Day 6
9 August 2017
Session 8 ticketed at: 51,130
The official volunteers of the IAAF World Championships London 2017 are called Runners. Over 15,000 people applied to be a Runner and 4,500 were chosen to help stage the Summer of World Athletics.
The Runners range in age from 18 to 84, are fluent in more than 65 different languages and originate from 24 different countries. 250 volunteers have declared a disability and the organising committee has been officially recognised as a Disability Confident leader.
H:17
L:12
Thundery showers with a risk of prolonged, heavy rain spreading slowly south through the day. Though some sunny spells at times, becoming breezy here later.
South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk claimed the first of what he will hope is a golden double at the Championships as he took the 400m title in assured style, leading down the home straight relatively unchallenged. Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas and Abdalelah Haroun followed for silver and bronze respectively.
The men’s 800m final was a hotly contested race with Frenchman Pierre-Ambroise Bosse holding off a horde of challengers to win gold. Adam Kszczot of Poland put in a season’s best performance to take silver over Kenya’s Kipyegon Bett.
The first medal of the evening was won in the women’s javelin by world record holder Barbora Spotakova with a throw of 66.76m. She beat Chinese athletes Lingwei Li and Huihui Lyu to the gold. American pole vaulter Sam Kendricks was the only athlete to clear 5.95m in the final as he took gold with Piotr Lisek of Poland second and Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie third.
In the men’s 3000m steeplechase final, a group of three broke away with two laps to go. Kenya’s Conseslus Kipruto felt he had enough in the tank to celebrate the win metres before the line despite pressure from Soufiane Elbakkali of Morocco. Evan Jager of USA just held on for bronze.
There were few surprises in the heats of the women’s 200m with Dafne Schippers leading into the semi-finals. In the qualification of the women’s shot put, Hungary’s Anita Marton was the only athlete to progress with her first throw. She did so with the largest of the competition, 18.76m.
Favourite Dalilah Muhammad of the USA cruised to victory in the final semi-final of the women’s 400m hurdles. However, the first semi was the fastest of the three as Czech Republic’s Zuzana Hejnová clocked 54.59 seconds.
Three finals are scheduled for Session 8 on Day 6 of the Championships with medals set to be decided in the women’s shot put, men’s 400m hurdles and men’s 400m.
The USA will be hoping for another golden night with Kerron Clement the fastest going into in the men’s 400m hurdles final at 21:30. Allyson Felix is second quickest into the women’s 400m final with only Salwa Eid Naser ahead of her. That medal showdown closes the night at 21:50.
The women’s shot putters are out for the final at 20:25, 24 hours after qualification, which saw China’s Lijiao Gong place first with an effort of 18.97m and American Michelle Carter second. Session 8 kicks off with medal ceremonies for the women’s javelin followed by the men’s 800m and men’s 400m. The medals for the men’s pole vault and women’s shot put follow later in the evening.
The heats of the women’s 3000m steeplechase kick off the action for the evening at 19:05 with Ruth Jebet and 18-year-old Celliphine Chepteek Chespol among the favourites. The event of the session for the home crowd will be the men’s 5,000m heats as Britain’s Mo Farah gets his bid for a second medal underway at 20:05 after 10,000m glory on the opening night.
The men’s 200m moves to the semi-finals with Wayde van Niekerk in action the night after his success over double the distance at 20:55. Women’s long jump qualification also takes place, starting at 19:10 and featuring Ivana Spanovic. There are also two groups of women’s hammer throw qualification at 19:20 and 20:50.
“I’m in a dream. I’m in a dream. Am I dreaming? I am a gambler, I love going to the casino. And I just gambled, I put everything on the red, even my last Euro. So hopefully, this is also for luck in love.!
– Pierre-Ambroise Bosse (FRA), Men’s 800m, Gold
Maria Andrews
Protocol Team Member
37
Enfield, London
Fun Fact:
Maria is always astonished that the sprinters are able to travel 100m in ten seconds.
