BEIJING: Asbel Kiprop produced a trademark sprint finish to win a third straight 1,500 metres gold and ensure Kenya topped the medals table at successive world championships after the final night of action on Sunday.

The United States men won a sixth straight gold in 4x400m relay but Jamaica’s Novlene Williams-Mills ran down tiring American Francena McCorory in the women’s event to claim a seventh gold in Beijing for the Caribbean powerhouse.

Williams-Mills pulled out an eye-popping last 50m to catch Francena McCorory as the Jamaicans clocked this year’s best time of three minutes, 19.13 seconds to pip the United States on the line in Beijing and deny Allyson Felix a 10th world title.

“I came out here with a Jamaican ruff neck,” said third leg Stephenie Ann McPherson, using Jamaican slang for ‘street thug’, adding: “My team-mates did a great job.”

That was enough for second place on the medals table ahead of a US team who won only six golds, their worst tally in the 15 world championships.

Kiprop, Usain Bolt and his fellow Jamaican sprinter Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce were the only individual title winners from the Beijing Olympics to return to the Bird’s Nest and win gold again seven years later.

“I am so proud of myself to become part of this exclusive club of three-time world champions,” Kiprop told reporters after clocking three minutes 34.40 seconds to win.

“But I would dearly love to defend the title a fourth time in London in 2017. This allows me to join Algeria’s Noureddine Morceli but Hicham El Guerrouj still has one gold more and that is what I am aiming at.”

On a big day for Ethiopia, Almaz Ayana stunned Genzebe Dibaba to win the 5,000m and deny her team-mate a second gold medal at this year’s worlds.

Ayana clocked a championship record of 14:26.83 with Senbere Teferi taking silver in 14:44.07, a whisker ahead of Dibaba in an Ethiopian sweep of the podium.

Ethiopia’s great day started early, with another Dibaba excelling.

Mare Dibaba, no relation to Genzebe and Tirunesh, captured the first women’s marathon gold for Ethiopia at the world championships, holding off Helah Kiprop of Kenya in a race that was settled by a 100-metre sprint.

The 25-year-old Mare Dibaba patiently waited for the right time to make her move, constantly checking her watch before breaking away in the shadow of the stadium.

Dibaba finished in 2:27:35, edging Kiprop by one second in the closest women’s marathon finish ever at the worlds.

With the last throw of the competition, Kathrina Molitor of Germany won the javelin competition, sweeping past home favourite Lyu Huihui with a throw of 67.69m.

Derek Drouin of Canada won the men’s high jump title in a jump-off, clearing 2.34m after the last three competitors fouled out at 2.36 without missing at any previous heights.

Bohdan Bondarenko of Ukraine, the 2013 champion, and Zhang Guowei of China shared silver.

JAMAICA’S Novlene Williams-Mills (L) reacts as she crosses the finish line ahead of Francena McCorory of the US to win the final of the womens 4x400 metres event on Sunday.—AFP

“It’s really beautiful to own this title,” said Drouin. “I knew I was in good shape but hoping to win and making it actually happen are two different things.”

Lashawn Merritt anchored the US team to their victory in the final event of the championships, seeing off an explosive start to the final lap from young Jamaican Javon Francis and crossing the line in two minutes 57.82 seconds.

“I wanted to control the race,” said the 29-year-old Merritt, who won his 11th world championship medal.

“But I didn’t even know the guy from Jamaica who was on the anchor leg. I was in such a zone and focused on my people. But that’s the way he runs his race.

“I wasn’t really fazed. I picked it up a little bit because he was running hard. Then he was still running hard, I just shifted a gear.”

A fifth straight title defence was an appropriate end to a world championships that altered very little in the landscape of the sport, despite nine days of sometimes spectacular performances.

Despite an injury-ravaged season and the form of Justin Gatlin, Usain Bolt finished as he started as the dominant athlete of his age with a fifth sprint sweep at a major global championships.

The sport’s embattled leaders, meanwhile, faced as many questions about doping in their final news conference as they did on the eve of competition.

Sebastian Coe, who took over as president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) at the conclusion of the championships, knows he has a big job ahead of him.

DEREK Drouin of Canada celebrates after winning gold in the men’s high jump final on Sunday.—Reuters

“It is slightly the territory we have inherited and one of my responsibilities is to move us off that territory,” he said. “We are more than just a discussion about test tubes, blood and urine.”

Final medals table

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

Kenya 7 6 3 16 Jamaica 7 2 3 12 United States 6 6 6 18 Britain 4 1 2 7 Ethiopia 3 3 2 8 Poland 3 1 4 8 Canada 2 3 3 8 Germany 2 3 3 8 Russia 2 1 1 4 Cuba 2 1 0 3 China 1 7 1 9 Netherlands 1 1 1 3 South Africa 1 0 2 3 Belarus 1 0 1 2 Colombia 1 0 0 1 Czech Republic 1 0 0 1 Eritrea 1 0 0 1 Spain 1 0 0 1 Slovakia 1 0 0 1 Australia 0 2 0 2 Croatia 0 2 0 2 Bahamas 0 1 1 2 Trinidad & Tobago 0 1 1 2 Ukraine 0 1 1 2 Belgium 0 1 0 1 Brazil 0 1 0 1 Egypt 0 1 0 1 Israel 0 1 0 1 Tajikistan 0 1 0 1 Tunisia 0 1 0 1 France 0 0 2 2 Bosnia-Herzegovina 0 0 1 1 Bahrain 0 0 1 1 Finland 0 0 1 1 Greece 0 0 1 1 Grenada 0 0 1 1 Japan 0 0 1 1 Kazakhstan 0 0 1 1 Latvia 0 0 1 1 Morocco 0 0 1 1 Portugal 0 0 1 1 Serbia 0 0 1 1 Uganda 0 0 1 1

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2015

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