Nick Davies for the IAAF
American sprinters rule the worlds! Maurice Greene became the first man in World Championship history to complete the sprint double after winning the 200m tonight in 19.90 while Inger Miller clocked 21.77 - the fastest in the world this year - to blow away the opposition in the women's final. What a shame that Marion Jones had not also been in the race, as Miller would surely have pushed her to a remarkable performance.
After the race, Greene spoke of his delight at making history: "This is something I have been dreaming about since I was a child. I was looking forward to this race the whole year. For me, in races like this the time has no meaning, only the gold. And I am going to have a lot of fun running the sprint relay now."
More had been expected from Francis Obikwelu, who had run 19.84 in the semi-final. But he was responsible for a false start and then ran stiffly, allowing Greene to open up an emphatic lead in the home straight. "I felt very, very tired in the final," said Obikwelu, "The semi took a lot more out of me than I could have thought. I also had to hold back in the blocks because of my false start."
By contrast Brazil's Claudinei Da Silva ran with great assurance, edging ahead of the Nigerian to take silver in 20.00 - a personal best. Obadele Thompson finished fourth, as he did in the 100m, with 20.23.
Miller's winning margin (0.45 sec) was the largest in the history of these championships and showed how much she has benefited from a winter training with the likes of Greene and Ato Boldon. But Jamaica deserved applause too. They had three athletes in the final, with Beverly McDonald winning silver (22.22) and Merlene Frazer one of the two bronzes awarded in this event, with the jury deciding after review of the photo-finish images to also award bronze to German athlete Andrea Philip (22.26), and can claim a share of Miller too. Her father Lennox won an Olympic 100m silver for Jamaica in 1968 and later established a successful dental surgery in Los Angeles, where Inger was born 27 years ago. TV cameras captured Lennox proudly embracing his daughter during her victory lap.
"My goal here was to win gold. I had hoped to break 22 seconds but it is incredible to run 21.77! I am here to stay. This is a mark for now and will not be just a one-off. I feel I can keep improving. I used to train on my own but now, with John Smith coaching me I feel like I am in a big family. I get so much confidence from them"
Fabrizio Mori - who was disqualified, then reinstated for a lane infringement two days ago - ended up being crowned champion in Seville tonight after clocking 47.72 in a thrilling 400m hurdles final. Defending champion Stephane Diagana repeated his tactics of Athens by sprinting hard from the gun, but this time he was unable to hold his form to the finish line. By contrast the Italian, renowned for his terrific finishing speed, had a better than usual first 300 metres - but did not take the lead until he had cleared the final hurdle. Diagana tightened up as the Italian pulled away strongly but hung on for silver in 48.12. He was just one 100th of a second ahead of Switzerland's Marcel Schelbert, who was awarded bronze, and Eronilde Nunes de Araujo, who was given the same time but lost out after examination of the photo-finish. "I was not concerned about how the rest of the field started," said Mori, "because I was confident I could catch them. I felt my legs moving faster and faster down the straight and knew that I could go past Diagana and win."
As on so many other occasions this season, the women's 5000m was a duel between Zahra Ouaziz and the incredible Romanian Gabriela Szabo. One of only four athletes left in contention for the $1 million IAAF Golden League Jackpot after winning 5 consecutive GL meetings, Szabo notched up her second world title tonight. Although she actually led through 1 km and 2 km (3:00.43 and 5:55.90) this was only to keep the pace slow enough to make her own task easier. At 3km, Ouaziz realised that her only hope was to make a break but although the pack began to break up, she could not shake off Szabo or the Ethiopian Ayelech Worku. Passing 4km in 11:52.41, the Moroccan began suffering while Szabo shadowed her effortlessly. Like Gete Wami last night, the tiny Romanian began her decisive sprint with 220 metres left to go. Ouaziz fought back, but had to be content with silver again. Szabo's time of 14:41.82 was a championship record with Ouaziz clocking 14:43.15 and Worku winning bronze with 14:44.22 - a personal best. All three medallists - and Haile Gebreselassie - are managed by Jos Hermens.
China won their first medals of these World Championships with a 1-2 in the women's 20 km walk thanks to Hongyu Liu and Yan Wang. Marching down the home straight - seemingly content with their positions - the Chinese basked in the applause of the 42,000 spectators and crossed the line in 1:30:50 and 1:30:52. Hongyu was in the leading pack throughout the race and seized the initiative at around the 15km point. Defending champion Annarita Sidoti led the race through 10 km but withdrew shortly afterwards.
The 35 year-old Australian, Kerry Saxby-Junna, showed that the technique that has brought her 8 world records over the years is still intact by winning the bronze.
