WR takes Men's WC to Finish Line

A GREAT way to end a GREAT meet!
Ashton Eaton's Decathlon World Record didn't EXACTLY end this 9 day meet---not literally!---but it sure puts it in the "one of the best" category!
So let's start this final results post with that event, since its first of 10 parts led off the August 28th schedule for the Men.

9045 points.
World Record, beating his own mark!
United States National Record, also beating his own mark.
Age 27 record.
World Championships Meet Record
Remains 1st on both World and US A-T lists!

What more can be said?
Oh yeah, how about his 400 in 45.00, which is ALSO a WR of sorts, as it's the fastest-ever 400 during a Decathlon!
(And a PR for Eaton by "just" 0.55 seconds, beating the time he ran at the American Track League meet a few months ago!)

He was simply phenomenal, and probably better than his 9039 WR was, simply because of the weather, the more elite stage, and because he wasn't top notch in a few events---which leaves one to speculate what he could do in better weather, and with better performances in his "weak" events!

Damian Warner took 2nd with yet another National Record for Canada, scoring 8695 points.
He beat his own mark, set at the Pan Am Games!
He also moves from 23rd to 19th on the World Top 24 list!

Two more National Records fell.
Larbi Bourrada scored 8461 for the Algeria NR.
Kurt Felix improved his own Grenada National Record with 8302 points!

Eleven scored at least 8200 points, and 15 were over 8000.

The HJ Qualifying went pretty much by the book, although a few "names" didn't make the Final.
They included Robbie Grabarz, Jesse Williams, JaCorian Duffield, Andriy Protsenko, and Ivan Ukhov.

The Semi's for the 1500 were Standard Brand--meaning one was slowwww, another FAST (relatively speaking!).
The first Heat went in 3:43 and change, the 2nd in 3:35.00, led by Elijah Manangai.
Non-Q's included Chris O'Hare and Ikham Ozbilen.
All 3 Americans advanced to the Final.

A man who will be receiving his sister's kidney in a few days won the Bronze medal in the 110H, running his fastest time of the year--13.04.
Amazing human being, that Aries Merritt!!
All wishes for a healthy future to him!!

The race was won with a BIG PR of 12.98 by Sergey Shubenkov!
Hansle Parchment took 2nd, edging Merritt by 0.01 seconds!

Shubenkov's time is the new Russia National Record.
He becomes 17th A-T World, tied with 2 others.

David Oliver, the nominal favorite, stumbled over an early hurdle, and finished in 7th place!

The 50000 Meters Walk was NOT going to be a Record breaker.
Too hot.
But the expected winner--won!
Slovakia's Matej Toth Walked the 50K in domineering fashion, leading almost from start to finish, timed in 3:40:32.
Jared Tallent, a perennial medal favorite, finished close to 2 minutes back, Walking 3:42:17.
John Nunn, the lone American, did okay----for an American!
He finished 37th of 38, timed in 4:09:44, one of his 4 or 5 faster times!

The 4X400 Relay Heats were pretty fast!
The United States won their heat easily, timing out at 2:58.13.

Two National Records went down!
Botswana ran 2:59.95 for theirs.
They become 17th A-T World, tied with 1 other.

The Borlee's----err, I meant Belgium!---got their NR with a time of 2:59.28.
They remain 13th A-T World.

Taken OFF the World DDD is Italy, their mark dating from 1986!!

Ireland finished 8th and last with their 3:01.26, but it now stands as the best 8th Place mark!

The 4X100 Relay Heats ALSO produced a few Records and Marks of note!
In separate heats, the US got the fastest time of 37.41, while Jamaica ran 37.91.

China---always a crowd favorite here---broke their NR with their 37.92.
They're now 8th A-T World.

Antigua's 38.01 time makes them 11th A-T World.

Brazil and South Africa (with all their Record-breaking runners!) were DNF's!

I almost don't even want to REPORT on the 5000 Final!
I fucking HATE these CRAWL, then SPRINT affairs, several of which have been fomented by---and won by---Mo Farah!
No, he's not the inventor of this "strategy", nor probably is any one coach.
But somewhere in T&F's long history, someone began believing that the best way to medal was to have a fierce kick fiercer and faster than anyone else's!
Once they saw it WORKED, future generations have retained---and maybe even "improved" on that method of madness!

Anywayyyyyyy, Mo WALKED the first 4000 in 11:31.19, then went into his 1000 meter Time Trial mode.
And it wasn't bad, as 1000 meter Time Trials go.
He was timed in 2:19.19!

His overall 13:50.38 snuffed out the dreams of Caleb Ndiku (2nd in 13:51.75), and Hagos Gebrhiwet (3rd in 13:51.86).

The Americans finished all in a row---5th (Galen Rupp), 6th (Ben True), and 7th (Ryan Hill).
Imane Merga was even worse---He finished 13th in just 14:01.60!!

The first K was a sickly 3:02!!
2K was reached in 5:58+.
Aaaaah, forget it!

As I noted in my Preview post, the DT wasn't going to be very exciting, Marks-wise.
And it wasn't.
Piotr Malachowski won it with a throw of 221-1.

But 2nd placer Phillip Milanov's 219-6 garnered him Belgium's National Record, which had already belonged to him!

Hate to say it, especially after such an exciting year this event enjoyed in 2014, but the High Jump SUCKED!!
Okay, so it had a Jump-Off, which sort of made things exciting---like Overtimes in football and basketball do!---but the Marks??
BLECH!!!!

Derek Drouin won that J-O, clearing 7-8 for the Gold!
(That's 2.34 Metric!)

Tied for Silver were the 2.33's (7-7.75) of Huihui Lyu (China's own!!) and Bogdan Bondarenko.
Just 4 made that height of 2.33.

In 8th place was Erik Kynard, who jumped just 2.25!!

The 1500 was good.
Somewhat fast, and a GREAT finish!

Aman Wote led off with a 59.20 opening lap., with the whole gang right there.
Matthew Centrowitz found himself leading through 800 in 1:59.01.
But "leading", in this context, is maybe a misnomer.
Everyone was still in it, spread out 3 and 4 wide across the track.

The 1200 point was reached with the crowd intact, led by Elijah Manangai in 2:55.68, just one tick in "front" of Centro et al.
But Asbel Kiprop--he of 3:26.69 in Monaco fame--was "back" in 10th, hitting that mark 0.70 in back of Manangai!

That didn't last!
Running the final 300 in a blazing 38.02, he won by 0.23 over Managai, 3:34.40 to 3:34.63.

The Americans had spent their wad by the time the kicking started, and ended in 8th (Centro), 10th (Leo Manzano), and 11th---and last!--(Robby Andrews)!!
Aman Wote was a DNF, possibly with an injury.

The final event of the whole 9 days---literally the final event!---the 4X400 Relay provided one moment of glory for the United States that had, for the most part, been missing from these WC's.

Sometimes having the fastest split gets you to the finish line first.
Not in this case.

Javon Francis's 43.52 finished off Jamaica's 2:58.51, but they ended in 4th!

But it was the steady 44's (and one 45-low) that brought America it's final Gold in Beijing.
They won with the time of 2:57.82, beating Trinidad's 2:58.20, and the 2:58.51's run by Great Britain and Jamaica.

Yes, both teams were shown with the same 2:58.51, but the Brits were 4-thousandths of a second faster!!

Jamaica's time is the best-ever 4th Place.

And Trinidad's 2:58.20 is their new National Record.
However, they remain 7th A-T World.

So what were the highlights---and LOWlights---of these final 3 days?

ASHTON EATON--9045--WR.
Enough said!

The worst?
The idea that Mo Farah is God's gift to Distance Running!
IMHO, he AIN'T!!

I'll have my full WOMEN's report posted in a few short hours!
See you soon!