IAAF World Championships: Sad end for Bolt

Sprint legend Usain Bolt pulled up injured on the anchor leg in the 4x100m relay, denying him of the gold medal he craved at the end of his glittering career.

Bolt, who had to settle for bronze in the individual 100m, had been hoping to end his career by leading Jamaica to a fifth successive relay gold – and hopes were high with Jamaica also boasting newly-crowned 110m hurdles champion Omar McLeod, Julian Forte and Yohan Blake in their line-up.

But they were already struggling in third when he collected the baton after a couple of sloppy handovers. Halfway down the home straight the towering sprinter pulled up clutching his left thigh, eventually doing a forward roll to the ground, to gasps from the sell-out London Stadium.

The British quartet of Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Daniel Talbot and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake claimed gold in 37.47 seconds, with the Justin Gatlin-led US four taking silver 0.05 seconds behind. Japan claimed a surprise bronze in 38.04, just ahead of China.

Bowie the relay hero

Individual champion Tori Bowie anchored the United States to victory in the women's 4x100 meters relay at the World Championships on Saturday.

The Americans, Olympic gold medalists in Rio last year, were led off by Aaliyah Brown who flew out of the blocks to start the run that brought them the world title they last won in 2011.

Allyson Felix ran the second leg before passing on to Morolake Akinosun who handed the baton to Bowie, the 100m world champion.

The 26-year-old was shadowed down the final straight by Briton Daryll Neita who led her team to silver ahead of 2015 champions Jamaica. Great Britain finished second ahead of Jamaica.

 

Vetter claims gold for Germany

Germany's Johannes Vetter won the javelin at the World Athletics Championships on Saturday as his great rival and Olympic champion Thomas Rohler missed out on the podium.

Vetter's opening throw of 89.89 meters was enough to win the gold and the 24-year-old was overcome with emotion after clinching the title, mopping his tears on a German flag.

Czech Republic pair Jakub Vadlejch and Petr Frydrych threw personal bests of 89.73 and 88.32 respectively to take silver and bronze.

 

Farah beaten

Mo Farah narrowly failed to complete a fifth successive world double on Saturday when he finished second behind Ethiopian Muktar Edris in a thrilling 5,000m world final.

The legendary British athlete, whose winning run in the 5,000m at Olympics and world finals stretched back to 2011, fought desperately to claw back the deficit in the finishing straight but Edris held on to win in 13min 32.79sec.

A two-time double world champion and two-time double Olympic champion, Farah finished in 13:33.22 in what was his last race on the track, before retiring only to compete in marathons.

Farah, who had won the 10,000m last Friday to open the championships with a bang, finished just clear of Kenyan-born Paul Chelimo, who took the bronze in 13:33.30.

 

Decathlon brings German medals

Germany picked up two medals in the decathlon behind France's Kevin Mayer.

Mayer became the first athlete other than the now-retired Ashton Eaton to win a world decathlon event since 2011 when he claimed gold in the world championships.

Olympic silver medalist Mayer amassed a total of 8,768 points from the 10 disciplines in the grueling two-day event.

Germany's Rico Freimuth took silver with 8,564 while teammate Kai Kazmirek claimed bronze (8,488).