Metres Hurdles - Final

18:20 Women's 1500 Metres - Final