Denis Kudryavtsev is the leader of a group of young and ambitious group of athletes that has awakened interest in the 400m hurdles in Russia after a long hiatus. However, at the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 the 23-year-old succeeded much more than expected, winning the first ever world championships medal in this event for his country, a silver, and in a national record.His story can be traced back to the last time there was a global athletics competition in &nbsp;the Bird&rsquo;s Nest stadium.In 2008, 16-year-old Kudryavtsev, who had just started doing athletics, was glued to his TV screen, watching Russia&rsquo;s 4x400m team win the bronze medals at the Olympic Games.The young hurdler obviously couldn&rsquo;t even imagine that seven years later he would receive a standing ovation at that very stadium. Turn the clock forward and his first world championships appearance took place in Moscow two years ago, and it wasn&rsquo;t even planned. The athlete was focusing mainly on age-group action, namely the European U23 Championships in the Finish city of Tampere. However, coming into that competition as one of the favourites with a season&rsquo;s best of 50.12, he fell ill after the first round and didn&rsquo;t make the final. Just one week later, he bounced back in a spectacular fashion, winning the national title in 49.40.<h3>Sanchez inspiration</h3>&ldquo;I was going to wrap my season up after the nationals and didn&rsquo;t even think of running that fast but, the next thing I know, I&rsquo;ve achieved the world championships standard and was set to represent the team,&rdquo; he recalled.In Moscow, he didn&rsquo;t advance past the heats, but he acquired his first experience of competing against one of the athletes he had been admired for years. The lane draw put him in a heat with the two-time Olympic champion Felix Sanchez, and that race was a good indicator of Kudryavtsev&rsquo;s weaknesses and a starting point for further improvement.&ldquo;I had to improve my finish. This is still the part of the race that I need to work on,&rdquo; Kudryavtsev admitted. &ldquo;A strong finish in the hurdles is an art. It takes a very long time to master it.&rdquo;At the European Championships in Zurich last summer, Kudryavtsev started to get the brush strokes of his art in the right places. He made a move with 120 metres to go, changed gears and got the bronze, his first international medal. He was happy with this effort and especially beating Serbia&rsquo;s 2013 world championships medallist from Emir Bekric. For days, the Russian has been studying videotapes of his contemporary to come up with the right strategy. Coming into Beijing, he had another rival in mind, the USA&rsquo;s 2015 world leader and former world champion Bershawn Jackson. But, next thing Kudryavtsev knew, it was him in the spotlight, while Jackson went out in the heats. The Russian set a personal best of 48.51 in the first round, and further improved it to 48.23 in the semi-final, the fastest time of day &ldquo;However, I spent too much power in the semi-final, trying to win and get a fast time,&rdquo; he reflected.<h3>Rolling a six</h3>&ldquo;I was hoping to get the lane four for the final, but somehow I still ended up in lane six. Not ideal for me, but perhaps even worse for my rivals, having me there, ahead of them.&rdquo;As you can tell, Kudryavtsev quite enjoys being the one to beat. &ldquo;Mentally, for me it&rsquo;s easier to be the leader. Knowing, that I&rsquo;m better and the rivals are afraid of me,&rdquo; he added, with a laugh.The Russian brought this attitude to the final, going out hard to an early lead. He was flawless over the hurdles, maintaining a perfect rhythm. Kudryavtsev later recalled that he ran the first seven hurdles on autopilot, only being conscious of when it was time to switch from 13 to 14 steps between the barriers.Unfortunately, there was actually someone who had more power at the finish, Kenya&rsquo;s Nicholas Bett who powered off the final hurdle to win in a world-leading 47.79.However, there was no hint of disappointment in Kudryavtsev&rsquo;s voice after the race. He not only won the silver medal but also broke the long-standing 17-year-old Russian record by 0.01, clocking 48.05.&ldquo;We made a point to race at Diamond League meetings and at the European Championships (in 2014), so that I would have competed against all my biggest rivals before the worlds,&rdquo; explained the athlete. &ldquo;It helped me to be mentally ready for any race scenario thrown in by any athlete in the field, and to be able to react properly.&rdquo;Another reason for his success is his relentlessness in training.&ldquo;When something wasn&rsquo;t going quite well, I was thinking: &lsquo;Let me just do it again, because my rivals would have definitely gotten in right.&rsquo; So I would do it over and over again,&rdquo; he smiled. &ldquo;My coach tried to stop me, but would then had to give in and say: &ldquo;Well done, that&rsquo;s the willpower!&rdquo; As Kudryavtsev accomplished far more than he realistically expected in Beijing, although an injury while warming up for the 4x400m brought a slightly premature end to his season, what will now keep pushing him forward? &ldquo;This medal will make me even more fearless, I know that now I can achieve more,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;For me, motivation is born in training. It&rsquo;s about fighting against your tiredness, shoving the &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t want to do this&rsquo; thoughts as far as possible and pressing on.&rdquo;Elena Dyachkova for the IAAF

Denis Kudryavtsev is the leader of a group of young and ambitious group of athletes that has awakened interest in the 400m hurdles in Russia after a long hiatus. 

Quest for perfection takes Kudryavtsev to the Beijing podium

When Sergey Shubenkov settled into his blocks for the heats of the 110m hurdles at the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015, his mind was laced with doubt.Aware that he had taken a high-stakes gamble by only travelling to Beijing the previous evening &ndash; in an effort, as he says, to &ldquo;cheat jetlag&rdquo; &ndash; the Russian turned in his worst performance of the season, finishing third in just 13.31. Two days later, he was world champion. It may seem like the story of an unlikely underdog overcoming the odds but for the 24-year-old from Siberia, it was all part of the plan.&ldquo;It was a risk,&rdquo; admitted Shubenkov of his decision to arrive at the 11th hour. &ldquo;Unlike smart people who come a week before to adjust, we just came and I ran right away. The first round was terrible; I wanted to skip it.&ldquo;It was the hardest race for the last three years. I was sleeping on the start line and it was like the starting pistol was an alarm clock. As a general result, though, it worked. I felt like a hero that I could wrestle out that performance.&rdquo;The next evening, Shubenkov returned for the semi-final and powered away from the field to win in 13.09. All of a sudden, the reigning European champion looked ready to conquer the world. To do it though, he would have to beat the acknowledged heavyweights of the event, athletes like world record holder Aries Merritt or world champion David Oliver, and probably go faster than his national record of 13.06.<h3>Explosion of talent</h3>In the final, the starting gun wasn&rsquo;t so much an alarm clock dragging Shubenkov from his slumber; it was a grenade exploding him into action. He was marginally behind to the first hurdle &ndash; and Shubenkov usually is &ndash; but he soon clicked into an aggressive, precise rhythm unlike any he had achieved before. As his rivals began to falter, he maintained perfectly, and in the end came home a clear winner in 12.98. When you ask Shubenkov to replay the race, there is nothing but a blank slate. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t remember anything,&rdquo; he reflected. &ldquo;There was a starting shot and then the next moment I was crossing the finish line.&rdquo;In the end, the risk paid off, just as his coach Sergey Klevtsov suspected it would.&ldquo;Everybody around was so sure, but personally I wasn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Shubenkov. &ldquo;It was a bit of a surprise; it&rsquo;s not every day a guy from Russia wins a world championship in hurdling.&rdquo;Even though his gold medal was a mild upset, it wasn&rsquo;t the greatest of shocks that Shubenkov eventually rose to the top of the hurdling world. His home city of Barnaul in Siberia isn&rsquo;t the place you&rsquo;d expect to breed a world champion hurdler but he was unquestionably born with a set of sporting genes.Shubenkov&rsquo;s mother, Natalya, was one of the world&rsquo;s best heptathletes in the 1980s and though she was happy for her son to follow in her footsteps, he was always allowed to gravitate towards whatever he loved best.&ldquo;She didn&rsquo;t push me into track and field,&rdquo; says Shubenkov. &ldquo;Growing up, she didn&rsquo;t tell me much about her own career. She insisted on me doing an activity apart from school, whether it was going into sports or an art class or music school, but I had a privilege to choose.&rdquo;In his early teens, he tried his hand at swimming, football, ice hockey and just about every sport he could find. &ldquo;Finally I chose track and field,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It was a good decision.&rdquo;Shubenkov&rsquo;s talent was recognised early and he was selected as one of the promising few to be handed over to Klevtsov, who has coached him for the past 12 years. <h3>Cold comfort</h3>In that time, he has continued to live and train in Barnaul, something that doesn&rsquo;t inconvenience Shubenkov, despite temperatures regularly dipping to minus 30 degrees Celsius in the winter. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s refreshing,&rdquo; said Shubenkov, who does most of his training at a basic indoor facility. &ldquo;We do step outside for cross country runs in winter, but of course we dress up well.&rdquo;On these winter runs, Shubenkov is out in the wilds for up to 30 minutes, though due to an online tracking tool his training group uses, he is made acutely aware of his limitations. &ldquo;Everyone else is doing more than me,&rdquo; he said with a laugh, &ldquo;and everyone is going faster than me.&rdquo;Since taking gold, Shubenkov hasn&rsquo;t had the chance to return to Barnaul but he did manage to spend a day in Moscow. &ldquo;There was a lot of interest,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Everybody started calling me. My telephone was so hot.&rdquo;However, there was scant time for the 24-year-old to reflect as he headed straight for the IAAF Diamond League final in Zurich, where Shubenkov proved his Beijing win was no fluke by taking a clear victory in 13.14, winning by 0.16 on a chilly night from Oliver. Having climbed to the top, Shubenkov now hopes his win will provide inspiration for youngsters at home to follow in his footsteps and also push the decision-makers to invest more in the sport. &ldquo;Maybe we can influence them to fix our indoor facility in Siberia. I hope that my victory will inspire parents and children to come to the sport, but it&rsquo;s pretty difficult to get people involved. It&rsquo;s not only about role models; it&rsquo;s about having a system to search for better talent and recruit people, but I&rsquo;m trying to do the best I can.&rdquo;After his win in Zurich, Shubenkov appeared equally as elated, equally as buoyant, as he was in Beijing. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not even a week and I&rsquo;m still super happy and positive,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m enjoying everything: the process, warming up, hurdling, and competing. This is my favourite job.&rdquo;Cathal Dennehy for the IAAF

When Sergey Shubenkov settled into his blocks for the heats of the 110m hurdles at the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015, his mind was laced with doubt.

Sergey Shubenkov, hot hurdler from a cold climate

Each day during the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015, fans from around the world had the opportunity to vote for their favourite performances of the session via the IAAF website www.iaaf.org.Fans inside the Bird&rsquo;s Nest stadium could also vote live via WeChat (a Chinese social media channel).The nine winners of the daily vote were then pooled together for a &lsquo;champion of champions&rsquo; vote, which was open from Monday 31 August until Friday 4 September, for fans around the world to vote via the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships" target="_blank">IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 page</a> and <a href="http://spikes.iaaf.org/" target="_blank">spikes.iaaf.org</a>Almaz Ayana&rsquo;s stunning triumph over her Ethiopian compatriot and 1500m winner Genzebe Dibaba in the 5000m received 23.84% of the overall votes and she wins Performance of the Championships, powered by adidas.The vote for the top three performances were completed by Ashton Eaton&rsquo;s decathlon world record on day eight (17.15%) and Dafne Schippers&rsquo; championship record 200m run on day seven (14.68%).Ayana will be invited to the World Athletics Gala in November to receive a special Golden Shoe award from adidas.IAAF and Spikes

Each day during the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015, fans from around the world had the opportunity to vote for their favourite performances of the session via the IAAF website www.iaaf.org.

Ayana wins Performance of the Championships, powered by adidas

Earlier this year, the question plaguing Allyson Felix&rsquo;s
mind was all about risk.Sure, the reigning Olympic champion could play it safe and
stick to her specialist event &ndash; the 200m &ndash; but true development as an athlete,
they say, is usually found outside your comfort zone.No one knew this better than Felix.The US sprinter had dabbled in the 400m often in recent
years but in truth, it was only a mere testing of the waters, dipping one foot
into the longer event but always keeping herself grounded in the 200m, an event
she has such an attachment to that she calls it her &lsquo;baby&rsquo;.A year out from the Olympics, with the prospect of a
200m/400m double looming on the horizon, Felix and coach Bobby Kersee decided
last month that it was finally time to go all in on the longer sprint.&ldquo;It was a joint decision,&rdquo; says Felix. &ldquo;Bobby had seen my
training and he believed I could do it. When he says something, I believe it,
so I wanted to challenge myself.&rdquo;Because of the timetable at the IAAF World Championships in
Beijing, a double was unfeasible, so Felix knew that focusing on the 400m would
mean deserting the 200m &ndash; abandoning her baby, at least for now.Ultimately, it was a risk which paid off in fine style as
Felix scorched her way around the track in the Bird&rsquo;s Nest Stadium and claimed
her first global title over 400m.In the final, Felix rocketed out of the blocks and swiftly
ate up the stagger on Christine Ohuruogu of Britain outside her. When Felix
entered the back straight well out in front, she began to coast, her elegant
stride floating over the ground and enabling her to conserve energy for the
second half of the race.&ldquo;The plan was to take advantage of my speed,&rdquo; says Felix.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a sprinter so I wanted to take that to the 400m and then just trust in my
fitness coming home.&rdquo;Her winning time &ndash; a personal best of 49.26 &ndash; had left her
four metres clear of the best quarter-milers in the world.It was safe to say the risk paid off.Felix, 29, has always been a hard worker and assiduous
trainer, but with the emphasis on the longer sprint his year, things have been
even more gruelling.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s torture,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;But like Bobby always says, it
pays off.&rdquo;Someone who can testify how hard Felix works is Joanna
Hayes, the 2004 Olympic 100m hurdles champion who is currently coaching at UCLA
and is an assistant coach to Kersee&rsquo;s group.&ldquo;When we trained with her we&rsquo;d wonder how she was doing
this,&rdquo; says Hayes. &ldquo;It always looked so easy to us but she&rsquo;s such a hard
worker, positive and humble.&rdquo;Though Hayes says Felix&rsquo;s polite, sunny-side-up nature is a genuine
reflection of her personality, she believes it also hides a toughness few
associate with her.&ldquo;She&rsquo;s a killer,&rdquo; says Hayes. &ldquo;A nice killer. From the day I
met her 11 years ago, she hasn&rsquo;t changed at all. I talk to a lot of athletes
and we always say everyone roots for Allyson because you just can&rsquo;t root
against her. &ldquo;Her humility is the best thing about her. She&rsquo;s an amazing
person in general, but when she gets on that track, all bets are off. She&rsquo;s
very tough.&rdquo;Felix has needed that fortitude throughout the year to cope
with the demands of Kersee&rsquo;s training. A typical day will see her show up at the
track at 10am, warm up for an hour and then complete an hour-long workout.
Later in the day, it&rsquo;s into the gym &ndash; Felix does weights four times a week, and
can lift much more than her slight physique would suggest.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s been more volume this year,&rdquo; says Felix. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure
my speed has suffered a little bit because I haven&rsquo;t had that ballistic work in
the 100m but I know it&rsquo;s still there and I can tap into it when I need to.&rdquo;Having taken gold in Beijing, she will cap her season with a
200m at the IAAF Diamond League in Brussels on September 11 and after that,
Felix will take six weeks off before gearing up for the 2016 campaign.&ldquo;I step completely away from the sport,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll
take a vacation, take time for myself. That&rsquo;s what keeps me fresh and excited
to come back.&rdquo;And when she does return, the question on everybody&rsquo;s minds
will be whether she plans to attempt the 200m/400m double in Rio.&ldquo;If the schedule is right and I&rsquo;m feeling good and my body
is right, that&rsquo;s what I want to attempt,&rdquo; says Felix, &ldquo;but it has to be one of
those perfect storms. Ideally, the 400m would have to be first, because I&rsquo;d
have to have the legs to do it.&rdquo;With four Olympic gold medals and nine world titles to her
name, Felix is one of the most accomplished athletes in the sport, but just how
does she keep the fire lit after all these years, all that success?&ldquo;I love the sport,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m passionate about it and I
thrive off competition. I love to win and that&rsquo;s enough of a challenge for me
to keep going. To me, that&rsquo;s what being an athlete is all about.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s always another goal to accomplish.&rdquo;Cathal Dennehy for
the IAAF

Earlier this year, the question plaguing Allyson Felix’s mind was all about risk.

Felix, the smiling assassin, already looking for next target

Christian Taylor came close to writing a new chapter in the men&rsquo;s triple jump when he hopped, stepped and jumped out to 18.21m at the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 to take his second world title four years after his first global triumph in Daegu.His effort, the second-best jump in history in the last round when he had to respond to Pedro Pablo Pichardo taking the lead away from him with the previous jump, was just eight centimetres off the 20-year-old world record set by Jonathan Edwards at the 1995 IAAF World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.&ldquo;You always need something special to get on top of the podium in the triple jump with so many phenomenal jumpers," said Taylor. "To see Nelson (Evora, from Portugal) jumping like this scared me a little bit because I remember watching him at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He pushed me to jump that distance."What makes it even more impressive is that Taylor took off more than 11 centimetres behind the plasticine, which makes the arithmetic simple. He could potentially have taken the event into new territory.&ldquo;But I cannot complain about missing the world record," added Taylor. "You cannot be disappointed with a jump like that. It is never possible to be perfect on the board. I am grateful that it was enough to win. I broke the US record (improving Kenny Harrison&rsquo;s 18.09m mark set at the 1996 Olympic Games).&ldquo;It was a great fight. I saved it until my last jump. When you are that close to a record, it makes you hungrier. Everything is possible on the last jump. It&rsquo;s absolutely amazing. The track in Beijing is really special. I set a PB and I was close to the world record. That&rsquo;s what championships are about.&ldquo;One of the first people to text me was Kenny Harrison," added Taylor. "He said &lsquo;Finally!&rsquo; Despite him being the American record-holder, Kenny has always been supporting me, telling me I could beat his mark. He&rsquo;s been telling me that since 2011.&rdquo;If 2014 was dubbed &lsquo;The Year of the High Jump&rsquo; by many pundits, then 2015 will be remembered by fans as the year of the triple jump, highlighted by several fabulous duels between Taylor and Pichardo.<h3>Pichardo in pursuit</h3>It all began at the opening IAAF Diamond League meeting in Doha back in May when Pichardo won with 18.06m to Taylor&rsquo;s 18.04m, both men setting what was then personal bests in the first ever competition to see two men beyond 18 metres.In their second head-to-head battle in Lausanne, Taylor leapt a personal beat of 18.06m to his beat his Cuban rival and Taylor won again in Monaco, this time by a close margin with their respective distances being 17.75m to 17.73m.&nbsp; After his win in the World Championships final in Beijing, the US star now leads 3-1 in their head-to-head clashes this year, and 4-3 in their career when one or the other has won the competition.&ldquo;Climbing up the all-time list is exciting and there is still more to come. I am looking forward to competing in Rio with my rivals.&ldquo;To break the (world) record is all about details," he added. "The standard of triple jump is phenomenal. Having all these guys who push me really raises the level. Every time I step on the track is a new opportunity. To see these guys jumping 18 metres, I don&rsquo;t want to be left behind. I knew I needed something special because Pichardo is a phenomenal jumper."Taylor admitted that jumping 18.21m was not something that he envisaged when he switched his lead-off leg at the end of 2014. &ldquo;I have made baby steps. Every time I get a personal best is a new experience. Changing up has really benefitted me."A change was necessery to reduce the pain he was suffering in his knees."People around me would say, 'You've won so many things, can you not continue through the pain?' but it was at the point that it was either I try to blow out my knee or I just give it up,&rdquo; he told reporters at at the time.There is still some residual pain but that was considerably eased by his feats in Beijing and will be dulled further if he can take the Diamond Race in his speciality.At the IAAF Diamond League final in Brussels on 11 September, he will again face Pichardo.The Cuban is now leading with 16 points to 14 in the winner-takes-all contest for the Diamond Trophy and the US $40,000 cheque but if Taylor can get a win in the Belgian capital then he will take take his fourth consecutive Diamond Race title. Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

Christian Taylor came very close to writing a new chapter in the men’s triple jump when he hopped, stepped and jumped out to 18.21m at the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 to take his second world title four years after his first global triumph in Daegu.

Taylor aiming to take his triple talent from Beijing to Brussels

It is hard to fathom that earlier this year Melissa Bishop was reduced to tears on multiple occasions after a series of injuries and incidents conspired to derail her racing season.But on Saturday night at the Bird&rsquo;s Nest, the Canadian was crying tears of joy after claiming the 800m silver medal.&ldquo;There was a lot of crying,&rdquo; the 27-year-old recalls of that particularly dark period. &ldquo;I give credit to (coach) Dennis Fairall. He is a very patient man and such a wonderful man. It&rsquo;s so special for the two of us. We came from a really low spot in January and worked really hard for this.&ldquo;I think everyone dreams of winning. I mean you come into these things prepared for best case but also for worst case scenarios. I knew, for sure, I wanted a spot in that final. But, as I worked my way through the rounds, it became more and more real that &lsquo;yeah, you can get on this podium&rsquo;. There was no doubt in my mind.&rdquo;First there had been a sports hernia in her pelvis that forced her to miss the entire indoor season. Then, while regaining fitness during a high altitude training camp in Flagstaff, she learned her cousin had been killed in a car crash. They had grown up together and she felt enormous loss.Finally, as she raced to regain fitness and a World Championships qualifying time, she turned her ankle while warming up for the Payton Jordan Invitational in California. That cost her another two valuable weeks of training.With Fairall at the helm they were forced to adapt their training programme because of the shortage of preparation time. They focused on an endurance programme without any weight training. It proved a wise decision but they went further.They worked on replicating the back-to-back efforts required at championships. Bishop raced or ran a hard session one day then would go back on the track for another hard session the next morning. They repeated this several times through the build-up to the World Championships. En route, she won the Pan American Games title, beating US champion Alysia Montano.More than a few were shocked when Bishop set a national record of 1:57.52 to win her semi-final in Beijing and shaved two seconds off her personal best. This was significant also because she handed Kenya&rsquo;s reigning world champion Eunice Sum her first 800m defeat since Brussels a year ago. The time also ranked her second in the world behind the Kenyan.After being relegated to the bronze medal position, the Kenyan praised her new rival.&ldquo;Yes I think she is a great athlete; I have been running with her before,&rdquo; said Sum. &ldquo;I am happy because it is sport and you cannot win every time. Sometimes when they beat you, next time you beat them. It&rsquo;s sport. I hope to meet her again next time.&rdquo;All too often athletes have delivered a sublime performance in the qualifying rounds and then struggle in the final. But Bishop ran 1:58.12 for the silver medal, her second-fastest time ever.Clearly her strength was an asset but so too was her tactical prowess. Each time she ran in the Bird&rsquo;s Nest Stadium, she put herself near the front when it counted. And while her rivals tightened up in the final forty metres, she maintained form."I have to give credit to Dennis Fairall,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Every race we have run he has called it to a &lsquo;T&rsquo;. It&rsquo;s all on Dennis. I am giving that one to Dennis. He tells me where to go and to stay patient.&ldquo;We got to learn how to go through these rounds. In 2012 and 2013 I was such an immature athlete in the sense that I really had no idea how to get through rounds. But you live and you learn and now I have got a silver medal around my neck.&rdquo;Bishop was born and raised in Eganville, Ontario a small community 130 kilometres from Ottawa. As a high school 400m runner she represented Canada at the 2005 IAAF World Youth Championships in Marrakech. After attending the University of Ottawa for a year she enrolled at the University of Windsor to study kinesiology. That was where she met Fairall.Another important part of the equation is her manager, Chris Layne of Total Sports US, who incidentally represented another Canadian world 800m silver medallist, Gary Reed. It was Layne who negotiated a Nike contract which saw her film a TV commercial with Mo Farah last year.Minutes after Bishop had crossed the finish line, Layne started receiving offers from several European meetings. She could have added to the US $40,000 prize money that accompanies the silver medal. But she decided to end her 2015 season on a positive note rather than chase money.She flew back to Canada on Monday to unwind at her family&rsquo;s cottage and attend a friend&rsquo;s wedding.&ldquo;Presuming we have a healthier build up than last year, I think the sky is the limit,&rdquo; she explains. &ldquo;Dennis and I will sit down when we get home and really debrief about the year and likely come up with goals.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to think ahead to Rio so soon after my race here, I'm still trying to process it,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;To build on this season and be really prepared for next year is something we will look forward to.&rdquo;Paul Gains for the IAAF

It is hard to fathom that earlier this year Melissa Bishop was reduced to tears on multiple occasions after a series of injuries and incidents conspired to derail her racing season.

Bishop aims to build on Beijing success

A combination of persistence, passion and pure doggedness have proved the driving force for Yarisley Silva to overcome all manner of hurdles on her long and winding road to the top.It was on Wednesday evening inside the Bird&rsquo;s Nest Stadium when the diminutive Cuban finally stood tall as the champion.After teetering on the edge of elimination at 4.70m, Silva found the resolve to clear the bar at the third time of asking. Then, having successfully negotiated both 4.80m and 4.85m, two failures at 4.90m left her needing a third-time clearance to dislodge Brazilian Fabiana Murer from gold. Again, she found it within herself to flip over the height &ndash; within one centimetre of her lifetime best &ndash; to prove she was the woman with the Midas touch.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very proud,&rdquo; she says of her success. &ldquo;There are a lot of long years of hard work. My family will be very proud of me. To win here is, of course, my very big dream.&rdquo;Hailing from Pinar del Rio in the far west of Cuba, her mother was a former javelin thrower and she was first introduced to athletics aged nine by her aunt, a PE teacher. Silva tried her hand at the sprints, long and high jump but at the age of 13 she was told by her school teacher to try the pole vault.&ldquo;To be honest, I didn&rsquo;t even know the pole vault existed,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;My teacher just told me this is a pole, this is how you jump and the first time I tried it, I loved it. Back then it was just a game and something new to try.&rdquo;Success quickly followed as she won silver at the National School Games with a 2.50m clearance. Twelve months later at the same event she struck gold with 3.10m and earned a call-up on to the Cuban junior team.She soon came under the guidance of her current coach Alexandre Navas Paez and in 2004 improved further to vault 4.00m and set an area junior record in Havana. Two years later she won silver at the Central American Games in Cartagena, but it was a far from a straight-forward rise. &ldquo;It was very difficult at first because it was a new event (the women&rsquo;s pole vault) and there were not many training camps,&rdquo; explains Silva, who plans to auction her gold-medal-winning kit to raise funds for Kira Grunberg, the Austrian pole vaulter who was paralysed following a training accident last month.&ldquo;It was very difficult at the time because we did not get good results and we were suffering from lack of results in Cuba. We had to overcome a lot of hurdles because many people did not believe in us. We didn&rsquo;t have a lot of equipment back home, so it was hard to achieve the 4.50m I needed to be selected for international competition. We didn&rsquo;t have a lot of support. I remember people telling me, &lsquo;why are you doing the pole vault? You are too short and fat.&rsquo; I had to overcome all these critics.&rdquo;Yet Silva&rsquo;s passion for the pole vault never wavered. She always believed better times were around the corner and embraced the attitude instilled into her by her long-time coach, Paez.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to give up just because I had problems,&rdquo; she insists. &ldquo;My coach always tells me to never give up and jump over the wall. Whatever it takes, you have to jump over the wall.&rdquo;Her persistence and belief was rewarded in 2008 when she vaulted 4.50m for the first time and won selection for the 2008 Olympic Games at the same Bird&rsquo;s Nest Stadium in which she struck gold last week. There she failed to advance from her qualification pool with 4.15m, but rather than let the experience crush her, it gave her an added motivation to succeed.&ldquo;Fabiana (Murer), Yelena Isinbayeva, (Jenn) Suhr, (Anna) Rogowska, everyone was here, but I realised they all had two arms, two legs and were a human being just like me, too,&rdquo; said Silva. &ldquo;I went back to Cuba and I said, &lsquo;now we are going to train hard. I know I can do it&rsquo;.&rdquo;It was not an instant road to success for Silva but under her coach&rsquo;s instructions and now enjoying improved facilities and better equipment, the PE teaching graduate made a big breakthrough into world class in 2011.She improved her PB by 25 centimetres throughout the course of that year, setting an area record of 4.75m when winning gold at the Pan American Games in Mexico. Before that, she finished fifth on her World Championships debut in Daegu. Since that breakthrough she has emerged a consistent performer at the highest level, winning Olympic silver in London, world bronze in Moscow and world indoor gold in Sopot.Training with a group of 15 and 16-year-olds in Havana, Silva overcomes her relative lack of height (she is listed as 1.69m tall) through a combination of her speed and good technique. Yet she admits she started to struggle with her plant earlier this year. To counter the problem, she decided to lower the height of her grip from 4.30m to 4.15m and after a slow start to the season the move has proved a masterstroke.Silva first revealed her rich vein of form when winning gold with a 4.85m clearance at the Pan American Games last month and followed it up by adding one centimetre to her lifetime best with 4.91m in Beckum to solidify her place at No.3 &ndash; only Isinbayeva and Jenn Suhr have jumped higher &ndash; on the world all-time list.Here in the white-hot intensity of World Championship competition, Silva refused to panic. When she needed to, Silva rectified a potential crisis by calmly changing her pole which enabled her to successfully clear 4.70m and 4.90m at the third time of asking.She was naturally elated to strike gold and send the excitable Cuban fans home delirious, but in some respects her success in Beijing was not about the gold medal. It was about the journey which began for her as a 13-year-old girl from the West of Cuba.&ldquo;I love pole vault because it has given me everything,&rdquo; she adds, tears streaming down her face. &ldquo;It has made me the person that I am today.&rdquo;Steve Landells for the IAAF

A combination of persistence, passion and pure doggedness have proved the driving force for Yarisley Silva to overcome all manner of hurdles on her long and winding road to the top.

Silva has finally found the golden touch

When you&rsquo;re Asbel Kiprop, you can win just about any way you
want.You can run from the front, galloping with that impossibly
long stride &ndash; as he did during his 3:26.69 run in Monaco earlier this summer &ndash;
and watch as your competitors slowly disappear into the rear-view mirror.You can run from the back &ndash; as he did at the IAAF Diamond
League meeting in London &ndash; and circle the entire field on the last lap,
sickening them with your gifted range of gears, your almost unfair allocation
of athletic ammo.You can even beat the world&rsquo;s best milers in the biggest
competition of the year, for the third consecutive IAAF World Championships,
when under the weather.&ldquo;I had flu after the semi-finals,&rdquo; said Kiprop, coughing
intermittently, shortly after taking gold in the men&rsquo;s 1500m final on Sunday
evening. &ldquo;Before the race I told the Kenyans to work extra hard because I was
not reliable.&rdquo;Though there was a time when Kiprop was less than reliable
in championship finals, this was not one of them. The 26-year-old swept from
ninth to first over the final 300 metres to take gold and ignite conversations
about whether he is the greatest miler of all time.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s pretty amazing,&rdquo; said Nick Willis, who won silver
behind Kiprop in the same stadium at the Olympic Games in 2008 but could only
manage sixth this time around. &ldquo;Considering he had the flu this morning, we
thought he was looking pretty vulnerable, but he&rsquo;s the man to beat.&rdquo;Since his third-place finish at the Prefontaine Classic in
May &ndash; where over-confidence was his downfall &ndash; Kiprop has been unbeaten, and
relatively unbeatable.In reality, no one has got close, something which must make
his rivals wish Kiprop had followed his parents&rsquo; advice when he first started
running at the age of 13.&ldquo;They would not allow me to train,&rdquo; recalls Kiprop. &ldquo;I was
still growing and they didn&rsquo;t want me to mess up my muscles. I was going for
long runs and that&rsquo;s not good for a person like that.&rdquo;Kiprop, who eventually grew to be 6ft 2 in (1.88m) and
impossibly thin, showed few early signs of the world-beating talent that lay
within. &ldquo;I was racing in primary schools but I was not even going to district
level,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the lowest level in Kenya. I went to run in high
school but was not even making it to nationals.&rdquo;In 2006, though, Kiprop narrowly missed out on the Kenyan
team for the IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing, finishing fourth in
the national trials. He made his big breakthrough the following year, finishing
fourth in the 1500m at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka while still a
junior. All of a sudden, he was one of the hottest properties in Kenyan
athletics.Since then, he has accrued three world titles, an Olympic
gold medal and &ndash; with that run in Monaco &ndash; become the third fastest 1500m
athlete in history, behind only Hicham El Guerrouj and Bernard Lagat.Only El Guerrouj has managed to win the world title four
times, and after his third, Kiprop was looking forward to joining the Moroccan
in such rarefied air.&ldquo;El Guerrouj is my idol, and it&rsquo;s my hope one day to be
world champion four times and break the world record,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to
join the greats. To complete my legacy, I must get the world record.&rdquo;Kiprop, though, says that can wait until next year. In his
next race &ndash; at the IAAF Diamond League final in Zurich on Thursday night &ndash; he
just wants to win. After another race or two in Europe, he&rsquo;ll return home to
Kaptinga, Kenya to celebrate his gold medal.&ldquo;I come from the same area as Nicholas Bett [who won gold in
the 400m hurdles in Beijing]. He will already be celebrating when I am in
Europe, so I would like to join in the celebration.&rdquo;Before the new season looms into view, Kiprop will use his
spare time to help a cause close to his heart: wildlife conservation.&ldquo;I love to try and protect nature, to teach people how to
protect wildlife,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The number of elephants is dropping as they have
killed so many, so it&rsquo;s important to preach this globally to these people who
buy elephant tusks, to stop this market in order to save nature.&rdquo;Elsewhere in his personal life, Kiprop has a curious second
passion. &ldquo;I like rally,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been taken out by a colleague when he
was doing a road test.&rdquo;And what does Kiprop&rsquo;s coach David Leting and agent Federico
Rosa make of that?&ldquo;They don&rsquo;t like it,&rdquo; he says with a laugh. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s fun. I
like speed racing.&rdquo;In that sense, it is little surprise Kiprop has such an
affinity for the sport, but what&rsquo;s left for the long-striding speed racer on
the track? Might the 5000m &ndash; and claiming back some Kenyan pride after the
dominance of Britain&rsquo;s Mo Farah &ndash; whet his appetite?&ldquo;It is a good idea, but not this season,&rdquo; says Kiprop. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m
looking forward to racing him at 5000m once before the Olympics and to see if
he can beat me. If not, then I&rsquo;m looking forward to racing him at major
championships and Olympic Games.&rdquo;Kiprop has few genuine threats to his dominance in his
current domain, but what fuels him now is competing against the greats of the
past. Still only 26, and after the best year of his career, there&rsquo;s every
chance he&rsquo;ll surpass them.&ldquo;I have matured with time,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;and I still have a lot
of room for improvement.&rdquo;For Kiprop&rsquo;s rivals, that must be a scary thought.Cathal Dennehy for
the IAAF

When you’re Asbel Kiprop, you can win just about any way you want.

Three-time world champion Kiprop has not yet peaked

Sunday 30 August represented the final session of the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015, and the finalisation of the extensive anti-doping programme put in place by the IAAF which included both sample collection and education activities.The doping control programme implemented by the IAAF in Beijing was the largest implemented in a single sporting event BY ANY SPORT since the IAAF World Championships in Moscow two years ago.A total of 1405 doping controls were carried out in Beijing which included the following breakdown of tests and analysis:&bull; 662 blood tests for screening purposes in the context of the Athlete Biological Passport, all carried out at the athletes&rsquo; hotels prior to the event&bull; 161 blood tests for the detection of Human Growth Hormone and Erythropoiesis stimulating agents&bull; 54 urine tests conducted out-of-competition&bull; 528 urine tests conducted at the stadium, 239 of which will be specifically analysed for EPO and related substances.As forecast by the IAAF prior to the championships, the programme was highly targeted in nature. Thousands of samples were collected out-of-competition in the lead-up to the event, and the IAAF then implemented an intelligence-led programme in Beijing which will see the samples frozen and stored for future re-analysis as science and technology progresses.Such a large testing programme could only have been implemented with the assistance and support of local partners in China. The IAAF would like to thank and acknowledge the Chinese National Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA). The CHINADA staff and a team of volunteers successfully and professionally managed the sample collection process pre-competition at three separate athlete hotels, as well as the main stadium itself.The WADA-accredited laboratory in Beijing managed the sample analysis process efficiently and effectively, providing accurate and quick reporting to the IAAF anti-doping staff on site. As of 1 September, the Beijing laboratory has notified the IAAF of two positives tests, both of which have been publicly released by the IAAF:Koki Manunga (KEN) Joyce Zakary (KEN)Should any of the remaining samples be reported as positive, the IAAF will make a public announcement when the rules allow.In addition to the doping control programme, the IAAF also continued the athlete outreach programme at all three athlete hotels. Again the assistance of CHINADA was invaluable to the successful programme, with their enthusiastic staff on site each day to provide advice and assistance to the hundreds of athletes and support personnel that visited. The outreach teams presented the WADA quiz, educational resources from CHINDA and the IAAF, as well as being on hand to discuss anti-doping issues and answer questions.

Sunday 30 August represented the final session of the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015, and the finalisation of the extensive anti-doping programme put in place by the IAAF which included both sample collection and education activities.

IAAF anti-doping programme concludes in Beijing

<a href="#FR">Fran&ccedil;ais</a>Today is my first day of office as President of the IAAF. I am very excited and proud to have been given an opportunity to lead our great sport into the new era that lies ahead. I am looking forward to working closely with my colleagues on the IAAF Council, who yesterday accepted my recommendation to appoint Sergey Bubka as our Senior Vice President.Beijing has been a wonderful edition of the IAAF World Championships. The stadium has been full over nine days, morning and evening, with an energetic and enthusiastic crowd who have been enthralled by the world&rsquo;s greatest athletes.Athletics has been at the centre of my life since I was a young boy. Everything I am today can be credited to my experiences and successes in this sport and my mission now is to enhance the sport&rsquo;s ability to inspire and entertain. Athletics is about sporting performance and success but also about values which have the strongest ethical foundations.With the support of my Council colleagues, I am determined to ensure that athletics remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement. We will continue to put the interest of athletics first and retain the level of independence necessary to help us do the right thing for our sport.Our approach will be a simple one: to ensure that the IAAF works in the service of the Member Federations and the athletes.And I am determined to get out of the starting blocks quickly, so today we begin a detailed review of our existing management structures and use of resources to ensure that within the next 100 days, IAAF Council can approve new systems and teams which are necessary for delivering our ambitious plans. We are committed to ensuring good governance in everything that we do and, as a starting point, our legal team has been asked to conduct an in-depth review of the IAAF Constitution and related governance.A new Member Federations Relations team has also been created to ensure Member Federations are fully engaged and involved in shaping the future of the sport.Work has also began on a review and enhancement of our current IAAF Commissions and working groups to ensure that the IAAF Council gets the best possible advice and support moving forwards.Finally, a working group has been set up to look into the possibility of establishing a new over-arching integrity unit for athletics which would house an anti-doping operation with greater independence and have access to a newly formed independent tribunal to hear doping cases of international level athletes (and support personnel). This will be done without impeding or in any way delaying investigations currently underway.These are exciting times for athletics and I am delighted to be in a position to help the sport break new barriers.Seb Coe IAAF President<hr /><a name="FR"></a><h3>Seb Coe enthousiaste &agrave; la perspective d'une nouvelle course </h3>Aujourd'hui est la premi&egrave;re journ&eacute;e de mon mandat de pr&eacute;sident de l'IAAF. Je suis &agrave; la fois exalt&eacute; et fier que l'on m'ait ainsi offert une opportunit&eacute; de mener notre fabuleux sport vers l'&egrave;re nouvelle qui se pr&eacute;sente &agrave; nous. Je me r&eacute;jouis &eacute;galement &agrave; la perspective de collaborer de mani&egrave;re rapproch&eacute;e avec mes coll&egrave;gues du Conseil de l'IAAF, qui, hier, ont approuv&eacute; ma proposition de nommer Sergey Bubka au poste de premier vice-pr&eacute;sident. P&eacute;kin nous a offert une &eacute;dition merveilleuse des Championnats du monde de l'IAAF. Le stade a &eacute;t&eacute; rempli tout au long des neuf journ&eacute;es de la comp&eacute;tition, matin comme soir, avec un public, &eacute;nerg&eacute;tique et enthousiaste, enchant&eacute; par les plus grands athl&egrave;tes mondiaux. L'athl&eacute;tisme est central &agrave; ma vie depuis ma plus tendre enfance. Tout ce que je suis aujourd'hui, je le dois aux succ&egrave;s et exp&eacute;riences qui ont &eacute;t&eacute; les miennes dans ce sport, et ma mission d&eacute;sormais est de d&eacute;velopper davantage encore les capacit&eacute;s de notre discipline &agrave; inspirer et divertir. Si les performances sportives et le succ&egrave;s forment une part importante de l'athl&eacute;tisme, ses valeurs, bas&eacute;es sur l'&eacute;thique la plus forte qui soit, sont tout aussi cruciales. Avec le soutien de mes coll&egrave;gues du Conseil, je suis d&eacute;termin&eacute; &agrave; ce que nous nous assurions que l'athl&eacute;tisme demeure au c&oelig;ur du Mouvement olympique. Nous allons continuer &agrave; placer l'int&eacute;r&ecirc;t des athl&egrave;tes&nbsp; au premier rang de nos pr&eacute;occupations et veiller &agrave; conserver le niveau d'ind&eacute;pendance n&eacute;cessaire pour nous aider &agrave; accomplir ce qui doit &ecirc;tre fait pour le plus grand bien de notre sport. Notre approche sera simple: garantir que l'IAAF travaille pour les F&eacute;d&eacute;rations membres et les athl&egrave;tes, et qu'elle soit &agrave; leur service. Je suis d&eacute;termin&eacute; &agrave; ne pas perdre une seconde dans la mise en place de cette d&eacute;marche &ndash; ainsi, d&egrave;s aujourd'hui, nous lan&ccedil;ons un passage en revue d&eacute;taill&eacute; de nos structures manag&eacute;riales existantes ainsi que de l'utilisation que nous faisons de nos ressources, afin de nous assurer que, dans un d&eacute;lai maximum de 100 jours, le Conseil de l'IAAF puisse approuver les nouveaux syst&egrave;mes et les nouvelles &eacute;quipes qui nous seront n&eacute;cessaires pour mener &agrave; bien nos projets ambitieux. Nous nous engageons &agrave; assurer une bonne gouvernance dans tout ce que nous entreprenons et, comme point de d&eacute;part, notre &eacute;quipe l&eacute;gale a &eacute;t&eacute; charg&eacute;e d'effectuer un passage en revue en profondeur des Statuts de l'IAAF et de la gouvernance qui s'y rapporte. Une nouvelle &eacute;quipe Relations avec les F&eacute;d&eacute;rations membres a &eacute;galement &eacute;t&eacute; cr&eacute;&eacute;e dans le but de nous assurer que les F&eacute;d&eacute;rations membres soient totalement engag&eacute;es et impliqu&eacute;es dans la conception de l'avenir de l'athl&eacute;tisme. Nous avons aussi d&eacute;j&agrave; d&eacute;marr&eacute; une &eacute;tude et un processus d'am&eacute;lioration des Commissions et des Groupes de travail de l'IAAF tels qu'ils existent actuellement afin d'&ecirc;tre certains que le Conseil de l'IAAF b&eacute;n&eacute;ficie &agrave; l'avenir des opinions et du soutien les meilleurs qui soient. En outre, un groupe de travail a &eacute;t&eacute; cr&eacute;&eacute; pour &eacute;tudier la possibilit&eacute; d'&eacute;tablir une nouvelle unit&eacute; d'int&eacute;grit&eacute; g&eacute;n&eacute;rale. Celle-ci engloberait une op&eacute;ration antidopage qui aurait un plus haut niveau d'ind&eacute;pendance, et aurait acc&egrave;s &agrave; un tribunal nouvellement constitu&eacute; pour des audiences dans les cas de dopage des athl&egrave;tes concern&eacute;s (et de leur entourage) de niveau international. Ceci serait accompli sans que cela ne g&ecirc;ne, ou ne fasse obstacle, de quelque mani&egrave;re que ce soit, les investigations d&eacute;j&agrave; en cours. Nous vivons des jours exaltants pour l'athl&eacute;tisme et je suis ravi d'&ecirc;tre dans une position de pouvoir contribuer &agrave; aider le sport &agrave; abattre de nouvelles cloisons. Seb Coe Pr&eacute;sident de l'IAAF

Today is my first day of office as President of the IAAF. I am very excited and proud to have been given an opportunity to lead our great sport into the new era that lies ahead. I am looking forward to working closely with my colleagues on the IAAF Council, who yesterday accepted my recommendation to appoint Sergey Bubka as our Senior Vice President.

Seb Coe excited to start a new race

It's all over now. As the last medals are being distributed, here are a few last moments from day nine at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015.
<h3>Molitor's last throw</h3>
The lead in the women's javelin final changed more times than a Beijing traffic light. Sunette Viljoen took it in the fourth round at 65.79m, and Lyu Huihui in the fifth at 66.13m. Then Katharina Molitor, who had led before Viljoen, came up for the final throw of the final round.
&nbsp;
<div id="55e2f6944f1f660874bbc903" class="dropMedia">
<div style="background-image: url('http://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Small/84206e55-4d5e-4018-bb1c-71147de3736c.jpg');">&nbsp;</div>
Katharina Molitor in the javelin final at the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015</div>
&nbsp;
Molitor capped the whole competition with a whopping 67.69m mark to take the gold from Lyu at the last possible moment. Seldom has the javelin final been quite so focused on a single throw.
<h3>Drouin's last jump</h3>
When the high jump bar reached 2.36m with five jumpers active, it was tense. When none of the five cleared, leaving Bogdan Bondarenko, Zhang Guowei and Derek Drouin tied for first, it was tenser.
The jump-off saw all three miss again at 2.36m before the bar came down to 2.34m. There, Drouin cleared, and when he saw Bondarenko and Zhang miss, he had the gold.
<h3>Dibaba&rsquo;s last sprint</h3>
The closest marathon in World Championship history saw four runners entering the tunnel to the stadium together. When they came out, it was two; when they reached the finish line, it was one, Mare Dibaba, the fastest marathon runner in the world this year and now the world champion.
&nbsp;
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<div style="background-image: url('http://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Small/53389952-f685-45e3-84ca-a7df0070c8f5.jpg');">&nbsp;</div>
Marathon winner Mare Dibaba at the IAAF World Chamionships, Beijing 2015</div>
&nbsp;
After 26 miles of attrition, Dibaba (no relation to Genzebe) barely slowed down as she whipped into her lap of honour.
<h3>Ayana's last 3000m</h3>
Genzebe Dibaba was the world record-holder and 1500m world champion. Almaz Ayana was the fastest 5000m runner so far in 2015. Ayana set a strategy that caught Dibaba, in her fourth race of the week, flat-footed: a long drive from 3000m out.
Ayana sailed to victory in a championship record of 14:26.83 (the old record belonging to Dibaba's older sister Tirunesh) and Dibaba faded to bronze behind team-mate Senbere Teferi as Ethiopia completed their second sweep of the women's 5000m medals. Ayana&rsquo;s final 3000m was covered in 8:19.91.
<h3>Kiprop&rsquo;s last step</h3>
In the men&rsquo;s 1500m final, Taoufik Makhloufi was trying to get away from 200m out. Abdalaati Iguider was trying to get away from 100m out. But at the last possible step, the impossibly long strides of two-time defending champion Asbel Kiprop swallowed both of them.
Makhloufi and Iguider ended fourth and third respectively. Kiprop became the three-time world champion and those who reached found the gold beyond their grasp.
<h3>Felix&rsquo;s last run</h3>
Jamaica&rsquo;s four individual 400m finalists teamed up to take gold in the 4x400m, overtaking USA on the final stretch.
But the USA would have been out of contention even earlier in the race had it not been for world 400m champion Allyson Felix clocking a 47.72 split &ndash; the third fastest in history &ndash; in her sixth and final race in Beijing to give USA the lead going into the final leg.
<h3>Francis's last lap</h3>
It was a phenomenal set of relays for Trinidad and Tobago, who took bronze in the women's 4x100m and then led all three exchanges in the men's 4x400m. And it was LaShawn Merritt who took the day in the end, as the USA &ndash; who had won eight 4x400m relays in 14 World Championships &ndash; put their biggest man on the last leg.
&nbsp;
<div id="55e319834f1f660874bbc940" class="dropMedia">
<div style="background-image: url('http://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Small/0e142739-acf7-43c9-b457-9d1d5c44c358.jpg');">&nbsp;</div>
LaShawn Merritt and Javon Francis in the 4x400m at the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015</div>
&nbsp;
But the real heroics came from Jamaica&rsquo;s Javon Francis, who took his team from fourth to first in the space of a few metres on the back straight of the final leg. He missed out on the bronze medal by four thousandths of a second as Jamaica was credited with the same time as Great Britain in third, 2:58.31. But Francis can take some consolation in the fact that his 43.52 split was the fastest of the day.
Parker Morse for the IAAF

It's all over now. As the last medals are being distributed, here are a few last moments from day nine at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015.

The last few moments of the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015

Novlene Williams-Mills overtook Francena McCorory in the closing metres to lead Jamaica to victory in the 4x400m on the closing night of the IAAF World championships, Beijing 2015.Williams-Mills entered the final straight some two or three metres down on McCorory, who had led the world on times coming into the championships but failed to qualify for an individual spot at the US trials.Reversing the result at the IAAF World Relays in May, Williams-Mills took Jamaica to victory and world lead in 3:19.13. The USA was second in 3:19.44 and Great Britain took the bronze in 3:23.62.It was hard to read the form line coming into the final. Based on what has happened here, Jamaica looked the favourite. All four of their runners had made the individual final. Shericka Jackson, on the second leg, was the individual bronze medallist, lead-off runner Christine Day was fourth, third-leg runner Stephenie Ann McPherson fifth and Williams-Mills sixth.The USA had only one finalist, but that was Felix, who won the 400m in the fastest time in the world this year, 49.26.In addition, the USA were able to bring in fresh for the final both McCorory and Sanya Richards-Ross, giving them three of the fastest four in the world. Maybe that swung favouritism back their way.The race was one of momentum swings. Day led off for Jamaica, Richards-Ross for the USA. Advantage Jamaica, who led clearly at the first change. Jackson then ran a strong second leg to hand over in the lead ahead of Hastings.Then, Felix. The US star had not been able to make much impact on the previous night&rsquo;s 4x100m, but she turned on a blinder here and made up the huge deficit to put the USA back into the lead with one leg to run. Her split of 47.72 was the third-fastest relay leg in history and the fastest ever seen at the IAAF World Championships.As McCorory and Williams-Mills entered the final straight, the gold still looked to be heading back to the US. Slowly Williams-Mills cut the lead down, but still it seemed McCorory may prevail. Entering the final 30 metres, though, Williams-Mills pulled out, got on to McCorory&rsquo;s shoulder and then edged past to give Jamaica both women&rsquo;s relay medals.The 33-year-old Williams-Mills was an individual bronze medallist as far back as Osaka in 2007, but her 49.14 anchor leg here was every bit as special.Len Johnson for the IAAF

Novlene Williams-Mills overtook Francena McCorory in the closing metres to lead Jamaica to victory in the 4x400m on the closing night of the IAAF World championships, Beijing 2015.

WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Words of Wisdom – Shaunae Miller

Sprints nation Jamaica now making big waves in the throws

The silver medal that felt like gold to Vlasic

Ihab Abdelrahman El Sayed, almost the Pharaoh of throwing

Williams sisters keeping up family tradition in the sprint hurdles