Dafne Schippers becomes third fastest 200-meter runner of all-time
Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands became the third fastest woman of all-time with her 21.63 as she ran down Elaine Thompson of Jamaica in the final of the 200-meters. Schippers became the first European woman to win gold in the event since Anastasiya Kapachinskaya of Russia in 2003.
Schippers sought medical attention after her run after a coach says she blacked out and was feeling unwell. She later returned and appeared to be well during interviews.
World record holder Florence Griffith-Joyner ran faster than Schippers on two occasions with her 21.34 and 21.56 in 1988. Marion Jones, who later admitted to performance enhancing drug use, ran 21.62 at altitude at the 1988 Continental Cup in Johannesburg.
Watch Schippers run the fourth fastest 200 meters of all-time:
Thompson’s 21.66 puts her at fifth on the all-time list. Merlene Ottey’s Jamaican record of 21.64 still stands.
The 2008 Olympic champion, Veronica Campbell Brown, ran 21.97 for bronze and completes her medal set, which includes a 2011 world championship gold and ’07 world championship silver.
Reigning 200-meter Olympic champion Allyson Felix, who opted to run the 400 here and won gold on Thursday, falls to sixth fastest on the all-time list.
Candyce McGrone ran a personal best of 22.01 to finish fourth as the top American.
Men’s 110-meter hurdles:
World record holder Aries Merritt, who will receive a kidney transplant next Tuesday, took bronze in a season’s best of 13.04. It was his fastest time since September of 2012, when he ran 12.80 at the Brussels Diamond League Meet.
Merritt has known that he needs a kidney transplant since the 2015 Prefontaine Classic in late May and has been competing at less than 20% kidney function.
"This feat that I pulled off today – this bronze medal – is going to shine brighter than my gold for sure because despite everything I was going through, I still was able to pull of a medal and a season's best of 13.04," Merritt told LetsRun.com after the race. "I'm so happy I was able to perform and be mentally tough in these rounds. It's very hard to run rounds with my current state of health."
Ahead of Merritt, Sergey Shubenkov set a Russian national record of 12.98 to take down the French and American stars expected to be on top of the podium. Shubenkov is just the second European champion in the event and the first since Colin Jackson of Great Britain in 1999. Hansle Parchment of Jamaica took silver in a season’s best of 13.03.
Defending world champion David Oliver struggled with his start and finished seventh in 13.33.
Men’s decathlon: Olympic and world champion Ashton Eaton kicked things off by running 10.23 in the 100-meter dash, a new championship record. He then came back and ran 45.00 in the 400 run to shave .55 seconds of his personal best.
“I swear the clock is wrong,” Eaton told Eurosport after the race. “In the decathlon? I guess I felt pretty good.”
The time in the 100 was his fastest since 2012, when he set the world record at the U.S. Olympic Trials. His previous 400-meter personal best was just recently set on Aug. 1 at the American Track League meet in Atlanta.
Eaton leads the standings after four events on the first day of competition with his 4,728 point total. Canada’s Damian Warner sits second, 173 points behind Eaton with a 4,530 point total.
Watch Eaton's decathlon 400-meter world best:
[youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCyyKOAh1M8]
Eaton is just 25 points off of his world record pace. Since 2012, Eaton has set personal bests in the pole vault and javelin, which will be contested on the second day.
Two-time world champion Trey Hardee withdrew from competition after sustaining a lower-back injury in the long jump.
Women’s 100-meter hurdles final: In the closest finish in this event in world championship history, Jamaica’s Danielle Williams lowered her personal best for the second time in one day, peaking at exactly the right time to capture gold in 12.57 seconds.
Cindy Roleder of Germany ran 12.59 for silver, as Alina Talay rounded out the podium with her 12.66 for bronze.
The United States was shut out of the podium for the first time since 2009. Defending champion Brianna Rollins was the top American as she clipped one of the earlier hurdles but recovered to place fourth in 12.67.
Dawn Harper Nelson’s luck ran out at the Bird’s Nest as the 2008 Olympic gold medalist clipped the second hurdle in her semifinal and failed to finish the race. NCAA champion Kenni Harrison of Kentucky false started in the following section, which resulted in a disqualification.
Watch the women's 100-meter hurdle final below:
[youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-lM0I9__SI]
Women’s long jump final: Tianna Bartoletta of the United States claimed her second long jump world championship gold medal, 10 years after she won her first, at the 2005 championships in Helsinki.
Men’s 1,500-meter semifinal: The United States advanced three men into the 1,500-meter final for the first time since 2009. That year, Bernard Lagat took bronze (after winning in 2007), Lopez Lomong finished eighth, and Leo Manzano finished last in 3:40.05.
Now Manzano, who grabbed a surprise Olympic silver in London in 2012, is back in a worlds final, this time joined by 2013 silver medalist Matthew Centrowitz and former NCAA standout Robby Andrews.
Elijah Manangoi ran 3:35.00 for the fastest time of the day. Olympic champion Taoufik Makhloufi and world champion Asbel Kiprop also advanced to the final.
Men’s high jump: Fourteen men qualified for the final. Olympic silver medalist Erik Kynard of the United States snuck in with one of the final spots. The favorites, Mutaz Barshim of Qatar , Bohdan Bondarenko of Ukraine and Derek Drouin of Canada, all advanced as well.
Women’s 4x100-meter relay: The United States women will be without 100-meter bronze medalist Tori Bowie after USATF ruled her ineligible for the relay pool because she missed the team’s training camp in July.
Medal Table: Kenya won no events on Friday, but remains on top with six gold medals. The United States leads in quantity with 14 medals (four gold, four silver and six bronze.) Jamaica has four gold medals, two silver and three bronze to round out the top three.
