Daegu Wrap - Day 9: Usain Bolt, Carmelita Jeter, Christian Taylor, and Mo Farah

The men's 4x100m provided the 1st and only world record of the championships ad what a fitting end to 9 days of glorious performances on the track.

The Jamaican quartet of Nesta carter,Michael Frater, Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt sped to a jaw dropping world and national record of 37.04 sec.
Carter started brilliantly on the first leg, giving Jamaica a sizable lead from the get go, handing over to Frater who maintained it, then to Blake who literally flew around the bend to Bolt who exploded on the backstretch. And to think an injured Asafa Powell wasn't even on the team. The men ran a mind blowing average of 9.25 seconds each.


The relay was however not without it's fair share of mishaps. Two teams USA and Great Britain unfortunately did not finish. A collision between the two on the last handover, ended Walter Dix's shot of challenging the Jamaicans for the gold. Though to be honest I'm not quite sure how much damage Dix could have done as Bolt looked virtually unstoppable.

Meanwhile France capitalized on the tragedies and seized the silver in 38.20 and let's not forget the St Kitts and Nevis team who got a historic breakthrough for bronze in 38.49

USA reclaims women's sprint title 

Although the USA men failed to reclaim the 4x100m relay title, their women sprint relay team had no such problems.

Bianca Knight, Allyson Felix, Marshevet Hooker-Myers and Carmelita Jeter blew away the competition in 41.56sec. Jamaica got off to a fine start with a tremendous first leg from Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce but by the 2nd leg, Felix had begun to make up some ground. Marshevet Hooker Myers ran an astounding 3rd leg to give the USA the edge, handing over to Jeter a good two metres ahead of the Jamaican team. After that really, the race was over.

Jamaica's anchor Veronica Campbell Brown put in an admirable effort but it just was not in the cards today. The USA team had much smoother handovers. Jamaica, however can take some consolation in having accomplished a new national record of 41.70. Ukraine followed with the bronze in 42.51.

Taylor hop, skip and jumps to gold 

With Teddy Tamgho absent from the championships, defending champion Phillips Idowu entered Daegu as the clear favourite. The athlete looked set to retain his title, especially after establishing an early lead in the competition with a first round jump of 17.56m.

But then came 21 year old year old Christian Taylor who leapt to an incredible 17.96m in the fourth round, to take the lead. For his part, Idowu did try to answer the challenge, jumping to a personal best of 17.77m but it was not enough. Taylor had the gold while his teammate, 20 year old Will Claye got the bronze in a leap of 17.50m.  This really sets things up nicely for London where we could very well witness jumps of 18 metres and over.

Mo Farah gets the gold at last.

All will remember the heartbreak of  British athlete Mo Farah after he lost the men's 10,000m. Well Farah put that disappointment squarely behind him and won the 5000m in fine style. At the bell, Farah who lead most of the way, staved off Ethiopia's Dejen Gebremeskel and America's Bernard Lagat. Farah crossed the line first with an awesome win of 13: 23.36sec. Lagat got the silver in 13:23.64 and Gebremeskel the bronze in 13:23.92.

I cannot over emphasize the outstanding performances at this championship, but what about the stars? Did they live up to expectations?

Usain Bolt: Did not get the expected 3 gold medals due to his false start in the 100m but bolted the Jamaican team to the only world record of the championships in the 4x100m relay


Allyson Felix: Didn't get the 200-400 double gold but got two relay gold medals, increasing her gold tally to a record of 8 gold medals.

Walter Dix: Did not fulfill his early promises of defeating Bolt but he leaves with two silver medals, easily the best accomplishment for the USA male sprinters in Daegu. Also a splendid personal best of 19.70 in the 200m

Carmelita Jeter: The 100-200 double gold evaded her but she does have the title of world's fastest woman and also a team gold medal from the 4x100m relay

Veronica Campbell Brown: She did not succeed in her quest for the sprint double but leaves the championships with her first ever 200m world championship title.

Phillips Idowu: He did not successfully defend his Triple Jump title but leaves with a silver medal and new personal best of 17.77m

Christophe Lemaitre: may not have medalled in the 100m but leaves with a bronze in the men's 200m and become the first Caucasian sprint to break the 20 second barrier in a personal best of 19.80sec. Lemaitre also leaves with a team bronze medal from the men's 4x100m relay.

Sally Pearson: Came into the championships as the 100m hurdles favourite and left not just with the expected gold, but leaves with a championship record of 12.28sec, the fastest time in 23 years.