Sainsbury's Anniversary Games 2015: Athletics Results and Twitter Reaction

Usain Bolt lit up London's Olympic Stadium upon making his return to the Anniversary Games on Friday, setting off an extravagant weekend of athletics action in the English capital.

Dina Asher-Smith and Shara Proctor were full of home pride on Saturday, as the pair smashed British records in the 100-metres and long jump respectively.

Sunday saw the stars of the Paralympics welcomed back to London for IPC Grand Prix final, and once again the home crowd were not left disappointed, as the likes of Richard Whitehead and Hannah Cockroft tasted victory.

Sunday Recap

Thomas Ulbricht kicked off the day with a win in Race 1 of T11/12 200-metre sprint with a time of 22.72 seconds, comfortably ahead of Hilton Langenhoven on 23.16 and David Brown, who finished one hundredth of a second behind the South African.

In Race 2, Hilton's compatriot Jonathan Ntutu dipped at the right time to win by three hundredths of a second, recording a time of 22.57.

Daniel Pek won the 400-metre T20 in similar fashion, narrowly edged out Michael Murray by six hundredths of a second with a 51.61. Mohammed Sharahili and Paul Davidson came third and fourth respectively.

South Africa enjoyed yet more success in the T37 100-metres, as they scored a one-two with Charl du Toit and Fanie van der Merwe finishing first and second respectively.

There was drama in the F57 Discus, as Metawa Abouelkhir won the event with his final throw to overtake Guoshan Wu. Janusz Rokicki of Poland claimed the bronze medal.

Switzerland's Manuela Schaer won the T54 1500-metres by some distance ahead of Chelsea McClammer and Jade Jones. C4 Paralympics shared the moment on Twitter:

Team GB's James Arnott ran a personal best 11.36 to earn a silver medal in the T47 100-metre sprint:

Britain enjoyed yet more success throughout Sunday.

Georgina Hermitage and Sophie Hahn set new world records in the T37 400-metres and T38 100-metres respectively:

Per C4 Paralympics, Hermitage believed the vocal London crowd was a factor in the British athletes' success:

Hahn, meanwhile, sent out a message to her competitors ahead of the World Championships:

Libby Clegg was similarly anticipating the Championships, as she won T12 400-metres in a narrow contest:

Team GB earned a one-two in the T42 200-metres, with Richard Whitehead taking the gold and David Henson the silver.

Hannah Cockroft romped to victory in style in the T34 400-metres, winning by two seconds:

Elsewhere, Joanna Butterfield took yet another gold for GB in the F51 club throw, while Sophie Kamlish and Laura Sugar earned silver and bronze respectively in the T44 100-metres.

Perhaps the only disappointments for the home crowd were the results of Jonnie Peacock and David Weir.

Peacock finished second in the T44 100-metre final, losing by six hundredths of a second to American Richard Browne.

Meanwhile, Paralympic champion Weir finished off the pace in fifth in the T54 1500-metres:

Nevertheless, Sunday capped an excellent three days of athletics for Team GB.

With the likes of Cockroft, Hahn and Clegg in such excellent form, expect yet more success to follow in the World Championships.

For Weir, the key will be how he responds to such a disappointing defeat. The six-times world champion has an outstanding record in World Championship and Paralympic events, so expect him to bounce back with more gold medals in Qatar in October.

Saturday Recap

Asher-Smith will travel to the World Championships in Beijing next month, and although she could only come fourth in Saturday's 100-metre sprint, her time of 10.99 seconds is the fastest ever run by a British female.

Meanwhile, Jessica Ennis-Hill continued her journey back to full fitness at the Olympic Stadium as she contemplates a return to the World Championships.

Here are the results from Saturday's action:

Event	First	Second	Third
Men's 400m	Wayde Van Niekerk	David Verburg	Christopher Brown
Men's Mile	Asbel Kiprop	Matthew Centrowitz	Ayanleh Souleiman
Men's 3000m Steeplechase	Conseslus Kipruto	Jairus Kipchoge Birech	Paul Kipsiele Koech
Men's Long Jump	Marquis Dendy	Zarck Visser	Greg Rutherford
Women's 100m	Dafne Schippers	Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor	Murielle Ahoure
Women's 800m	Eunice Jepkoech Sum	Sifan Hassan	Lynsey Sharp
Women's 5000m	Mercy Cherono	Molly Huddle	Janet Kisa
Women's Pole Vault	Nikoleta Kiriakopoulou	Anzhelika Sidorova	Katerina Stefanidi
Women's Shot Put	Michelle Carter	Valerie Adams	Cleopatra Borel
Women's Javelin	Madara Palameika	Barbora Spotakova	Kimberley Mickle
Men's 800m	Nijel Amos	David Rudisha	Adam Kszczot
Men's 400m Hurdles	Michael Tinsley	LJ Van Zyl	Niall Flannery
Men's Pole Vault	Renaud Lavillenie	Shawn Barber	Augusto Dutra
Men's 4x100m Relay	Great Britain	France	Europe
Women's 200m	Elaine Thompson	Tori Bowie	Candyce McGrone
Women's Long Jump	Shara Proctor	Jazmin Sawyers	Jana Veldakova

Far away from the rainy conditions seen on Friday, the climate opened up for a much sunnier setting on Saturday, much to the delight of those competing at the Anniversary Games.

Not least of whom was 19-year-old Asher-Smith, who became the first British woman to ever run sub-11 seconds in her 100-metres heat before finishing fourth to Holland's Dafne Schippers in the final.

Schippers ran an electric time of 10.92 seconds in the climactic finish—a national record of her own—but Asher-Smith was just unable to match her earlier exploits, finishing fourth with a time of 11.06 seconds.

It proved to be a fruitful day for the British women, too, as Proctor broke her own British long jump record not long after with a leap of 6.98 metres, confirmed by the official British Athletics Twitter account:

Considering the fact Asher-Smith is still in her teenage years, the starlet can certainly be expected to improve on Saturday's landmark run in the years to come.

Speaking to the official Team GB website after her historic run, the youngster said: 

"

I’m absolutely thrilled to be in the ten seconds now. I felt like I was in good shape, but being in good shape and actually doing it out there are two completely different things. So when I crossed the line and saw the time I was just beaming, and I’m really, really happy with that. 

I’m telling the truth when I say I’m not thinking about times and just wanting to execute races as well as I can, getting out well and maintaining it until the end. I felt comfortable out there and I wasn’t too nervous but I’ve still got some work to do from here. I really don’t know how much faster I can run, but there are bits of each race that I know I can work on.

"

Ennis-Hill faces a tough decision on whether to travel to the World Championships after making a much-anticipated return following injury and the birth of her first child.

Following her participation in the hurdles on Friday, she certainly did that bid no harm with season's best efforts in the long jump—recording an attempt of 6.37 metres—and 200 metres, where she clocked 23.49 seconds. Athletics reporter John Cushing ponders whether the Olympic champion will be jetting off to China in August:

There was cause for the British men to be upbeat on Saturday, too, as Team GB clinched victory in the 4x100-metres men's relay. 

The quartet of Chijindu Ujah, Richard Kilty, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and James Ellington beat France with a photo finish, as illustrated by BBC Sport, recording a winning time of 38.33 seconds:

Botswana representative Nijel Amos claimed redemption for his London 2012 defeat to David Rudisha in the 800 metres, beating the Kenyan with a time of one minute and 44.57 seconds on Saturday.

Olympic gold medallist Rudisha has been a giant of the middle-distance event for some years now, but it was a former middle-distance great, Lord Seb Coe, who stopped to console him, per the Press Association's Simon Peach:

Great Britain's Greg Rutherford  couldn't quite replicate the success of other team-mates, but was still impressive as he bounded 8.18 metres to finish third in the long jump on Saturday.

Marquis Dendy of the United States jumped 8.38 metres to win the event while South Africa's Zarck Visser took second with a leap of 8.21 metres.

Less than a month remains until Beijing opens its doors for the World Championships of Athletics, where all of those in action during the Anniversary Games will be hoping to feature.

Bolt, Asher-Smith, Proctor and Ennis Hill are just some of those athletics fans will hope to see feature in one of the year's most anticipated competitions, with attention gradually turning toward Rio 2016.

Friday Recap

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Bolt celebrated his return to the track on Friday with a routine win at the 2015 Sainsbury's Anniversary Games, winning the 100-metres final in a time of 9.87 seconds.

The Jamaican star has hardly competed throughout the season due to a pelvic injury and had yet to run under 10 seconds. With the World Championships right around the corner, Bolt needed to make a statement in London, and he certainly did, running two excellent heats.

In the final event of the night, local favourite Mo Farah took the win in the 3,000 metres, setting a new world lead of 7:34.66. As shared by BBC Sport, it was the perfect end to a great night of athletics:

Here are the results from Friday's action:

Event	First	Second	Third
Discuss Throw Men	Philip Milanov	Robert Urbanek	Benn Harradine
400m Hurdles Women	Zuzana Hejnova	Georganne Moline	Cassandra Tate
200m Men	Zharnel Hughes	Dedric Dukes	Anaso Jobodwana
400m Women	Natasha Hastings	Francena McCorory	Stephenie Ann McPherson
4x100m Women	USA	Netherlands	Great Britain and Northern Ireland
100m Hurdles Women	Jasmin Stowers	Dawn Harper-Nelson	Brianna Rollins
1500m Women	Laura Weightman	Gabriele Grunewald	Katie Mackey
110m Hurdles Men	Jason Richardson	Pascal Martinot-Lagarde	Ronnie Ash
High Jump Men	Marco Fassinotti	Gianmarco Tamberi	Mutaz Essa Barshim
100m Men	Usain Bolt	Michael Rodgers	Kemar Bailey-Cole
3000m Men	Mo Farah	Othmane El Goumry	Emmanuel Kipsang

Bolt entered the event looking for his best form after suffering a pelvic injury earlier this season, and the Jamaican superstar was likely hoping for more forgiving conditions. Rain fell throughout the event, and while most of the fans inside the Olympic Stadium were covered, the same didn't hold true for the athletes.

He didn't let the harsh conditions touch his mood, however. Bolt is seemingly always smiling on the track and loves to entertain the crowds, and he didn't disappoint in London. As shared by the Press Association's Simon Peach, fans had something to talk about from the very start:

Of course, everyone came out on Friday to see how the six-time Olympic gold medalist would run, and a relatively difficult draw in heat B, where he faced off against the likes of Michael Rodgers and local hero Chijindu Ujah, would immediately shed light on his form.

Those who questioned whether the 28-year-old was still the man to beat were soon silenced. Despite the wet track and a headwind, Bolt dipped under 10 seconds, clocking in at 9.87 seconds. Here are the highlights of the second heat:

Former professional footballer Jan Aage Fjortoft was impressed:

So was the London Evening Standard's Liam:

The time was a season best for Bolt, and a strong indication he's starting to hit his form ahead of the World Championships. Rodgers also managed to dip under 10 seconds, while youngster Ujah finished with a personal best of 10.04 to grab fourth place and a spot in the final.

In the final, Bolt again clocked a 9.87, although the win didn't look nearly as routine as his earlier triumph during the heats. Rodgers came within 0.03 seconds of the star and seemed to be catching up late, and in total, five of the finalists finished with times under 10 seconds, Including Ujah, who improved on his personal best to finish in 9.96 seconds. 

Here's the video of the final:

The IAAF shared this image of the finish and noted Bolt didn't enjoy the best of starts during either race, although fans have come to expect that of the Jamaican:

With five sprinters all running under 10 seconds and the likes of Justin Gatlin not even participating, Bolt undoubtedly realised on Friday that the competition in Beijing will be fierce. But at the same time, no one expected him to look this sharp after not racing for months. The fastest man on Earth remains a unique athletic specimen, and he will once again be the favourite at the World Championships.

As shared by Amanda Davies of CNN, Bolt took a shot at Gatlin, widely expected to be his biggest challenger in that event:

While the 100-metre men's final and the 3,000 men's final were the most anticipated events of Friday's action, there were more Diamond League points available in other events. Robert Urbanek threw the race for the title in the men's discuss throw wide open, closing the gap with compatriot Piotr Malachowski to just three points, via the Diamond League's official Twitter account:

Belgium's Phip Milanov took first place ahead of Urbanek, with Malachowski earning just a single point with his fourth-placed finish.

The pouring rain saw the pole vault competition moved to Saturday, but the runners were sent out into the dreadful conditions regardless. Zuzana Hejnova beat the American duo of Georganne Moline and Cassandra Tate in the women's 400-metre hurdles, and given the poor conditions, she was more than happy with the result:

The 2015 Sainsbury's Anniversary Games will continue on Saturday, as Renaud Lavillenie and his fellow pole-vaulters will kick off their competition.