IAAF Athletics World Championships 2015: Results and Medal Table After Friday
Sergey Shubenkov starred on Day 7 of the World Athletics Championships in Beijing, taking the gold medal in the men’s 110 metres hurdles.
The Russian cleared the barriers with a composure and class on Friday, while Jamaica's Danielle Williams followed suit just 15 minutes later, winning the women’s 100-metre hurdles. The day's other two medals went to Dafne Schippers from the Netherlands in the women’s 200 metres final and the United States’ Tianna Bartoletta in the women’s long jump.
Here are the results from Friday’s finals, the updated medals table and a recap of the best of the action from the bird's nest stadium.
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| Women's 200m | Dafne Schippers (NED) | Elaine Thompson (JAM) | Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM) |
| Women's Long Jump | Tianna Bartoletta (USA) | Shara Proctor (GBR) | Ivana Spanovic (RUS) |
| Men's 110m Hurdles | Sergey Shubenkov (RUS) | Hansle Parchment (JAM) | Aries Merritt (USA) |
| Women's 100m Hurdles | Danielle Williams (JAM) | Cindy Roleder (GER) | Alina Talay (BLR) |
| 1 | Kenya | 6 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| 2 | United States | 4 | 4 | 6 | 14 |
| 3 | Jamaica | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| 4 | Great Britain & N.I. | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | Poland | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | Cuba | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | Pr Of China | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| 8 | Germany | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 9 | Ethiopia | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 10 | Canada | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
Shubenkov Shocks Field
The final of the men's 110 metres hurdles has so often been a battle between the powerful American athletes, and with David Oliver and Aries Merritt in Friday's final, they seemed set to go toe-to-toe again for the gold medal.
But Shubenkov put it all together on the night, surging over the second set of barriers to scythe through the field and bag a personal best time of 12.98 seconds. Jamaica's Hansle Parchment came in second (13.03 seconds), while Merritt (13.04 seconds), who is due to have a kidney transplant next week, took the bronze.
As noted by Owen Gibson of the Guardian, this gold medal for the Russians was a bright spot in what has been a miserable world championships so far:
There were more shocks in the final of the women's hurdles, as Williams recovered from a poor start to take gold with a time of 12.57 seconds. The Jamaican was undoubtedly the class act in the field, but Cindy Roleder (12.59 seconds) and Alina Talay (12.66 seconds) produced the performances of their lives to grab silver and bronze, respectively.
In the women’s 200 metres, Schippers got the better of the Jamaican pair of Elaine Thompson and Veronica Campbell-Brown—second and third respectively—in a thrilling race.
Allyson Felix’s decision not to compete in the half-track distance meant the field was wide open for this one, but even the great American would have struggled to cope with Schippers, who won in a championship record time of 21.63 seconds.
As noted here by Sean Ingle of the Guardian, it was a remarkably quick final:
The women’s long jump was also a thriller, as Bartoletta (7.14 metres) edged in front of Great Britain’s Shara Proctor (7.07) with her final jump to take glory; Ivana Spanovic leapt 7.01 metres to take the bronze medal.
Bartoletta last won a world title 10 years ago and with Proctor in front, she had to call upon every sinew of her experience to pull out a winning distance.
Despite losing out on the gold medal, Proctor was happy with her display, per BBC Sport: "This is my fifth World Championships and I knew I had to compete. I feel like a winner, I don't care about the colour of the medal. I was told I might not be strong enough. I'm here, I conquered."
Aside from the finals, the men’s decathlon saw some stunning performances from Ashton Eaton, who soared into an early lead at the top of the standings.
The man from the United States built up a healthy lead after strong displays in the 100 metres, long jump, shot put and high jump, but he saved his best for last in the 400 metres. Eaton ran a time of 45.00 seconds, the fastest ever by a decathlete, knocking more than half a second off his personal best time.
As noted by Nick Zaccardi of NBC, it’s a time, having competed in four events already on the Friday, which would have seen him do well in the individual 400 metres event at the Athens Olympics:
The final of the men’s 1500 metres is one to look forward to on Saturday, as Elijah Motonei Manangoi of Kenya posted the quickest time in the semi-finals with 3:35.00. But compatriot Asbel Kiprop looks in excellent shape and will provide stiff competition around the three-and-three-quarter laps of the Beijing track.
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