Preview: Usain Bolt, the superstar who made athletics fun and watchable for the past decade returns to the track for the final time Saturday to run on Jamaica’s 4x100-meter relay team. Mo Farah will also be in action on the penultimate day of the championships in his swansong race, the men’s 5,000 metres. The rest of the six events of the decathlon will take place with the 1,500 metres bringing to close the multi-discipline event. Jamaica will be competing with their historic rival, United States of America in both men’s and women’s 4x100 metres relay finals. The women’s high jump, the other gold medal event, where Russian athlete Maria Lasitskene, competing under the Authorized Neutral Athlete category, is the strongest contender. In the women’s 100 metres hurdles, it will be a two-horse race with former 100 metres hurdles champion Sally Pearson of Australia going up against world record holder Kendra Harrison of the US for the title. A victory for Sally Pearson would find Australia a place in the medal tally. While the Indian relay teams will be in action in the men’s and women’s 4x400 metres event, Davinder Singh Kang, who became the first Indian to qualify for the men’s javelin final event at the worlds will be other Indian in the fray.
Highlights, IAAF World Athletics Championships 2017, Results, Day 9 in London: Usain Bolt, Mo Farah lose in respective last races
Catch all the live updates from the Day 9 of the 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships as Usain Bolt sets his sight on the gold medal in men’s 4x100 metres relay.
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That’s it! A day of heartbreaks and sadness but also a day of new world champions. France’s Kevin Mayer and Germany’s Johannes Vetter won their first ever gold medals in the decathlon and javelin throw events. We also saw Maria Lasitskene successfully defend her title in the women’s high jump event. Allyson Felix led the USA women’s 4x100m relay team to victory while Sally Pearson added the World Championship title to her 2012 London Olympic gold in the 100m hurdles. It wasn’t meant to be for Sir Mo Farah and Usain Bolt as they both failed to win in the last races of their careers finishing second and limping out respectively. The duo though will always be remembered as the greatest athletes ever.
This was not how anyone had imagined Usain Bolt’s career to come to an end. The world’s fastest man ever exited the stage limping and grimacing as the whole stadium went crazy after seeing the home team Great Britain win gold, defying all odds and expectations. Usain Bolt, the greatest athlete of the modern era had the most anti-climatic end to his career. On a day which had seen Mo Farah, another legend, fail to win the 5,000m event, Bolt’s heartbreaking exit, dashed the hopes of fans around the world who had hoped to see the Jamaican bow out with another gold in his kitty. Sadly, however, Bolt departs the sporting world broken and beaten.
Great Britain win the men’s 4x100m as Usain Bolt injures himself as Jamaica fail to finish the race
Bolt came pulled up with an injury halfway down the straight, dropping the baton before collapsing on the track. The greatest athlete of all time crosses the finish line limping with the support of his teammates.
Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake brought the baton home 37.47 ahead of the US last leg runner Christian Coleman. The USA clinch silver with a timing of 37.52 seconds, with Japan in 38.04 winning bronze.
Usain Bolt takes to the track for one final time in the men’s 4x100m relay. Will Bolt go out with a bang or will a Justin Gatlin-led USA ruin Bolt’s farewell?
Sir Mo Farah, take a bow!
USA Women win 4x100m relay
Tori Bowie, the individual 100m champion anchors the United States in the women’s 4x100m final in 41.82sec, the fastest run this season, with Britain clinching silver in 42.12 ahead of Jamaica who win bronze in 42.19.
Johannes Vetter clinches gold in the men’s javelin throw, Davinder Singh Kang finishes 12th
Germany’s Johannes Vetter, who finished fourth in the Rio Olympics in 2016, wins the men’s javelin throw after throwing a distance of 89.89m. The Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch wins silver with a personal best of 89.73m with compatriot Petr Frydrych winning bronze with a throw of 88.32m. India’s Davinder Singh Kang finishes in 12th place.
The last two events of the day beckon which includes the farewell race of a certain Usain Bolt. Can he bow out in style? Time will tell
Davinder Singh finishes 12th in the men’s javelin throw
Kevin Mayer wins the men’s decathlon
France’s Kevin Mayer adds a World Championship gold to the Olympic silver he won in Rio last year with a score of 8768 points. He ensured his crown by finishing eighth in the last event in the decathlon, the 1,500m race. Rico Freimuth of Germany with 8564 takes the silver with the bronze going to his compatriot Kaz Kazmirek with a season’s best of 8488.
Maria Lasitskene retains her high jump gold medal
Maria Lasitskene has successfully defended her title with the Russian athlete competing as a neutral jumping a height of 2.03m before unsuccessfully attempting to clear 2.06m. Ukraine’s Yulia Levchenko cleared her personal best of 2.01m with Poland’s Kamila Licwinko clearing 1.99 to clinch bronze.
Ethiopia’s Muktar Edris pips Sir Mo Farah for gold in the men’s 5,000m!
Edris holds of Mo Farah’s late charge to win gold on the legendary Briton’s final race. Edris does Farah’s traditional celebration, the ‘Mobot" as Farah collapses to the ground after crossing the finish line in disbelief as he fails to complete the 5,000m/10,000m double. The crowd though applauds one of Britain’s most decorated athlete as he congratulates Edris.
India’s Davinder Singh is in action in the final of the men’s javelin throw event. The Asian Championship bronze medalist begins with a throw of 75.40 and is in 12th place. The German favourite Johannes Vetter leads with a mammoth throw of 89.89 metres.
Sir Mo Farah is on the track as he aims to achieve an unprecedented fifth global double (5,000/10,000 metres). The Ethiopian trio of Muktar Edris, Yomif Kejelcha and Selemon Barega will be aiming to spoil Farah’s party.
Sally Pearson wins gold in the women’s 100m hurdles!
The London Olympic gold medalist beats the challenge from Beijing Olympic champion Dawn Harper Nelson to blaze to victory in 12.57 seconds. Nelson, in 12.63 seconds finishes ahead of Germany’s Pamela Dutkiewicz who wins bronze with a timing of 12.72 seconds.
World record holder Kendra Harrison hit the third hurdle and finishes in fourth place.
USA’s Kendra Harrison and Australia’s Sally Pearson go into the women’s 100 metres hurdles as favourites to win the event. Harrison, the World Record holder will be aiming to bag her maiden World Championships gold. London Olympics gold medalist Pearson stormed into the finals with a timing of 12.53 seconds. Expect a thrilling race between the two.
Janek Oiglane of Estonia threw the javelin out to a personal best distance of 71.73m and took the lead in the Group B of throwers taking part in the penultimate decathlon event.
Kevin Mayer, France’s Rio 2016 silver medallist, threw a distance of 66.10m as he reclaimed his overall lead going into the 1,500m event, the final event in the men’s decathlon.
We are underway in the women’s high jump final where Russia’s Maria Lasitskene competing as a neutral athlete, Lithuania’s Airine Palsyte Spain’s Ruth Beitia and Poland’s Kamila Licwinko go head to head. Also in the contention are the US pair of Inika McPherson and 18-year old Vashti Cunningham and Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who receives a rousing welcome from the home crowd as she is introduced before the final.
At the end of Group A’s javelin throw event of the men’s decathlon, Czech Republic’s Adam Sebastian Helcelet moves into the lead as his throw of 71.56m earns him 913 points with Britain’s Ashley Grant second in Group A with a throw of 67.97m. France’s Kevin Mayer can reclaim the lead when he takes to the field in Group B’s javelin throw. It will all boil down to the 1,500m race which will take place at 1.15 IST, just before the women and men’s 4×100 relay events.
Good evening and welcome to Firstpost’s live coverage of the IAAF World Athletics Championships 2017 Day 9’s second session. Tonight the world will see two sporting legends bid adieu to. Usain Bolt is in contention for a gold as he participates in the men’s 4×100 metres relay with Jamaica after he missed out on a gold to the USA’s Justin Gatlin in the 100 metres event. Will we see Bolt bow out on a high or will Gatlin spoil Bolt’s farewell race with another gold with the USA? Sir Mo Farah will also run his last race in the men’s 5,000 metres final where he is favourite to win and he’ll be eager to add a gold after winning one in the 10,000 metres event earlier in the week. Stay tuned for all the action live from London.
Hero, the hedgehog, the Championships mascot, has been one of the off-track highlights