IAAF Athletics World Championships 2015: Results and Medal Table After Thursday
Usain Bolt was crowned world champion for the 10th time in his storied career, as he raced to victory in the men’s 200 metre sprint on Thursday at the IAAF World Athletics Championships. Bolt took the gold ahead of the United States’ Justin Gatlin in the biggest event of the day, but the sprinters weren’t the only ones to shine.
In the only other men’s final, Christian Taylor of the United States won the triple jump with the second-longest jump in history, while in the women’s events, Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland took gold in the hammer with a championship record before Allyson Felix made it two wins on the day for the United States, coasting to victory in the 400 metres.
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Here’s a look back at another pulsating day from Beijing and how the medals table is shaping up with three days to go in the championships.
| Women's Hammer Throw | Anita Wlodarczyk (POL) | Wenxiu Zhang (CHN) | Alexandra Tavernier (FRA) |
| Men's Triple Jump | Christian Taylor (USA) | Pedro Pichardo (CUB) | Nelson Evora (POR) |
| Women's 400m | Allyson Felix (USA) | Shaunae Miller (BAH) | Shericka Jackson (JAM) |
| Men's 200m | Usain Bolt (JAM) | Justin Gatlin (USA) | Anaso Jobodwana (RSA) |
| 1 | Kenya | 6 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| 2 | United States | 3 | 4 | 5 | 12 |
| 3 | Jamaica | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 4 | Great Britain & N.I. | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Poland | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | Cuba | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | Germany | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 8 | Ethiopia | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 9 | Canada | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 10 | South Africa | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Bolt Beats Gatlin Again
The men’s 200 metre final was billed as the second showdown in a week between Bolt and Gatlin. But as is often said, the sequel never quite lives up to the original; that certainly proved to be the case here, as the Jamaican sensation left his rivals trailing to take his second gold medal of the championships.
Bolt raced to victory in a time of 19.55 seconds, leaving Gatlin (19.74) and Anaso Jobodwana of South Africa (19.87), who earned a respectable third place, a long way back. Sports statistician Mohandas Menon summed up the Jamaican’s remarkable career achievements:
As a matter of fact, the most trouble Bolt looked in all day was when a cameraman on a Segway collided with him during his celebrations, as we can see here courtesy of Kareem Streete-Thompson:
Felix sauntered to an easy victory in the final of the women’s 400 metres, finally adding the one-lap world title to her three wins over the 200-metre distance.
The American seared out of the blocks at an incredible pace, but there was little let up in her seamless running style, as she glided away from the rest of the field around the final bend and into the home straight; Felix crossed the line in a world-leading time of 49.26. Shaunae Miller (49.67) and Shericka Jackson (49.99 seconds) took the minor medals.
It cements her status as the most successful American in the history of these championships, per NBC’s Nick Zaccardi:
Away from the track, the men’s triple jump produced a dramatic finale, with Taylor pulling out the second-furthest hop, skip and jump in history on his final outing.
The American was trailing Pedro Pichardo going into the last round of jumps, but he pulled out an astonishing 18.21 metres to take the gold medal. Pichardo (17.73 metres) eventually had to make do with the silver medal, while Nelson Evora (17.52 metres) took the bronze.
As noted by Ian Prior of the Guardian, Taylor would have easily broken the world record had he gotten a better take-off:
"With the right take-off Christian Taylor would have obliterated Jonathan Edwards' triple jump record. Easily 10cms left on the board
— Ian Prior (@ianprior) August 27, 2015"
“That was a remarkable jump,” said the current world record holder, Jonathan Edwards, per BBC Sport. “Nothing we have seen in this competition had indicated they would jump that far but that was phenomenal from Taylor.”
We were also witness to an excellent display in the women’s hammer throw, as Wlodarczyk smashed the championship record with an effort of 80.85 metres. She was over four metres ahead of Wenxiu Zhang (76.33 metres) who picked up silver and Alexandra Tavernier (74.02 metres).
As we can here courtesy of commentator Will Downing, she produced two remarkable throws in this final:
Away from the medals, Aries Merritt was the star of the show in the men’s 110 metre hurdles semis, as the American qualified fastest into Friday’s final with a time of 13.08 seconds. Merritt would be an extraordinarily popular winner should he triumph in the final too, as the Olympic champion is due to have a kidney transplant on September 1, per BBC Sport.
The finals for the women’s 200 metres and 800 metres events are also set, with the United States’ Candyce McGrone and Melissa Bishop of Canada qualifying quickest, respectively.
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