 |
| Jennifer Barringer Simpson |
Pior to the championships Simpson had the 25th best time of the season, she wasn't even expected to make it past semi-finals much less the gold. Simpson, however, did not let her poor ranking trouble her and romped home to gold with a smile of utter jubilation. Britain's Hannah England ran strong in the last metres for silver in 4:05:68, overtaking a tiring Natalia Rodriguez of Spain. Two time defending champion and pre-race favourite Maryam Jamal never really factored in the final and ended a disappointing 12th.
Demus Triumphs with 3rd fastest time in 400m Hurdles
Lashinda Demus got the better of the Jamaicans in a spectacular 400m hurdle final. Demus who in 2009 played bridesmaid to Jamaica's Melaine Walker finally got her revenge. Walker, running out of the undesirable lane 8, got off to a very fast start and was marginally ahead of the field for most of the race. However, on the backstretch, Demus kicked into another gear and powered to the line in a world lead of 52.47sec. Walker clocked a season best of 52.73 which is commendable considering her season-long struggle with form. Russia's Natalya Antyukh came through for third, out running 2010's Diamond League winner Kaliese Spencer. Prior to the championships Spencer had displayed amazing form but was clearly not at her best through the rounds. By the last 40 metres Spencer's legs had given up.
Dai Greene Cruises to Gold
In a fine run, Dai Greene provided the UK with it's first gold medal of the championships. The field had an even start with the fastest qualifier Puerto Rican Javier Culson opening up a lead at the final curve. 50 metres to the line a confident Greene surged ahead, powering to the line in 48.26sec. Culson was a clear second in 48.44sec, he was followed by South Africa's LJ van Zyl for the bronze. The American's surprisingly did not finish among the medals, as Angelo Taylor and former champion Bershawn Jackson finished down the field.
 |
| Ezekiel Kemboi in celebration |
Kenya continued it's great performance in Daegu with another 1, 2 finish in men's steeple chase. Ezekiel Kemboi became the first Kenyan to successfully defend his world championship title. With about 300metres to go Kemboi completely changed the pace and literally sped to the line. Well before the end of the race he still had time to hail the crowd. The race was awesome but the real entertainment started AFTER it. The Kenyan took his shirt off and gave the audience a taste of African rhythm by whining and gyrating his waistline in obvious glee. I was so caught up in the moment I barely registered the times for 2nd and 3rd place, but here they are. Brimin Kipruto got silver in 8:16:05 and France's Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad got bronze in 8:16:09
0 comments:
Post a Comment