It's Track AND Field for WC Men: Days 1 to 3

Hard to believe there's 6 more days of action for the Men of the World in Beijing's Bird's Nest!
There's already been enough startling upsets, fast Heats & Semi's (Yes, I said HEATS!!), and even a few Records and Top 24 Marks to make it seem like this is a report of the FULL meet, not just one-third of it!

Lots to report, so I'll begin with a few Notes.

1. This post is about the MEN!  The WOMEN's post will come a few hours later.
2. This covers ALL of the events from August 22nd through 24th, including Field event Qualifying and Finals, and Heats, Semi's, and Finals of races.
3. I won't repeat the word "MEN's", since this post covers the guys ONLY!  (Same with the WOMEN when I do that post later!)
4. I'll wrap things up at the end.

It all started with the Marathon.
With the hot weather (73 temp at the start!), I didn't expect a fast race.
But come on, just 2:12:28??
That's all it took for 19 year old Ghirmay Ghebreslassie to win over the WR holder, Dennis Kimetto, and former WR holder, Wilson Kipsang.
In fact, those 2 didn't even finish the race!!
Ghirmay won by 40 seconds!
The Americans didn't fare well, their best being Ian Burrell's 25th place in 2:23:17!!
Jeff Eggleston was another DNF.

The 400 Heats were INCREDIBLE!!
In fact, noting these were HEAT times, I'd say the results here were the best so far on the track!
Never before has anyone run so fast in the 1st of 3 races!

Yousef Masrahi and Rasheen McDonald were both timed in 43.93, with Masrahi "winning"--although "winning" a heat is more about Qualifying for the next round than winning a race.
Masrahi had become a known quantity, but McDonald was a shocker.

Masrahi's 43.93 is the Saudi Arabia National Record.
It makes him 12th A-T World, tied with 1 other (who happens to now be McDonald!).

McDonald's 43.93 also places him 12th A-T World, tied with Masrahi!
It's the National Record of Jamaica.
He officially finished 2nd, but he just missed the 2nd Place record by 0.02 seconds!

Because of these 2 times, three men were removed from my World DDD!
They are Charles Gitanga with his 44.20 from 1996, Ian Morris, his 44.21 dating from 1992, and Antonio Pettigrew, his 44.21 dating from 1999.

Chris Brown Qualified for the Semi's, but his 44.68 did NOT break his own Age 36 record!

In the Heats of the 3000 Steeplechase, all 3 Americans qualified for the Final!
The fastest time was 8:24-plus.

But NO Americans qualified for the Hammer Throw Final!!
Pawel Fajdek---Who else??--led the Q's.

In the Qualifying for Pole Vault, Jake Blankenship and Brad Walker didn't make it, but Sam Kendricks did.
All of the "players" made it through.

The 100 Heats proved a couple of things--
The Bird's Nest has a FAST track!
And Bolt is ready!

It also proved that Justin Gatlin almost NEVER runs slow.
While his 9.83 was aided by a slight wind (2.1), it was the fastest Heat time!
Usain Bolt eased through with a 9.96, while just-turned-20 Trayvon Bromell ran 9.91.

James Dasaolu and Ancient Kim Collins didn't advance!

Mo Farah KNOWS how to win races--at ANY pace!!
And the 10000 Final proved this yet again!
But the Kenyan TEAM---and yes, they worked AS a TEAM!!--did what they believed was necessary to try to remove SOME of the sting from Farah's kick.
However, to do that, they learned you need something faster than a first 5K in 13:40+.
By that point, it had come down to the Kenyans, Farah, and his NOP teammate, Galen Rupp.

Every time Farah went to the front, Geoffrey Kamworor sprinted ahead.
This happened a few times, making people believe Mo MIGHT lose!
(Okay, maybe not LOSE--just have to do a little bit of real RUNNING!!)

But a 2nd 5K of just 13:21 (Remember Ken Bekele's final 5K of 12:57 after a first 5K of 13:52 some years ago??) didn't stop the MoBot!
He chugged a 54ish final lap to win Gold yet again--time of 27:01.13 over Kamworor's 27:01.76.

As for Rupp, he fell apart in that final lap, finishing just 5th in a still decent time of 27:08.91.
Farah's exact 5K splits were 13:42.01 and 13:19.12.

Americans finished 5th, 15th, and 16th.
Cam Levins finished in 14th.
Imane Merga DNF'ed!

The 20000 Walk had a surprise winner in Spain's Miguel Lopez, who Walked 1:19:14.
China's Zhen Wang was 2nd 15 seconds back.
But it was the Bronze winner who was the shocker!!

Canada's Ben Thorne, just 22, Walked a Canada National Record time of 1:19:57!

There were no US entrants, and 50 Walkers finished the race!

(NOTE: I made a mistake!!  I said I was presenting these reports in chronological order of when they happened.  The 400 Heats were SUPPOSED to go HERE----NOT where I put them!  Sorry!!  But I do NOT want to type the whole thing again!!)

The Hammer Throw Final was a Coronation for Pawel Fajdek, as everyone predicted.
While his winning throw of 265-4 was almost 8 feet ahead of 2nd, it was a mere lob in comparison to his recent 275-4!!

That 2nd place toss of 257-8 was actually accomplished by TWO athletes, with the places decided by 2nd best marks!
Kriszrian Pars, a medal favorite, finished in 4th.
No Americans were in the Final!

The 400H Semi's produced a trio of NR's, and a few surprise non-Finalists!
Javier Culson, Johnny Dutch, and LJ Van Zyl didn't make it to the Final.

Jeff Gibson beat his own Bahamas National Record with his 48.37.
Yasmine Copella nabbed Turkey's National Record with a 48.46.
And Abdelmalik Lahoulou is the new National Record holder of Algeria, time of 48.87.

But it was Denis Kidryavtsev who ran the fastest Semi time of 48.23.

The 100 Semi's were just as fast as the Heats.
Gatlin again had the fastest time, but this time his 9.77 was legal!
Bolt again ran a 9.96.
But he had some company at the line, as Andre De Grasse ran the same time!
Bromell and China's Bingtian Su ran 9.99's in 3rd and 4th!

In fact, Su's 9.99 ties his own National Record of China!!

As noted, this is a FAST track!
This was proven here, as the 10.00 by Femi Ogunode did NOT qualify him for the Final!!

The Shot Put was a GREAT competition!
And the Marks were good too!!

A rousing 4-way battle saw Joe Kovacs emerge on top with his 71-11.50 throw.
David Storl took Silver with his 71-4.
O'Dayne Richards tied his National Record of Jamaica with his 71-2 in third!
And Thomas Walsh took 4th with his New Zealand National Record of 70-9.75, breaking his own mark!

Walsh's mark also becomes the best-ever 4th Place!!

Reese Hoffa was 5th, followed by Tomasz Majewski in 6th.
Young Jacko Gill finished in 8th.
Christian Cantwell didn't start!
I don't know the reason!

The 800 Semi's tossed a few NAMES overboard!!
NOT moving on to the Final were 2 guys picked by many for a medal, including a probable Gold!!
Gone were Mohammed Aman and Nijel Amos--but for different reasons!

Amos just didn't qualify--running in the slowest section, and depending on a kick that just wasn't enough!
But Aman pushed someone, and was handed a DQ!!

Other non-qualifiers were Erik Sowinski and Marcin Lewandowski!

Clayton Murphy, who was a last-minute replacement for BROOKS runner, and USATF CHAMPION Nick Symmonds, couldn't qualify either.

I hope USATF is happy with their decision to KICK mud in the face of their own meet's CHAMPION!!
NO Americans in the Final, and the BEST American is forced to stay home!!
Amazing.

Okay, my little RANT is finished!
Let's continue with the Results!

And here we go!!
The 100 Meter Final!!!

And yes, DA MAN came through when it counted most.
He squeaked by Justin Gatlin at the line, running a quality 9.79 to Gatlin's "average" 9.80.
But that doesn't tell the whole tale!

You see, Gatlin was so desperate to beat Bolt, he threw himself forward---but did it too early!
This caused him to stumble, flail his arms, and APPEAR to be falling apart---whereas he just dipped too soon, and didn't have time or room enough to recover his momentum!
Thus, Bolt "won"!

Bolt might have won anyway, but Gatlin's mistake cost him whatever chance he had to at least TIE the GREAT ONE!!

Speaking of TIES---and I ain't talking NECKties!!---it was impossible to separate the next two runners, so Trayvon Bromell and Andre DeGrasse got to share the Bronze medal, both running 9.92.

Mike Rodgers was 5th in 9.94.

Three guys ran 10.00, but they WERE divided---into 6th, 7th, and 8th places---the order being Tyson Gay, Asefa Powell, and Jimmy Vicaut.
China's Su was 9th in 10.06.

Vicaut's 10.00 is the best 8th Place mark.

And Bolt's 9.79 is the new Age 29 record!
(The old Age 29 record was Gay's 9.80 from 2012!!)

The Long Jump Qualifying went according to plan, except that Marquis Dendy fouled a BIG jump, and lost the appeal, so didn't Qualify for the Final!
The other 2 Americans made it through, with Jeff Henderson leading everyone!

The Javelin Throw Q'ing also went by the book, pretty much.
No Americans qualified for the Final, which WAS a bit surprising, as we had a fairly decent threesome!

Braian Toledo's 273-4 throw is the National Record of Argentina!

Want a SHOCK??
You probably already know this, but Monsieur Renaud did NOT win Pole Vault Gold!!
But he did win A medal---or PART of one!!

Akron University's, and Canada's National Record holder--Shawn Barber--upset the INdoor World Record holder, taking the top podium spot with a jump of 19-4.25 (5.90).
He attempted 6.00, but missed.

Raphael Holzdeppe took the Silver with the same 5.90 height.

Tied at 5.80 were Mr Lavillenie, Pawel Wojcieckowski, and Piotr Lisek!!

One brief comment (and question).

Why do Vaulters (and High Jumpers too!!) wait so long to enter the competition--especially one so important as a World Championship??
I've always believed that PV'ers should try a lower height---one that's even kindergarten level for them!--so as to get A height!!
Then they can skip a few heights before going again.
That would help prevent NH's (No Heights), and get them loose for future attempts!
I think Renaud just wasn't sharp enough when he got to 5.90, having just entered at 5.80!!

Second RANT completed!
LOL

Hang in there, folks--just two more events to go!!

After those incredible times from the Heats, there was much anticipation for what those 400 meter speedsters would run in the Semi's.
Turns out they mostly ran slower---some a LOT slower!!

There were no sub-44's here, but Isaac Makwala ran 44.11 to garner bragging rights as fastest in the Semi's.

But it was Liguelin Santos who maybe surprised a few with his Dominican Republic National Record time of 44.26.
He misses my Top 24 World DDD list, however, by 0.08 seconds!

Last, but definitely NOT least, is the 3000 Steeplechase Final!!
Where Evan Jager was supposed to show those damn Kenyans who was who, and what was what!
Except "those damn Kenyans" did the showing, not vice versa!!

The race went out slow, in around 2:49 for the first 1000.
There were FOUR Kenyans (one a Wild Card) and....Jager?
Well, not exactly.

You see, Donn Cabral and Dan Huling decided to keep their American comrade company.
The pace hadn't picked up by 2K, so CABRAL (!!!) took the lead---temporarily.
VERY temporarily!!
The Kenyans, led by Ezekiel Kemboi, but solidified by Jairus Birech, and Bramim and Consesius Kipruto, again took control, and Jager tried to go with them.
He just didn't have enough gas in the tank.

He not only didn't medal, but he was BEATEN by Huling for 5th, Jager finishing 6th!
(Cabral ended in 10th.)

Kemboi's winning time was 8:11.78, with Huling at 8:14.37, and Jager running 8:15.47, about 15 seconds slower than his latest American Record!!

Before closing, a brief comment on these first 3 days.

The STARS were, obviously, Usain Bolt, Mo Farah, Shawn Barber, Joe Kovacs, Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, and Pawel Fajdek, as they all won Gold.

But there were other names who maybe made more interesting news.
Like the 2 who ran 43.93 in a HEAT!
And young guys like De Grasse and Bromell, who shone, even after LONG Collegiate seasons!

Then there were those HUGE upsets!
Lavillenie finishing "just" 3rd---and then only in a TIE for 3rd!
Jager being not even the fastest American!!
Marquis Dendy, Mohammed Aman, Nijel Amos, and Javier Culson not advancing to their respective Finals!

There WERE a few Records---mostly National Records--and some new Top 24 placers--but not enough for a meet of this caliber.
(And yes, I realize this is just the first 3 days, and most of the Finals are yet to come!)

Anyway, there was enough GREAT action---and marks---to warrant calling this a solid meet.
One of the best World Championships?
Let's wait 6 more days to make THAT decision!!

Well, folks, that finishes my FIRST report about the first 3 days of the Beijing WC's.
As noted, the WOMEN's report will (or is expected to!!) follow in 2 or 3 hours!

The next MEN's report is planned for 3 days from now, to cover the 4th, 5th, and 6th days of the meet!

See you soon!