Fedlix Take Four
DAEGU, South Korea – Team USA closed out the 13th IAAF World Outdoor Track and Field Championships adding two more gold medals to its collection, while Allyson Felix and Bernard Lagat achieved milestones as multi-time medalists Sunday night.
Team USA led the country medal count with 25 total, including 12 golds and eight silvers which also led all nations. Team USA also had the most medals of any men’s team totaling 13 compared to seven by runner-up Kenya.
The 12 medals, including six gold, won by the USA women’s team were the most ever at the World Outdoor Championships.
Felix ran the second leg on Team USA’s women’s 4×100 which ran a world-leading time of 41.56 to earn her 10th career medal at the World Championships tying her with the legendary Carl Lewis for the most medals ever won by an American. It also marked just the third time Team USA won the women’s 4×100 and 4×400 relays at the same World Championships.
Felix became only the fourth woman in the history of the World Championships to collect four medals in the meet joining American Gwen Torrence. Kathrin Krabbe of Germany and Marita Koch from East Germany. Felix finished second in the 400, third in the 200 while running on the winning 4×400 relay
Team USA also showed a bright glimpse to the future by having youngsters Christian Taylor (21) and Will Claye (20) capture the gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the men’s triple jump. It marked just the second time Team USA has won two medals in the triple jump.
Lagat’s second-place finish in the men’s 5,000 enabled him to become the all-time leading World Championships medalist in the race by collecting his third medal to go along with a gold in 2007 and a silver in 2009.
Women’s 4x100m Final
Team USA put it all together with a world-leading time of 41.56 to beat defending champion Jamaica. Earlier in the night Team USA had run a then world-leading time of 41.94 in the qualifying heats.
Bianca Knight (Austin, Texas) ran the lead leg and established Team USA in the first position. 200m bronze medalist Allyson Felix (Santa Clarita, Calif.) maintained the lead and exchanged the baton with Marshavet Myers (Grand Prairie, Texas). Myers was able to extend the lead over her opponent Sherone Simpson of Jamaica.
On the final leg Carmelta Jeter (Gardena, Calif.) opened with a lead of three meters, and even as Veronica-Campbell Brown of Jamaica tried to close the gap, Jeter finished strong to bring the USA home in 41.56 to Jamaica’s 41.70.
It was the first meeting between Team USA and Jamaica in a women’s relay final since the 2007 World Championships, when Team USA finished just 0.03 ahead of the Jamaicans.
Triple Jump Men Final
Two of the youngest members of Team USA jumped to gold and bronze in the men’s triple jump. After three jumps, defending World Champion Phillips Idowu from Great Britain sat in first, with Americans Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.) in second and Will Claye (Phoenix, Ariz.) in third. On the fourth jump Taylor, 21, let loose a world leading mark of 17.96m/58-11.25 to move into first. Oduwu then improved his mark as well to 17.77m/58-3.75, but remained in the silver position. Claye, 20, stayed in third with his mark of 17.50m/57-5 and no one else was able to touch the podium and the order remained the same through the next two attempts.
It marked the second time that the U.S. has ever had two medalists in the men’s triple jump. The last occasion was with Kenney Harrison and Michael Conley in 1991.
5,000m Men Final
Bernard Lagat (Tucson, Ariz.) and Galen Rupp (Portland, Ore.) ran near one another for much of the race. The pack stayed largely intact through 4,600m, with Lagat and Rupp shifting positions throughout the middle of the pack with Rupp even taking a turn in the runner-up spot. But when the bell rang for the last lap, the pack quickly strung out and Rupp began to fade farther back into the pack. With 200m remaining, Lagat made a surge to the front and coming down the homestretch he charged after Mo Farah of Great Britain, only to finish within three-tenths of a second behind in 13:23.64. Rupp finished ninth in 13:28.64.
Lagat became the first man to ever win three world championship medals in the 5,000m. After winning gold in 2007 and silver in 2009, Lagat proved that even though he may be the oldest of the field (36), he still has what it takes to make it to the podium.
800m Women Final
With the entire field running under two minutes, Alysia Montano (Canyon Country, Calif.) and Maggie Vessey (Seacliff, Calif.) both ran to season bests in the 800m. Montano found herself in third at the bell lap, but as Caster Semenya of South Africa began her charge on the backstretch, Montano fell to fourth. Coming down the last 100m, it looked as if Montano was going to catch Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei of Kenya, but the Kenya was able to hold on to take bronze by only six-hundredths of a second, with Montano taking third in 1:57.48. Vessey finished two positions back in sixth in 1:58.66. Today’s race marked the first time the U.S. had two athletes in the final and was the second fastest career 800m for both Vessey and Montano.
Men’s 4x100m Final
Team USA, which ran a world-leading time (37.79) in the heats, failed to complete the final as Darvis Patton (Grand Prairie, Texas) collided with Britain’s anchor, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, as he came in to make the final exchange to Walter Dix (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). Patton sprawled to the track, tried unavailingly to get up, and watched despairingly as the rest of the field set off on the final leg. The result saw Usain Bolt belt down the home straight allowing Jamaica to set a world record of 37.04. Trell Kimmons (Coldwater, Miss.) and Justin Gatlin (Orlando, Fla.) ran the first and second legs for Team USA in both the qualifying and final round.
Women’s Hammer Throw Final
Jessica Cosby (Mission Hills, Calif.) finished the women’s hammer throw in 11th place. On her second throw of the day she hit 68.91m/226-1, just shy of her mark from qualifying of 71.06m/233-1.
