ONE NEWS

Monday, August 24, 2009 BERLIN: United States won the World Athletics Championship while Jamaica came second and Kenya finished third.On the final day of the event held in Berlin, the US obtained gold medals in men’s and women’s 4X400m relay.Norway's two-time Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen ended his title drought at these championships after two silvers with gold at last. This is Norway’s only gold medal in the championship.Ethiopian superstar Kenenisa Bekele and Americans LaShawn Merritt and Sanya Richards won their second gold medals on the final day of the world athletics championships here on Sunday.Bekele's came in the 5,000 metres as he became the first man to do the 5,000-10,000m double, a feat even his compatriot Haile Gebrselassie failed to achieve the one time he tried in 1993.Merritt and Richards' second titles came in the men's and women's 400m relays respectively.There was to be no such joy for Yusuf Saad Kamel of Bahrain who, having taken the 15...

Sunday, August 23, 2009 BERLIN: Usain Bolt bagged his third gold medal of the World Athletics Championships here on Saturday when Jamaica stormed to the men's 4x100m relay title.Bolt has this week also shattered his own world records in winning the 100m (9.58sec) and 200m (19.19sec) to replicate his Beijing Olympics medal haul.The Jamaican, who turned 23 on Friday, played down any suggestion that he was the "saviour" of athletics.Steve Mullings, a 200m specialist, was the anchor man, handing on to Michael Frater, with former world record holder and current 100m bronze medallist Asafa Powell the sprinter entrusted with the final leg.Bolt, however, failed to completely demonstrate his explosive power around the bend despite the roars of a packed Olympic Stadium, and his handover to Powell almost went awry when he just avoided running into his teammate.The Jamaican foursome nevertheless set a championship record time of 37.31sec ahead of Trinidad and Tobago (37.62) with Bri...

Saturday, August 22, 2009 BERLIN: Allyson Felix of the US won the women’s 200m race while the United States leading the event with six gold medals in the World Athletics Championship, being held here in Germany.Weather became pleasant with rain on the sixth day of the World Athletics Championship.Felix picked up a hat-trick of world 200m titles as she clocked 22.02sec to beat Jamaica's Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown.LaShawn Merritt, also from the US, added world gold to his Beijing Olympics victory as the Olympic champion dethroned two-time defending world champion Jeremy Wariner in the 400m. He finished second at the Osaka 2007 worlds, clocked a world lead of 44.06sec over 400m, far off his Beijing Games time of 43.75sec, the fifth fastest time ever.Yaroslav Rybakov of Russia won the men's high jump title. The 28-year-old -three times a silver medalist - won with a best jump of 2.32m edging out Kyriakos Ioannou of Cyprus (2.32m) on countback.Newly-crowned 1500m...

Sunday, August 16, 2009 BERLIN: Kenya, the United States and Russia won one gold medal each on the first day of the World Athletics, being held in Berlin, Germany.The first gold medal in the event went to Linet Chepkwemoi Masai of Kenya. She surged over the last 20 meters to overtake Meselech Melkamu of Ethiopia with a time of 30 minutes, 51.24 seconds in the thrilling finish of the women’s 10,000 meters.Christian Cantwell of the U.S. won his first world outdoor shot put title with a throw of 72 feet, 3 inches, the longest in the world this season. Cantwell, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist who had already won two indoor titles, passed Olympic champion Thomasz Majewski of Poland on the fifth of six throws. Ralf Bartels of Germany won the bronze to the delight of the home crowd.Valeriy Borchin of Russia won the men’s 20-kilometer walk with a time of one hour, 18 minutes, 41 seconds.In 100-meter race, reigning world champion Tyson Gay of the U.S. and Usain Bolt qualified for the semi-fi...