Athletics greats Allyson Felix and Caster Semenya lit up the track to bring the curtain down on the World Championships in great style on Sunday.
Felix ran a stunning leg in 48.7s in the women’s 4x400m relay to set the United States up for an easy victory and take her record world medals tally to 16, two ahead of retired Jamaican duo Merlene Ottey and Bolt.
South African star Semenya added a third 800m crown to her tally to put her alongside another African great Maria Mutola as the only women to have won the title three times.
The Americans may have dominated the 10-day competition but there was to be no final flourish as Trinidad and Tobago’s men’s 4x400m relay team ran superbly to take the gold. Mutaz Barshim won the men’s high jump gold with a jump of 2.35m, while double Olympic champion Sandra Perkovic of Croatia claimed women’s discus with a throw of 70.31m.
India’s K.T. Irfan finished 23rd out of 58 competitors in men’s 20km walk. He clocked 1h 21m 40s, less than a minute outside his season’s best of 1:20:59.
The results:
Men: 1,500m: 1. Elijah Motonei Manangoi (Ken) 3:33.61s, 2. Timothy Cheruiyot (Ken) 3:33.99, 3. Filip Ingebrigtsen (Nor) 3:34.53.
4x400m relay: 1. Trinidad and Tobago (Jarrin Solomon, Jereem Richards, Machel Cednio, Lalonde Gordon) 2:58.12, 2. United States 2:58.61, 3. Britain 2:59.00.
20km walk: 1. Eider Arevalo (Col) 1hr 18min 53sec, 2. Sergei Shirobokov (ANA - neutral) 1:18:55, 3. Caio Bonfim (Bra) 1hr 19:04.
50km walk: 1. Yohann Diniz (Fra) 3hr 33:12, 2. Hirooki Arai (Jpn) 3:41:17, 3. Kai Kobayashi (Jpn) 3:41:19.
High jump: 1. Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qat) 2.35m, 2. Danil Lysenko (ANA) 2.32, 3. Majd Eddin Ghazal (Syr) 2.29.
Women: 800m: 1. Caster Semenya (RSA) 1:55.16s, 2. Francine Niyonsaba (Bdi) 1:55.92, 3. Ajee Wilson (USA) 1:56.65; 4x400m relay: 1. United States (Quanera Hayes, Allyson Felix, Shakima Wimbley, Phyllis Francis) 3:19.02, 2. Britain 3:25.00, 3. Poland 3:25.41.
20km walk: 1. Jiayu Yang (Chn) 1h 26:18s, 2. Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez (Mex) 1:26:19, 3. Antonella Palmisano (Ita) 1:26:36; 50km walk: 1. Ines Henriques (Por) 4:05:56, 2. Hang Yin (Chn) 4:08:58, 3. Shuqing Yang (Chn) 4:20:49.
Discus: 1. Sandra Perkovic (Cro) 70.31m, 2. Dani Stevens (Aus) 69.64, 3. Melina Robert-Michon (Fra) 66.21 .
