September 02, 2007	Sunday	Sha'aban 19, 1428

OSAKA (Japan), Sept 1: Tyson Gay tore up the track to complete a rare sprint treble at the World Athletics Championships on Saturday and help the United States to the 4x100m relay crown.

Champion in the 100m and 200m, Gay became only the second man to achieve the feat at a single world championships when he teamed up with Darvis Patton, Wallace Spearmon Jr and Leroy Dixon to match compatriot Maurice Greene’s 1999 feat.

The American men ran 37.78 seconds to beat Jamaica into silver just as their women had done minutes earlier when Allyson Felix collected her second gold of the championships.

Brad Walker chipped in on a fantastic night for the States, becoming the first American to win the men’s pole vault at a world championships but the night belonged to Gay.

The victory was achieved despite two clumsy handovers involving Gay, who described receiving the baton from training partner Spearman Jr as “the worst hand off we’ve ever had.”

In the women’s race, 200m champion Felix received the baton from Lauryn Williams and passed it to Mikele Barber before Torri Edwards held off Jamaica’s 100m gold medallist Veronica Campbell to win by just three-hundredths of a second in 41.98 seconds.

It was the second time in two days Felix had foiled Campbell’s gold rush, the American beating Campbell into silver in the 200m on Friday.

Belgium took bronze ahead of Britain for their first women’s 4x100m relay medal in a world championships or Olympics.

Felix goes for her third gold in the 4x400m relay on Sunday.

Czech world record holder Roman Sebrle confirmed his place as the world’s best all-round athlete by winning the decathlon with 8,676 points, 350 off his 2001 record.

Maurice Smith won silver and Jamaica’s first world championships decathlon medal with 8,644 points, having led with just two events to go. Kazakh Dmitriy Karpov was third (8,586).

Walker beat Romain Mesnil of France on a countback to win the pole vault. Both men vaulted 5.86 metres but the American won the gold because he cleared the height at his first attempt while Mesnil took two goes.

Danny Ecker of Germany won the bronze, also on countback, after six men finished level on 5.81.

Ethiopia’s world record holder Meseret Defar won her first outdoor world title with victory in the 5,000 metres.

The 23-year-old was hot favourite after team mate Tirunesh Dibaba skipped the race due to stomach cramps following her 10,000 metres triumph.

Olympic champion Defar won in 14 minutes 57.91 seconds.

Kenya’s Vivian Cheruyiot was second with fellow Kenyan Priscah

Jepleting Cherono winning bronze.

Australia’s Nathan Deakes won the men’s 50km walk in an event noteworthy for a blunder by officials.

Japan’s Yuki Yamazaki was guided into Nagai stadium towards the finish with one lap remaining and failed to receive an official time when he crossed the line because he was short of the mark.

Results of finals on Saturday:

Men’s 50km walk: 1. Nathan Deakes (Australia) 3:43:53; 2. Yohan Diniz (France) 3:44:22; 3. Alex Schwazer (Italy) 3:44:38; 4. Denis Nizhegorodov (Russia) 3:46:57; 5. Erik Tysse (Norway) 3:51:52; 6. Mikel Odriozola (Spain) 3:55:19; 7. Sun Chao (China) 3:55:43; 8. Trond Nymark (Norway) 3:57:22; 9. Horacio Nava (Mexico) 3:58:17; 10. Jarkko Kinnunen (Finland) 3:58:22; 11. Antti Kempas (Finland) 3:59:34; 12. Donatas Skarnulis (Lithuania) 3:59:48; 13. Eddy Riva (France) 4:00:44; 14. David Boulanger (France) 4:01:30; 15. Antonio Pereira (Portugal) 4:02:09; 16. Ken Akashi (Japan) 4:02:31; 17. Yusuke Yachi (Japan) 4:05:21; 18. Diego Cafagna (Italy) 4:06:03; 19. Tim Berrett (Canada) 4:06:47; 20. Jesus Sanchez (Mexico) 4:07:14.

Men’s pole vault: 1. Brad Walker (US) 5.86 metres; 2. Romain Mesnil (France) 5.86; 3. Danny Ecker (Germany) 5.81; 4. Igor Pavlov (Russia) 5.81; 5. Bjoern Otto (Germany) 5.81; 6. Yevgeniy Lukyanenko (Russia) 5.81; 7. Alex Averbukh (Israel) 5.81; 8. Tim Lobinger (Germany) 5.81; 9. Steven Hooker (Australia) 5.76; 10. Fabio Gomes da Silva (Brazil) 5.76; 11. Maksym Mazuryk (Ukraine) 5.76; 12. Denis Yurchenko (Ukraine) 5.66.

Women’s 4x100-metre relay: 1. US 41.98 seconds (L. Williams/A. Felix/M. Barber/T. Edwards); 2. Jamaica 42.01 (S. Brooks/K. Stewart/S. Facey/V. Campbell); 3. Belgium 42.75 (O. Borlee/H. Marien/E. Ouedraogo/K. Gevaert); 4. Britain 42.87 (L. Turner/M. Douglas/E. Freeman/J. Maduaka); 5. Russia 42.97 (I. Grigorieva/N. Rusakova/Y. Gushchina/Y. Polyakova); 6. Belarus 43.37 (A. Shuliak/N. Safronnikova/Y. Nevmerzhitskaya/O. Dragun); 7. Germany 43.51 (K. Wakan/C. Tschirch/J. Kedzierski/V. Sailer); 8. Poland 43.57 (M. Jeschke/D. Korczynska/D. Jedrusinska/E. Klocek).

Women’s 5000 metres: 1. Meseret Defar (Ethiopia) 14 minutes 57.91 seconds; 2. Vivian Cheruiyot (Kenya) 14:58.50; 3. Prisca Jepleting (Kenya) 14:59.21; 4. Sylvia Chibiwott Kibet (Kenya) 14:59.26; 5. Elvan Abeylegesse (Turkey) 15:00.88; 6. Meselech Melkamu (Ethiopia) 15:01.42; 7. Jennifer Rhines (US) 15:03.09; 8. Shalane Flanagan (US) 15:03.86; 9. Joanne Pavey (Britain) 15:04.77; 10. Gelete Burka (Ethiopia) 15:07.46; 11. Mariya Konovalova (Russia) 15:09.71; 12. Silvia Weissteiner (Italy) 15:11.81; 13. Olga Kravtsova (Belarus) 15:11.82; 14. Kayoko Fukushi (Japan) 15:19.40; 15. Jessica Augusto (Portugal) 15:24.93.

Men’s 4x100-metre relay: 1. US 37.78 seconds (D. Patton/W. Spearmon/T. Gay/L. Dixon); 2. Jamaica 37.89 (M. Anderson/U. Bolt/N. Carter/A. Powell); 3. Britain 37.90 (C. Malcolm/C. Pickering/M. Devonish/M. Lewis-Francis); 4. Brazil 37.99 (V. de Lima/R. Ribeiro/B. de Moraes/S. Viana); 5. Japan 38.03 (N. Tsukahara/S. Suetsugu/S. Takahira/N. Asahara); 6. Germany 38.62 (R. Ostwald/T. Unger/A. Kosenkow/J. Reus).—Reuters

Medals table

(Tabulated under gold, silver, bronze, total):

United States 11 4 7 22

Russia 4 7 2 13

Kenya 3 2 5 10

Ethiopia 3 1 0 4

Germany 2 2 3 7

Czech Republic 2 1 0 3

Australia 2 0 0 2

Jamaica 1 5 3 9

Great Britain 1 1 2 4

Belarus 1 1 1 3

Cuba 1 1 1 3

Bahamas 1 1 0 2

China 1 0 1 2

Ecuador 1 0 0 1

Estonia 1 0 0 1

New Zealand 1 0 0 1

Panama 1 0 0 1

Portugal 1 0 0 1

Sweden 1 0 0 1

France 0 2 0 2

Spain 0 1 2 3

Italy 0 1 1 2

Bahrain 0 1 0 1

Brazil 0 1 0 1

Canada 0 1 0 1

Dominican Rep 0 1 0 1

Morocco 0 1 0 1

Qatar 0 1 0 1

Slovenia 0 1 0 1

Turkey 0 1 0 1

Ukraine 0 1 0 1

Poland 0 0 2 2

Belgium 0 0 1 1

Cyprus 0 0 1 1

Greece 0 0 1 1

Kazakhstan 0 0 1 1

Netherlands 0 0 1 1

Slovakia 0 0 1 1

Sri Lanka 0 0 1 1

Switzerland 0 0 1 1

Tunisia 0 0 1 1