Decathletes &ndash; they&rsquo;re an injury-prone lot at the best of times, athletes who put their bodies through the ringer for a short-lived two days in the sun, and that's only when they make it to the start line.&nbsp;
Those who make it to the podium at major championships are not always the most talented, or indeed the most hard-working; sometimes they&rsquo;re the lucky few who managed to keep their body in working order when so many of their rivals fell to pieces.
But an injury-free decathlete is something of an oxymoron, such is the toll the rigour of training takes long before they make it to a competition.
Kai Kazmirek knows this, so when the German 26-year-old tore ligaments in his ankle in mid-May, shortly before his attempt to book his ticket to London at the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting in Gotzis, he knew not to panic. It was all part of the job.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I was in really good shape before my first competition but I fell over and damaged ligaments in my foot,&rdquo; he says.
Bereft of time &ndash; and indeed his health &ndash; Kazmirek found himself in a position where most would have conceded defeat.
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Kai Kazmirek of Germany in action during the javelin in the men's decathlon at the IAAF World Championships London 2017</div>
 Given the ultra-competitive nature of German combined events &ndash; think USA and Jamaica in sprints, Kenya and Ethiopia in distance running &ndash; he needed to make a quick recovery if he was to earn his place on the national team at the IAAF World Championships London 2017.
Four weeks &ndash; that&rsquo;s all he had before the IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting in Ratingen. &ldquo;I taped it, took painkillers, did everything I could,&rdquo; he says.
Somehow he held himself together, Kazmirek managing to finish third in Ratingen with 8478 behind compatriot Rico Freimuth and Grenada&rsquo;s Kurt Felix.
<h3>Staying on track</h3>
Coming into London, the injury problems meant Kazmirek&rsquo;s expectations were tempered, aware that the six weeks of training he missed in May and June had left him unlikely to feature with the world&rsquo;s best.
But class is a permanent commodity, and Kazmirek has never been short of it throughout his career.
Growing up in Torgau, a town in northwest Germany, he started his sporting life as a footballer, kicking a ball around with his schoolmates from the age of five. At the age of 11 he first tried athletics, and such is the all-round approach taken in the club system in Germany, he tried every event throughout his youth.
&ldquo;We all start with combined events then branch off, so when you find an event you like you stick with it,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Germany is the land of combined eventers.&rdquo;
In 2008 he was German U18 champion in the high jump, clearing 2.09m at the age of 17, but even then he was aware that he could only ever be quite good at that event, while he could be great at the decathlon.
&ldquo;I said: &lsquo;okay, I&rsquo;m not good enough for one discipline so I will stay at the combined events',&rdquo; he recalls. &nbsp;
He tried his first decathlon the following year, managing 7477 in his first attempt, which booked him a place at the European Junior Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia, where he set a lifetime best of 7639 to take the bronze medal.
But it would be a long time before he would reach another podium at a major championships. In 2010 he finished sixth in the decathlon at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada, then sixth again at the 2011 European U23 Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
The London 2012 Olympics would pass him by, his breakthrough tally of 8130 not enough to gain selection on the German team, but selectors would know his name once again in 2013 when he upped his PB to 8366, and more importantly won gold, at the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fipcafaPtTE" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">European U23 Championships in Tampere, Finland</a>.
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German decathlete Kai Kazmirek</div>
 His improvement has been consistent, his routine methodical, Kazmirek training alone at his home in St Sebastian, a small town of fewer than 2000 people. His primary coach is Jorg Roos, though for disciplines that need the most work &ndash; in Kazmirek&rsquo;s case, the throws &ndash; he seeks the guidance of two additional coaches.
Last year, Kazmirek&rsquo;s commitment to strengthening his weaknesses was rewarded with a spot at his first Olympic Games in Rio, where he had a breakthrough performance to finish fourth with 8580 points, an agonising 86 points shy of a medal.
<h3>Lingering doubts</h3>
If that wasn&rsquo;t enough to earn a spot on a podium, what hope had he this year, after all his injury problems?&nbsp;
&ldquo;I was just very happy to be here,&rdquo; he said in London. &ldquo;I missed six or seven weeks of really good training and it was a mental problem from then. I didn&rsquo;t expect a medal.&rdquo;
His first day of competition was far from ideal, inclement weather wreaking havoc with some of his performances early on. Nonetheless Kazmirek finished it in fine style, clocking the fastest time in the 400m of 47.19 to overtake German teammate Rico Freimuth and sit second behind France&rsquo;s Kevin Mayer on 4421 points overnight.
Still, he didn&rsquo;t quite believe, not when Olympic medallists were hot on his tail, guys like Trey Hardee of USA and Damian Warner of Canada.
After clocking 14.66 in the 110m hurdles to start day two, however, he started to think a medal might soon be his, mostly due to Hardee crashing out after hitting the third hurdle and another medal contender, Ilya Shkurenev, pulling up injured in the same race.
After a 5.10m clearance in the pole vault and a 62.45m javelin throw, Kazmirek headed into the 1500m with enough of a cushion over his closest rivals that he could coast to the finish without undue suffering, though after 10 events in two days nothing feels particularly good.
Except, of course, the bronze medal he was soon awarded, Kazmirek joining champion Mayer and silver medallist Freimuth on the podium, the Germans becoming the first pair from their nation to reach a World Championships decathlon podium since 1987.
&ldquo;It was the night of the Germans,&rdquo; said Kazmirek. &ldquo;This is an indescribable feeling.&rdquo;
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It was a medal earned the hard way, not just through his mountains of training but following the inconvenience of ill-timed injury.
After he had finished speaking to the media in the bowels of the London Stadium, Kazmirek set off into the night to track down his mother and father, who had come to London to witness their son&rsquo;s proudest moment.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll all celebrate together,&rdquo; he said, beaming the smile of a man who couldn't be more content. &ldquo;I think it will be a long night.&rdquo;
Cathal Dennehy for the IAAF

Decathletes – they’re an injury-prone lot at the best of times, athletes who put their bodies through the ringer by juggling training loads for 10 different events.

Rocky road to London pays off for Kazmirek

Medals are like buses. After Vebjorn Rodal claimed bronze in the men&rsquo;s 800m in Gothenburg in 1995, Norway went 10 consecutive editions of the IAAF World Championships without winning a medal on the track. Then in a matter of days, at the IAAF World Championships London 2017, two appeared almost at once.
Having seen his teammate Karsten Warholm take gold over 400m hurdles on Wednesday 9 August in torrential rain, Filip Ingebrigtsen kept up the momentum four days later by finishing in the bronze medal position in the 1500m on the final night of the championships.
&ldquo;Athletics has been on the down for 15 to 20 years in Norway, since Rodal,&rdquo; said Ingebrigtsen. &ldquo;Cross-country skiing has been taking all of the attention. Now with Karsten in the hurdles and me in the 1500m, hopefully we can get a lot of Norwegians interested in running, as we&rsquo;ve shown in these championships that we are becoming a big nation in European athletics.&rdquo;
In the 1500m final, the three Kenyans in the field, Elijah Manangoi, Timothy Cheruiyot and Asbel Kiprop, opened up a gap on the rest of the field. While the rest of his competitors watched and hesitated, afraid to take the initiative, Ingebrigtsen took off in chase of the leaders, and his audaciousness was rewarded with third place behind Manangoi and Cheruiyot, as Kiprop faded badly in the final 200m.
&ldquo;Before the race I thought the Kenyans would work together and make it a fast race to get rid of the 800m guys before the home stretch. Unfortunately I was boxed in when they increased the pace. The other guys didn&rsquo;t follow so I had to break free from them and try to catch them. I caught up with them but I couldn&rsquo;t go past them. It was hard work to try to catch them. But I won a bronze so I&rsquo;m happy.&rdquo;
<h3>Family affair</h3>
Along with older brother Henrik (26) and younger brother Jakob (16), 24-year-old Filip Ingebrigtsen is coached by father Gjert, and under his guidance the three have achieved considerable success. Filip claimed the gold medal over 1500m at the European Championships in Amsterdam last year. Closely behind him on that occasion was Henrik, who took bronze, to add to the gold and silver he won at the 2012 and 2014 European Championships respectively.
Meanwhile Jakob has been making waves in 2017, appearing on the IAAF Diamond League circuit, and achieving the 5000m and 3000m steeplechase double at the European U20 Championships in Grosseto, Italy.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really competitive but we are also really close, and family means everything,&rdquo; said Filip. &ldquo;Henrik and I have been working together and running against each other for the last six years, so I have to give him some credit for this bronze medal.&rdquo;
While absolutely delighted with his brother&rsquo;s success in London, Henrik couldn&rsquo;t help but re-emphasise just how competitive the three brothers are around each other, and how this is necessary in order to push themselves to greater heights.
&ldquo;If one runs well, it puts more pressure on the other guys,&rdquo; said Henrik. &ldquo;Every workout is a competition.&rdquo;
Their father is very quick to jump in and interrupt however, very much downplaying the existence of a competitive rivalry between his sons, preferring to focus on the training procedures he has put in place to enable them to become world-class middle-distance runners.
&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t say that. I disagree,&rdquo; said Gjert. &ldquo;I would say it gives them confidence in the training procedures as they have somebody to train with. Of course they push each other, but in a good way. Because they are brothers, they like to see each other succeed.&rdquo;
Filip has been used to competing alongside Henrik at major championships in recent years. However, his older brother has had to sit out the world championships due to injury, and instead helped out as an accredited coach for the Norwegian team in London.
&ldquo;I was lucky enough to have him with me as a team coach,&rdquo; said Filip. &ldquo;It would have been empty if he wasn&rsquo;t there. He&rsquo;s been helping a lot with tactics. He&rsquo;s been at a lot of championships over the years, so his experience has been helping me a lot. I gave him a hug after the final, and I noticed he shed a few tears.&rdquo;
<h3>Humble beginnings</h3>
While the Ingebrigtsens are possibly now the most well-known family in world athletics, they started out from humble beginnings. Their mother gave birth for the first time aged 17, and never had a career in sport, although she was a recreational swimmer. Their father had no involvement in sport whatsoever. Many would see this lack of competitive experience as a barrier to becoming a successful coach, but Filip believes Gjert&rsquo;s dedication and willingness to learn more than makes up for this.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a really smart guy. He&rsquo;s always been following us closely in everything we do. He&rsquo;s just been learning from a trial-and-error method. He&rsquo;s always analysing the training and trying to improve. In the last four to five years he&rsquo;s been a really good coach and our programmes have been really developed.&rdquo;
With a first global medal secured, Filip has no plans to end his season just yet. He will run in the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Zurich later this month, before competing in the Norwegian Championships in his hometown of Sandnes.
Asked whether he&rsquo;d be interested in a hypothetical 3 x 600m relay race against the other super-family of athletics, the Borlees, incorporating 400m runners Jonathon, Kevin and Dylan, he replied with a smile.
&ldquo;Henrik&rsquo;s too slow. They would beat us easily.&rdquo;
Competitiveness in the Ingebrigtsen household is here to stay.
James Sullivan for the IAAF

Medals are like buses. After Vebjorn Rodal claimed bronze in the men’s 800m in Gothenburg in 1995, Norway went 10 consecutive editions of the IAAF World Championships without winning a medal on the track. Then in a matter of days, at the IAAF World Championships London 2017, two appeared almost at once.

World bronze medallist Ingebrigtsen continues Norwegian renaissance

It has been a stunning season by any account for Ukrainian high jumper Yuliya Levchenko.
Even though the two biggest prizes of the season evaded her, having to settle for second at the IAAF World Championships London 2017 and IAAF Diamond League final in Brussels, at the age of 19 she has established herself among the world elite for her event and, barring injury, looks set to occupy that position for many years to come.
Having won gold at the Youth Olympic Games in 2014 and then taking the bronze at the IAAF World U20 Championships last year, she was already on an upward trajectory, but her feats this season have established her as probably the closest rival to the undisputed current world No.1, Maria Lasitskene.
Levchenko, in her first year in the senior ranks, started the season with a personal best of 1.95m but increased that on three occasions.
She took the European U23 title with 1.96m in Bydgoszcz in July, partial compensation for finishing third at the same venue 12 months before when she crossed the border to neighbouring Poland as favourite for the global U20 crown.
The IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco witnessed Levchenko clear 1.97m but she finished second behind Lasitskene &ndash; in fact, Levchenko has yet to beat Lasitskene in 10 encounters stretching back to 2015 &ndash; as she was subsequently to do at the World Championships and Brussels.
This was a prelude to her going higher and higher in London, producing a soaring clearance at 1.99m to temporarily take the lead in the hunt for the gold medal, and then &ndash; having watched Lasitskene regain pole position by going over 2.01m on her first attempt &ndash; slithered over 2.01m to become the 70th woman ever to clear two metres or better.
<h3>A forgiving bar</h3>
"It was an unbelievable [world] championships for me," she said after the final, which lasted nearly two hours. "I was focused from the opening jump until the last attempt. I didn't allow myself to get emotional.
&ldquo;When I got the bronze medal at the European Indoors in Belgrade, I showed how happy I was, but here I just tried to keep myself under control.
&ldquo;My clearance at 2.01m was not my best attempt technically. I thought that such a height would not be so forgiving of any mistakes that I made; that&rsquo;s one reason why I was just sitting there looking stunned rather than dancing with delight as I had done at 1.99m. I couldn&rsquo;t believe how I had got over; I suppose sheer willpower and strength.
&ldquo;My boyfriend had sent me a message before the competition that I would jump 2.01m. I didn't believe him but it looks like he was right,&rdquo; she joked.
&ldquo;One thing that helped me focus at 2.01m was that of the three women remaining (Poland&rsquo;s 2014 world indoor champion Kamila Licwinko was also in the competition having also got over 1.99m at the first time of asking but with failures earlier in the competition), I was the last to jump.
<h3>Satisfied with second</h3>
&ldquo;I saw Maria go clear (Licwinko then had failures with her first and second attempts) then I knew I was in second place. I just tried to relax and I got over 2.01m on my second attempt.
&ldquo;I have to be honest and say Maria was clearly stronger throughout the competition, as she has been all season. It would have been hard to beat her, but I was very pleased with second place.&rdquo;
So too were the rest of the Ukrainian team; 'relieved' might even be a better word.
Surprisingly, Ukraine had not won a medal until Levchenko&rsquo;s silver on the penultimate day of the championships and it was to be the only time in London that a Ukrainian athlete stood on the podium.
&ldquo;You always worry about your team. You want more medals, more successful performances. But this is a sport and not always everything turns out the way people want, there are many factors,&rdquo; she said, in response to some post-championships chest-beating about their country&rsquo;s medal tally in the Ukrainian media.
&ldquo;There were athletes who could not show their best result, and we were all very upset for them.&rdquo;
By contrast, Levchenko was feted like a returning hero, at least by modest Ukrainian standards. &ldquo;We do not celebrate in the street, we do not ask (well-known people) for an autograph. But when I returned to Kiev after the World Championships, the border guards recognised me and congratulated me. It was tremendously pleasant.&rdquo;
<h3>Domestic duels</h3>
Levchenko naturally attributes one of the reasons to her success to her coach Irina Pustovit.
Another factor is that she has a number of domestic rivals.
In addition to her good friend Iryna Gerashchenko, there is also 2017 World University Games winner Oksana Okuneva and 2013 European junior champion Kateryna Tabashnyk to reckon with locally. All three women accompany Levchenko in the 2017 top 10 world outdoor list having jumped 1.95m or better.
In addition, knocking on the door, is this year&rsquo;s world U18 champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who jumped 1.92m this year.
&ldquo;Domestic competition is always good, it produces good results. It pushes and does not let you relax,&rdquo; added Levchenko.
&ldquo;I am very friendly with Iryna so that&rsquo;s slightly different and I don&rsquo;t feel I am competing with her in the same way; instead we both fight with the bar rather than between ourselves.&rdquo;
Inga Bakakova&rsquo;s long-standing and impressive Ukrainian high jump record of 2.05m, set more than two decades ago in 1995, is still some way from being beaten but the gap is closing. And Levchenko &ndash; who moved up to equal third on the Ukrainian all-time list &ndash; this season closed it more than any of her contemporaries.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF

It has been a stunning season by any account for Ukrainian high jumper Yuliya Levchenko.

Levchenko's London silver levitates her standing as Lasitskene’s main rival

Twelve years is a long time to wait, particularly for a proud distance-running nation like Tanzania, which has no shortage of athletic talent but so often has to play second fiddle to the superpowers of Kenya and Ethiopia to its north.
But on a warm, sunny day at the IAAF World Championships London 2017, 26-year-old Alphonce Felix Simbu finally ended their medal drought, battling his way to third place in the men&rsquo;s marathon to claim just the second medal for Tanzania in the history of the championships.
The first was won back in 2005 by Christopher Isengwe, who took silver in the men&rsquo;s marathon in Helsinki, and it&rsquo;s no coincidence to learn that&rsquo;s around the time Simbu, then 14, first took up the sport.
&ldquo;I started with a coach who was a teacher in primary school,&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;He told me one day you will run good. I always heard people saying they&rsquo;re going to the World Championships and I said to myself, 'one day I will be there too'.&rdquo;
Back then, Simbu was better known as a 1500m and 5000m runner, winning a Tanzanian title over the latter distance in 2011, which was where he first came under the watch of national team coach Francis John.
<h3>Baptism of fire</h3>
He entered Simbu for the All Africa Games that year in Maputo, Mozambique, where the 19-year-old got a rude awakening about the level required at the top level, coming home eighth in the 10,000m in 29:58:20 in a race won by then world champion Ibrahim Jeilan of Ethiopia in 28:18.22. Five of the seven rivals to finish the race lapped Simbu.
But back then he was just a talented teen without the required workload behind him, and over the years that followed John put him through his paces, having him log between 180 to 200 kilometres per week in training to build the endurance engine he would need to reach the top.
&ldquo;In 2015 I changed my mind and said he must go to the marathon,&rdquo; says John.
Simbu made his debut that year in Gold Coast, finishing a decent sixth in 2:12:01, which earned him selection for the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015.
There he came through the field over the latter half of the race to finish 12th in 2:16:58, which was enough to guarantee his spot on the Tanzanian team for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
&ldquo;We started training in January,&rdquo; says John. &ldquo;We trained for six months in Arusha, west Kilimanjaro, at an altitude of 2400 metres.&rdquo;
<h3>Hitting the right note</h3>
Training consisted of two runs per day every day except Sunday, when Simbu would rest and attend church.
For many years he was a keen gospel singer in the church choir, but soon running took priority. &ldquo;I left because of training,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;but I will return to it again.&rdquo;
In Rio he came up against the titans of his event, men like Eliud Kipchoge, Feyisa Lilesa and Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, but applying a patient strategy once again paid dividends, Simbu slicing through the top 10 over the closing miles to finish fifth in 2:11:15.
&ldquo;I was happy,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I wanted to get a medal but I missed it, so I said I&rsquo;m going to wait, train hard and you will see the results.&rdquo;
He started 2017 with a bang, taking victory at the Mumbai Marathon in January in 2:09:32, which soon had London Marathon organisers extending an invitation. There, in late April, he again finished with a strong burst to place fifth, setting a PB of 2:09:10 in a race won by Kenya&rsquo;s Daniel Wanjiru in 2:05:48.
That run convinced him he had no one to fear when he returned to London a little over three months later for the World Championships.
<h3>Man of bronze</h3>
The first Sunday morning of the championships dawned warm and sunny, ideal conditions for doing many things, but not for running a marathon. Simbu, however, was non-plussed. &ldquo;The weather was hot but because I train in different weather in Tanzania I knew I would be able to run well,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it was still tough.&rdquo;
The early pace was steady, a group of 25 passing halfway together at the front.
&ldquo;Our plan was to keep always with the leaders,&rdquo; says John. &ldquo;But the guys changed my plan early.&rdquo;
Just after halfway Kenyans Geoffrey Kirui and Gideon Kipketer, along with Ethiopia&rsquo;s Tamirat Tola, injected a vicious change of pace which drew them clear of the field.
It left Simbu running side by side with Daniel Wanjiru well behind, although his coach had seen the way he could close out races so he still had hope of a medal.
&ldquo;He is strong in the finish,&rdquo; says John. &ldquo;I said to him, 'keep on going'.&rdquo;
Kipketer soon couldn't live with the leading duo and fell back through the pack, then entering the closing kilometres Simbu hit full throttle, dropping Wanjiru and closing in on Tola, who was fading fast in second.
Kirui took gold in 2:08:27, with Tola hanging on for silver in 2:09:49, followed closely by Simbu, who crossed the line in 2:09:51 to crown an unforgettable day not just for him, but for the people of Tanzania.
&ldquo;This is a historic moment in my life, my best achievement,&rdquo; said Simbu. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy because it was a long time since Tanzania won a medal.&rdquo;
It was also a proud moment for his coach, who sees Simbu as the ideal protege. &ldquo;He has a strong mind, always listens to coach,&rdquo; says John. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good luck that he never becomes sick or injured. He never says he can&rsquo;t do something because it&rsquo;s hard.&rdquo;
The biggest upside to Simbu&rsquo;s medal, believed John, was not so much for the man himself but for the youngsters watching at home. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking at the medals for the young guys, for the future,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;He trains with the young guys and we hope he can motivate them with the medal.&rdquo;
Simbu, a father to a one-year-old baby boy, was also acutely aware of what it could mean for the future of Tanzanian distance running.
&ldquo;It will provide inspiration,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Now athletes in Tanzania will get morale and they are going to train hard because they can see that if they train hard they can also do well. In 2020 there will be many of us.&rdquo;
Cathal Dennehy for the IAAF

Twelve years is a long time to wait, particularly for a nation like Tanzania, which has no shortage of athletic talent but so often has to play second fiddle to the distance-running superpowers of Kenya and Ethiopia.

Simbu's brilliant bronze set to inspire a generation 

Looking up to the greats of your event is one thing, but trying to beat them is quite another.&nbsp;
Though Germany's Pamela Dutkiewicz didn't quite manage to beat all of them in the 100m hurdles final at the IAAF World Championships London 2017, she came close, and her bronze medal behind gold medallist Sally Pearson of Australia and Dawn Harper Nelson of the USA felt as good as gold.&nbsp;
The 25-year-old crowned a successful season in the super-competitive final by clocking 12.72 to hold off world record-holder Kendra Harrison by 0.02 to snatch the bronze medal.&nbsp;
"I cannot believe it. I dreamt about this medal," said Dutkiewicz. "It&rsquo;s crazy because there were so many big names in the 100m hurdles. I was so focused and I pushed until the final hurdle."&nbsp;
<h3>Living the dream</h3>
Since she started to compete in hurdles races, Dutkiewicz has looked up to Pearson, who this year made a successful comeback from injury, winning her second world title six years after her first and on the same track where she won Olympic gold in 2012.
"Since I was a girl I have been admiring Sally Pearson," said Dutkiewicz. "She has been a role model for me. I am happy with her win. It's like I'm in a film. I am glad I caught a moment of complete flow at the fifth hurdle. When I crossed the finish line I thought I had finished fourth. You can only see the athlete in the lane next to you.
"I had a lot of emotions after the race, as I did not really expect to win a medal. I'm grateful that I kept my emotions under control. I hoped to run a clean race and I managed to do that. As I crossed the finish I thought, 'Wow, I am really in the top positions'. Then I saw that I finished third on the screen. It could not have gone better.
"My lap of honour was great. It was like madness. The support of the crowd goes through to your heart. They really appreciate your performance."
<h3>First love</h3>
Dutkiewicz hails from a sporting family of Polish origin and has been in love with sport of all kinds since she was a child.
Her father Marian Dutkiewicz played football for the Polish U21 team and her mother Brygida won the Polish 800m title in 1984 and had a PB of 2:02.39. Dutkiewicz started in athletics at the age of 10 and tried many disciplines under the guidance of Sigfried Henning and Michael Birbelbach before focusing on the hurdles at the age of 15.
At 16 years of age, Dutkiewicz moved from Kassel to Bochum Wattenscheid to attend a sports boarding school and started training under the guidance of Slawomir Filipowski in 2008.
"The move to Bochum was the best decision in my life because I learnt to become more independent from my family," she said. "But I was putting on weight as I ate everything that was served in the canteen. I started eating inconsistently. For this reason I began working with one of the federation&rsquo;s nutritionists."
Dutkiewicz made her first breakthrough at national level when she finished third in the 60m hurdles at the 2014 German Indoor Championships in Leipzig in 8.19. She went on to finish fourth at the German Championships in Ulm in 12.95. During the 2015 indoor season she finished second at the national championships in 8.07, qualifiying for the European Indoor Championships, but was sidelined by a serious injury for the rest of the season.
"I felt in the form of my life," she said. "I set the qualifying standard for the European Indoor Championships in Prague but I rolled my ankle awkwardly and tore the ligaments of both my ankles." &nbsp;
<h3>Olympic ambition</h3>
Dutkiewicz made her international breakthrough in 2016 when she reached the final at the European Championships in Amsterdam and the semifinal at the Olympic Games in Rio, where she clocked 12.92.
"The Olympic Games were an important learning experience," she said. "I learnt to deal with competing in big international events. The many big international meetings gave me the chance to deal with the pressure. I run alone on the track, but there are a lot of people who support me, including my coach and my medical team."
Dutkiewicz has gained invaluable racing experience this year. After clocking a PB of 7.79 to win the German indoor 60m hurdles title, she went on to earn the European indoor bronze medal in Belgrade.
Outdoors, the 25-year-old Kassel-born hurdler remained unbeaten in eight consecutive races including the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Oslo, the IAAF World Challenge meetings in Hengelo and Ostrava, the European Team Championships in Lille and the German Championships in Erfurt, before finishing seventh in the super-competitive race in Monaco in her final competition before London.
But in London she became a medal contender after finishing second in the semifinal in 12.71 behind Harper Nelson before eventually crowning her season with the bronze medal.
"My boyfriend was in the stadium in London but I told my parents to stay at home because they are so nervous watching me in a stadium," she said. "I believe they were crying at home right when I was competing."
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

Looking up to the greats of your event is one thing, but trying to beat them is quite another. 


Dutkiewicz daring to dream after joining the greats in London

<a href="#FR">Fran&ccedil;ais</a>
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) today announced <a href="https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/downloads/pdfs/knowledge-centre/en/AIU-Press-Release-Post-London-2017a.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a summary of the programme it conducted at the IAAF World Championships London 2017</a>.
Sunday 13 August represented the final session of the IAAF World Championships London 2017. It also marked the conclusion of the extensive three-part championships programme enacted by the AIU, which consisted of anti-doping and betting monitoring programmes, and an education outreach initiative.
&ldquo;The Athletics Integrity Unit is pleased to have conducted such a successful three-part programme at London 2017,&rdquo; said AIU Head Brett Clothier. &ldquo;Throughout the championships, it was evident that there was a strong, positive reaction from athletes and their support teams to the work of the AIU. It was hugely satisfying to see that athletes have a real thirst to gain knowledge of integrity-related issues and to learn how they can better help uphold the right values of the sport. The AIU will build on this, and work with athletes so that they can help shape the future of their sport,&rdquo; added Clothier.
<a href="https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/downloads/pdfs/knowledge-centre/en/AIU-Press-Release-Post-London-2017a.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Full summary</a>
<a name="FR"></a>AIU for the IAAF
&nbsp;
<hr />
<h1 style="font-size: 40px; line-height: 35px;">L&rsquo;Unit&eacute; d&rsquo;int&eacute;grit&eacute; de l&rsquo;athl&eacute;tisme publie la synth&egrave;se de son programme des Championnats du Monde de l&rsquo;IAAF, Londres 2017</h1>
L&rsquo;Unit&eacute; d&rsquo;int&eacute;grit&eacute; de l&rsquo;athl&eacute;tisme (UIA) a publi&eacute; aujourd&rsquo;hui&nbsp;une synth&egrave;se du <a href="https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/downloads/pdfs/knowledge-centre/en/AIU-Press-Release-Post-London-2017a.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">le programme qu&rsquo;elle a d&eacute;ploy&eacute; lors des Championnats du Monde de l&rsquo;IAAF, Londres 2017</a>.
Le dimanche 13 ao&ucirc;t constituait la derni&egrave;re journ&eacute;e des Championnats du Monde de l&rsquo;IAAF, Londres 2017. Cette date marquait &eacute;galement la conclusion du programme &eacute;tendu d&eacute;ploy&eacute; par l&rsquo;UIA, qui se composait de trois parties, lors de ces championnats&nbsp;: des programmes de surveillance de l&rsquo;antidopage et des paris, et une initiative p&eacute;dagogique proactive.
&laquo;&nbsp;L&rsquo;Unit&eacute; d&rsquo;int&eacute;grit&eacute; de l&rsquo;athl&eacute;tisme est ravie d&rsquo;avoir connu un tel succ&egrave;s avec ce programme en trois parties lors de Londres 2017, a d&eacute;clar&eacute; le directeur de l&rsquo;UIA, Brett Clothier. Tout au long de ces championnats, on a clairement discern&eacute; une r&eacute;action forte et positive des athl&egrave;tes et de leur personnel d&rsquo;encadrement par rapport au travail accompli par l&rsquo;UIA.
&laquo;&nbsp;Nous avons &eacute;t&eacute; tr&egrave;s satisfaits de constater que les sportifs ont une v&eacute;ritable soif de mieux conna&icirc;tre les questions li&eacute;es &agrave; l&rsquo;int&eacute;grit&eacute;, et d&rsquo;apprendre comment ils peuvent mieux porter les bonnes valeurs de l&rsquo;athl&eacute;tisme. L&rsquo;UIA va se baser sur ce qui a &eacute;t&eacute; accompli et constat&eacute; ici, et travailler aux c&ocirc;t&eacute;s des athl&egrave;tes afin qu&rsquo;ils puissent fa&ccedil;onner le futur de leur sport.&nbsp;&raquo;
<a href="https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/downloads/pdfs/knowledge-centre/en/AIU-Press-Release-Post-London-2017a.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">L&rsquo;int&eacute;gralit&eacute; de la synth&egrave;se</a>
L&rsquo;UIA pour l&rsquo;IAAF

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) today announced a summary of the programme it conducted at the IAAF World Championships London 2017.

Athletics Integrity Unit announces summary of IAAF World Championships London 2017 programme

For most competitors, athletics is predominantly about championships. The attempt to peak for that one day a year, when the medals are up for grabs, is at the forefront of their minds for the full season leading in. It&rsquo;s almost as if nothing else matters.
Yet, when USA&rsquo;s Will Claye stepped out of the London Stadium after taking silver in the triple jump at the IAAF World Championships London 2017, behind his compatriot and long-time rival Christian Taylor, it was clear he was not satisfied. His aspirations were not merely defined by the colours gold, silver or bronze, but by the weight of history. With this in mind, there was really only one thing the world&rsquo;s media wanted to know.
When is Jonathan Edwards&rsquo; enduring world record going to be broken?
&ldquo;We were put in this position for a reason, to push each other to break the world record,&rdquo; said Claye. &ldquo;I feel like it will come one day, and I think it just comes down to executing and having the right conditions.&rdquo;
<h3>Into thin air</h3>
Both Taylor and Claye&rsquo;s obsession with Edwards&rsquo; 18.29m world record is visible to all, and they are planning to go to extreme lengths to try to accomplish it. The search for perfect conditions will take them to an unusual destination this Wednesday (16), as they intend to compete in the ski resort of Tignes in the French Alps, at an elevation of approximately 3,700m (12,000 feet) above sea level. Should that fail, they&rsquo;ll have a final bite of this illusive cherry, for the time being, at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Brussels on Friday, 1 September.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Mercredi 16/08 on va jouer au triple et &agrave; la longueur &agrave; <a href="https://twitter.com/TignesOfficiel">@TignesOfficiel</a> au pied du glacier. <a href="https://twitter.com/kaf_gomis">@kaf_gomis</a> dans ses oeuvres <a href="https://t.co/k275pt9y8W">pic.twitter.com/k275pt9y8W</a>
&mdash; Galland julien (@galland_julien) <a href="https://twitter.com/galland_julien/status/896765767726845954">August 13, 2017</a></blockquote>

<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async=""></script>

&ldquo;We are both going up there to try to break the world record. It may have an asterisk beside it, but hey, I&rsquo;ll take it,&rdquo; said Claye. &ldquo;After that we have some time to reboot and get ourselves back together, so Brussels will be big.&rdquo;
London was Claye&rsquo;s third time finishing in the silver medal position at a global outdoor championship, after the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. On each occasion his USA teammate Christian Taylor has got the better of him. Despite his admiration for his rival, Claye admits he is growing tired of consistently finishing second best.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to work my butt off so I don&rsquo;t lose ever again,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a brotherly rivalry. You don&rsquo;t want to lose to your brother. It&rsquo;s very competitive but at the same time you love him.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m always going to have that chip on my shoulder and I&rsquo;m always going to want to win. I got second, and I don&rsquo;t ever want to get second again.&rdquo;
In London last Thursday, Claye achieved a distance of 17.63m with his third-round jump, and finished an agonising 5cm down on Taylor. Despite having a very consistent series, with four of his five other jumps measuring 17.49m or better, the 26-year-old was left unsatisfied by his performance on the night.
&ldquo;I feel I didn&rsquo;t execute as well as I could,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I felt like I left a lot of distance out there. For my furthest jump I didn&rsquo;t hit the board. That is unacceptable and that is something I&rsquo;m going to have to live with and work on for the next time.&rdquo;
<h3>MUSICAL TALENTS</h3>
Away from athletics, Claye has finally decided to pursue one of his other big passions in life: music. His area of expertise is in the genre of hip-hop, and he released his debut album, entitled &lsquo;Look What You Created&rsquo; in April of this year. For now, he sees it as a welcome distraction from the high-pressure world of elite athletics, but he hasn&rsquo;t ruled out a longer-term future in the business.
&ldquo;I started making music before I started triple jumping, so I&rsquo;ve been at it a long time, but I&rsquo;ve decided now I want to put it out there for the people.
&ldquo;It gives me a good balance in life. It gives me an outlet to vent and it&rsquo;s my little diary to just give off who I am. If the right situation comes about in the future, it&rsquo;s definitely something I would entertain doing professionally. Maybe one of these years I&rsquo;ll take a year off track and work on a real album with some serious artists.&rdquo;
That&rsquo;s all for the future. For now, there&rsquo;s the small matter of Jonathan Edwards&rsquo; long-standing mark, lurking prominently like a back itch that just can&rsquo;t quite be scratched.
&ldquo;I feel like Jonathan sees it in us, he sees that we are capable of it,&rdquo; said Claye. &ldquo;It seems to be the topic of conversation between us when we meet. You can feel him starting to let it go. He knows that it is coming.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s more about who gets it last, rather than first. Once it&rsquo;s broken, it&rsquo;s going to continue to get broken. Just like when the four-minute-mile barrier was broken, it just started to flood afterwards.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just going to open new boundaries.&rdquo;
&nbsp;James Sullivan for the IAAF

For most competitors, athletics is predominantly about championships. The attempt to peak for that one day a year, when the medals are up for grabs, is at the forefront of their minds for the full season leading in. It’s almost as if nothing else matters.


Claye hoping to find the right beats in search of world record

Five years ago Sally Pearson was on top of the world. The Australian 100m hurdler had just claimed the Olympic title in London, to add to the gold medal she won at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu the year before. She was the dominant force in sprint hurdling, and looked set to be the standard bearer for the event for many years to come.
Then it went so badly wrong. In 2013 she tore her hamstring twice, but managed to regain fitness in time to take the silver medal at the IAAF World Championships Moscow 2013. Then in 2015, a fall in the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome left her with what doctors described as a bone explosion in her wrist, forcing her to miss the World Championships in Beijing that year. Her injury woes continued into 2016, when another hamstring tear ruled her out of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Such adversity would have been too much to take for many.
After all, she had achieved almost everything of note in the sport and had nothing left to prove. However, the determined Australian wouldn&rsquo;t give up the hope that one day she could make it back to the top step of the podium at a global championship, and last Saturday, in the same stadium that saw her finest hour in 2012, Pearson claimed the gold medal in the 100m hurdles at the IAAF World Championships London 2017.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t even know how to feel, I&rsquo;m just numb at the moment,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;The first thing that comes to my mind is that I&rsquo;m proud, so proud. Every single emotion you can think of that you hold in your body just came out over that finish line.&rdquo;
&ldquo;From 2013 onwards I&rsquo;ve had injuries year after year, so it was great to come out here knowing I haven&rsquo;t been injured this year and that I&rsquo;ve done everything I possibly can, and left no stone unturned to get here. I remember somebody telling me that I can become the world champion again and I didn&rsquo;t feel awkward about it.&rdquo;
<h3>KEEPING HER COOL</h3>
Entering the championships, USA&rsquo;s Kendra Harrison was seen as the overwhelming favourite to take gold in London. The world record holder had been in dominant form, clocking four of the six fastest times of 2017, including a world lead of 12.28. However, just like her semi-final, when she sneaked through as a fastest non-automatic qualifier, the US athlete clipped countless hurdles, enabling Pearson to come through to take victory in 12.59 seconds, with Harrison, in the lane beside her, finishing out of the medals in fourth.
&ldquo;I started saying to myself: &lsquo;she&rsquo;s hitting hurdles, she&rsquo;s hitting hurdles. Don&rsquo;t you get into that rhythm, don&rsquo;t you fall into hitting hurdles like her&rsquo;. I just had to stop focusing on what other athletes were doing and what they were achieving because I knew what I was capable of and I just had to believe in myself.&rdquo;
Having endured several years of severe injuries, the 30-year-old made a drastic change in August 2016, opting to coach herself in a bid to return to full fitness and to prevent suffering the same fate going forward.
&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t worried about writing the programme out,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I knew what I could and couldn&rsquo;t handle. It was just a matter of asking myself &lsquo;Am I going to do it right? Am I the right person to be doing this? Am I going to be able to listen to my body and be smart about it and look after it?&rsquo; I decided that I was just going to have to try, and if it doesn&rsquo;t work out in the first few months, then I could just try find somebody who can help.&rdquo;
Having achieved gold at the IAAF World Championships for the second time in her career, Pearson admits that, given what she has gone through to return to the top of her event, her success this year feels a little more special than her first triumph in Daegu six years ago.
&ldquo;I was winning every race going into Daegu,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;From a year out I was going to win those World Championships. Every medal is different and this one is very different to the rest of them, and feels particularly special. It felt a little like when I won silver at the 2008 Olympics with the pure excitement and celebration afterwards.&rdquo;
<h3>FUTURE PLANS</h3>
With the gold medal from London secured, along with the emotional investment required to achieve this goal, many would forgive Pearson for calling a halt to her season, and making the journey back to Australia earlier. However, she is determined to race in Europe regularly over the next few weeks. She intends to run in the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Zurich later this month, followed by the IAAF World Challenge meet in Berlin, before finishing her season at the Great City Games on the streets of Gateshead. But before all that, she has a rare outing over 100m on the flat to look forward to at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Birmingham this Sunday.
&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t my idea,&rdquo; she says with a smile. &ldquo;My agent and husband just put me in it and said to just go and do it. I don&rsquo;t have to train that way, and can just focus on another competition.&rdquo;
The Commonwealth Games being held on home soil in Gold Coast will be Pearson&rsquo;s focus for next year, but looking further ahead, she hasn&rsquo;t ruled out the possibility of continuing to compete until the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
&ldquo;I love the idea of going to a third Olympics, after missing out on Rio,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s another three years to go and it&rsquo;s just a matter of whether my body can handle it. I&rsquo;m 31 next month, so it&rsquo;s all about being smarter and looking after myself.&rdquo;
After her comeback in London, it would be foolhardy to write her off again.
James Sullivan for the IAAF

Five years ago Sally Pearson was on top of the world. The Australian 100m hurdler had just claimed the Olympic title in London, to add to the gold medal she won at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu the year before. She was the dominant force in sprint hurdling, and looked set to be the standard bearer for the event for many years to come.

Pearson's golden moment all the greater after injury heartache

It was not the fastest 400m of Usain Bolt&rsquo;s career (his lifetime best will go down in history as 45.28, dating back to 2007) but it was a landmark circuit for the Jamaican who has illuminated track and field these past nine years with his superhuman talent and his stellar personality.
Twenty four hours after his final race ended in the anguish of a torn hamstring on the anchor leg of the 4x100m, the Jamaican phenomenon was back on the track in the London Stadium, soaking up the adoration on a fitting farewell lap of honour at the end of the final session at the IAAF World Championships London 2017.
Before setting off at walking pace, the Lightning Bolt was presented with a framed piece of lane seven of the original track in the same arena, in which he won the second of his three Olympic 100m titles (in a Games record of 9.63) and 200m titles (in 19.32) in 2012, by IAAF President Sebastian Coe and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The trackside clock flashed up the world record times Bolt set at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin, 9.58 and 19.19, and he halted both at the 200m start and 100m start for a moment&rsquo;s contemplation.
&ldquo;I was saying goodbye to the fans and I was saying goodbye to my events also,&rdquo; said the 30-year-old, whose bronze in the 100m final on day two took his men&rsquo;s record World Championships medal haul to 14.
&ldquo;I was just saying goodbye to everything. I think I almost cried. It was close, but it didn&rsquo;t come.&rdquo;
Asked about the reaction from the sell-out London crowd, Bolt enthused: &ldquo;It was brilliant. The support has not changed. I expected it.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really sad that I have to walk away now but the energy of the crowd is great. The fans really love me and I appreciate that.
&ldquo;I have no regrets about running this year. The fans asked me. They wanted to see me one more year.
&ldquo;I wanted to do it for my fans. Without them, I wouldn&rsquo;t have done what I&rsquo;ve done. They gave me the energy.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think one championship is going to change what I&rsquo;ve done. I remember after losing the 100m final, someone said, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t worry. Muhammad Ali lost his last fight&rsquo;.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve proved myself year in, year out. I think the fact that I didn&rsquo;t win my last race doesn&rsquo;t affect what I&rsquo;ve done in the sport.&rdquo;
Bolt started his career hampered by injury and, sadly, has finished with an injury too. &ldquo;I had treatment last night and treatment today,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;ll have it treated until I get an MRI scan to see if it&rsquo;s as bad as I think it is. After pulling my hamstring, I&rsquo;m worried about it.
&ldquo;I just came out and did my best. It didn&rsquo;t play out to the book but everything happens for a reason. I don&rsquo;t know why. It&rsquo;s just championships.&rdquo;
As for the future, Bolt said: &ldquo;The first thing I&rsquo;m going to do is go out and have some fun &ndash; just to party. I need to go out and have a drink. I&rsquo;ve had a stressful championships.&rdquo;
And, beyond that, might there be a change of heart and a return to the track? &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Bolt, emphatically. &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve seen too many people return and come back into the sport and shame themselves. I won&rsquo;t be one of those persons.
&ldquo;I would like to stay involved in athletics but I&rsquo;m not sure what specifically I&rsquo;ll be doing. My agent is talking to Mr Coe to figure out in what way I can help out the sport.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited about it. Track and field gave me everything I had. &ldquo;
Simon Turnbull for the IAAF

It was not the fastest 400m of Usain Bolt’s career (his lifetime best will go down in history as 45.28, dating back to 2007) but it was a landmark circuit for the Jamaican who has illuminated track and field these past nine years with his superhuman talent and his stellar personality.

Now retired, Bolt excited about the next chapter

The United States topped the medal table at the IAAF World Championships London 2017 with 10 gold medals &ndash; and 31 in total &ndash; but the championships fittingly climaxed with yet another upset result in the men&rsquo;s 4x400m with Trinidad &amp; Tobago claiming the title.
The United States were by no means fielding a vintage quartet but the reigning champions were still nonetheless tipped to close out the programme with their seventh successive title in this event. However, it became clear the favourites were missing the injured LaShawn Merritt &ndash; who anchored their quartet to a narrow win over Trinidad and Tobago at the last World Championships &ndash; and in a reversal of the outcome in Beijing, Lalonde Gordon overhauled world finalist Fred Kerley on the anchor for a famous win, 2:58.12 to 2:58.61.
The women&rsquo;s 4x400m final played out exactly as expected with Quanera Hayes handing on a big lead to Allyson Felix, who duly extended their margin with a second leg split timed unofficially at 48.7. Shakima Wimbley and individual champion Phyllis Francis got the baton around without any skirmishes with the United States winning by the best part of half a length of the track in 3:19.02 ahead of Great Britain (3:25.00) and Poland (3:25.41).
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Phyllis Francis anchors the USA to gold in the women's 4x400m at the IAAF World Championships London 2017</div>
 This was the United States&rsquo; 10th gold medal of the championships and the 11th of Felix&rsquo;s unparalleled career. After running the second leg of their gold medal-winning 4x100m team yesterday evening, Felix became the most bemedalled athlete in World Championships history with 16 medals and after claiming her second title of the championships in the 4x400m, Felix matches Usain Bolt&rsquo;s haul of 11 gold medals.
But while Bolt bowed out of competition at this championships, it is full steam ahead to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo for Felix.
<h3>History for Diniz and Henriques</h3>
Yohann Diniz has had more than his fair share of disaster and misfortune in major championships but everything came right for the charismatic Frenchman on a gloriously sunny morning on The Mall.
The world record-holder required an unscheduled early race pit stop but he quickly slotted himself back into the leading pack, although not for too long. By the 10-kilometre checkpoint, Diniz was already 40 seconds clear of the pursuers and his lead had doubled over the course of the next 10-kilometre segment.
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Yohann Diniz in the 50km race walk at the IAAF World Championships London 2017</div>
 Diniz has squandered seemingly insurmountable leads in the past but the three-time European champion has worked his way back into close to world record form after another tumultuous season, and never looked like faltering. Diniz only resumed full training as recently as June after sustaining broken ribs in a car accident but he still crossed the finish line in a championship record of 3:33:12, a time second only to his world record of 3:32:33.
At 39, Diniz becomes the oldest man to win a gold medal in World Championships history but retirement is by no means on his mind. &ldquo;I am still missing one [title] and that is the Olympic one,&rdquo; said Diniz, who turns 40 on 1 January. &ldquo;It would be a nice way to finish in Tokyo.&rdquo;
The first edition of the women&rsquo;s 50km race walk at the World Championships was fittingly capped with a world record from the event&rsquo;s standard-bearer, Ines Henriques from Portugal.
Henriques, who clocked 4:08:26 earlier this season, ended up finishing two minutes inside that time today, crossing the finish-line on The Mall in 4:05:56 ahead of China&rsquo;s Yin Hang in an Asian record of 4:08:58.
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Ines Henriques in the 50km race walk at the IAAF World Championships London 2017</div>
 In contrast to the 50km, both 20km races went down to the wire. China looked on course for another brace of medals in the women&rsquo;s race with Yang Jiayu winning in 1:26:18 by one second ahead of Mexico&rsquo;s Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez but disaster struck for Liu Xiuzhi, disqualified on the purple carpet leading into the finish. Italy&rsquo;s Antonella Palmisano was the beneficiary, taking bronze in 1:26:36.
The men&rsquo;s 20km race walk was another see-sawing affair which saw the medal positions change constantly in the last five kilometres. Six years after Colombia won this title courtesy of Luis Fernando Lopez, Eider Arevalo followed suit in a national record of 1:18:53 ahead of teenager Sergei Shirobokov (1:18:55) and Brazil&rsquo;s Caio Bonfim (1:19:04).
<h3>Obiri and Manangoi make it five for Kenya</h3>
Kenya topped the medal table at the last World Championships in Beijing with seven gold medals and on the last night of competition, Hellen Obiri and Elijah Manangoi brought their tally up to five across the championships, putting them second on the medal table behind the United States.
A silver medallist behind Vivian Cheruiyot at the Olympics last summer, Obiri followed &ndash; and weathered &ndash; Almaz Ayana&rsquo;s trademark mid-race break before producing a blitzing final circuit of 60.11 to scupper the Ethiopian&rsquo;s chances of achieving a long distance double. Obiri stopped the clock at 14:34.86 with Ayana fading to second in 14:40.35 &ndash; some 16 seconds slower than the second half of her momentous run in the 10,000m last Saturday.
Manangoi banished the memories of an injury-ridden Olympic campaign last summer by claiming the 1500m title, and dethroning the three-time reigning champion Asbel Kiprop in the process. A medal sweep looked possible at the 800m checkpoint in 1:57.55 with the Kenyan triumvirate eight metres clear but while Manangoi and Timothy Cheruiyot filled the top two spots on the podium in 3:33.61 and 3:33.99, Kiprop &ndash; who seemed to be returning to form during the rounds &ndash; faded back to ninth in 3:37.24.
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Hellen Obiri wins the 5000m at the IAAF World Championships London 2017</div>
 While this has been a championships of shocks, not even six races in 10 days was going to stop Caster Semenya from regaining her world title in the 800m. Semenya was sixth at the bell but the South African pulled out a sizeable negative split of 56.63, crossing the finish line in a world-leading 1:55.16 &ndash; the second-fastest winning time in championship history after Jarmila Kratochvilova&rsquo;s 1:54.68 from 1983.
<h3>Perkovic and Barshim deliver on the in-field</h3>
Croatia&rsquo;s Sandra Perkovic now has two world discus titles to go alongside her pair of Olympic titles, as well as her four European crowns.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Perkovic&rsquo;s second-round throw of 70.31m &ndash; the first 70-metre-plus throw in a World Championships since 1991 &ndash; placed her in an unassailable position, although her winning margin was cut back drastically in the sixth round when 2009 world champion Dani Stevens from Australia added nearly two metres to her lifetime best and Oceanian record with 69.64m.&nbsp;
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Discus medallists Sandra Perkovic and Dani Stevens at the IAAF World Championships London 2017</div>
 Mutaz Essa Barshim had never claimed a global outdoor title before tonight but the Qatari &ndash; who eschewed the indoor season and competed sparingly over the course of the summer &ndash; arrived in the British capital with his legs full of jumping. Unbeaten this season, Barshim cleared 2.35m on his first attempt before three close attempts at 2.40m to secure the title from Danil Lysenko at 2.32m.
Syria&rsquo;s Majd Eddin Ghazal won a bronze medal on countback by virtue of a second-time clearance at 2.29m to become just his country&rsquo;s second medallist in World Championships history after Ghada Shouaa, who won a gold medal in the heptathlon in 1995 and bronze in 1999.
Steven Mills for the IAAF

The United States topped the medal table at the IAAF World Championships London 2017 with 10 gold medals – and 31 in total – but the championships fittingly climaxed with yet another upset result in the men’s 4x400m with Trinidad & Tobago claiming the title.

Surprise victories continue through to the end – day 10 wrap – IAAF World Championships London 2017

Two years ago at the World Championships, Trinidad and Tobago&rsquo;s men&rsquo;s 4x400m team followed the US quartet home for silver. Two years on, an inspired performance enabled them to reverse those positions and earn a historic victory as Lalonde Gordon, a part of their quartet for the last five years, found the will to take over the lead in the final 20 metres from the wunderkind last leg runner for the States, Fred Kerley.
The 22-year-old Kerley ran 43.70 as a college athlete in May, but it has been a long season for him as he has turned professional, and Gordon&rsquo;s experience told in those final few metres as he brought his team home in 2:58.12 &ndash; the fastest time run this season.
Gordon&rsquo;s final run had been set up by determined efforts from Jarrin Solomon, individual 200m bronze medallist Jereem Richards, who moved the team back into contention as the US threatened to break away, and Marcel Cedenio, who was also in the 2015 quartet.
The US team &ndash; Wilbert London III, Gil Roberts, Michael Cherry and Kerley - took silver in a season&rsquo;s best of 2:58.61, with bronze going to a British team that had undergone some disruptions in qualification.
Britain&rsquo;s 400m hurdler Jack Green was drafted in at short notice and performed with honour to help the hosts reach the concluding event of these Championships. For the final the services of Matthew Hudson-Smith were once more available, and he contributed mightily along with Dwayne Cowan, Rabah Yousif and last leg runner Martyn Rooney, the 2014 and 2016 European champion.
Belgium, with all three Borlee brothers &ndash; Jonathan, Dylan and Kevin &ndash; in place alongside Robin Vanderbemden, were fourth in 3:00.04, just ahead of Spain, who clocked a national record of 3:00.65.
"It was a big motivation to come here and win --&nbsp;give it big,&rdquo; said Jarrin Solomon, who was in the team that was disqualified in their heat at the Rio Olympics. &ldquo;We knew and we made sure that we set up the team correctly.
&ldquo;We worked so hard and it means so much to our team. It has a&nbsp;special sweet taste for us this year.
Richards commented: "I just tried to go there and make sure we have the chance to execute well on the last leg.&rdquo;
Machel&nbsp;Cedenio added: "We knew the US team are always strong and we were prepared for that. I feel just grateful now. I think it was the best experience of all my career. The London crowd is always so supportive, We came third in 2012 in the national record. Now it is gold and&nbsp;I cannot ask for more."
Mike Rowbottom for the IAAF

Two years ago at the World Championships, Trinidad and Tobago’s men’s 4x400m team followed the US quartet home for silver. Two years on, an inspired performance enabled them to reverse those positions and earn a historic victory as Lalonde Gordon, a part of their quartet for the last five years, found the will to take over the lead in the final 20 metres from the wunderkind last leg runner for the States, Fred Kerley.

Report: men's 4x400m final – IAAF World Championships London 2017

After the drama in the men's 4x100m when Bolt pulled up with cramp on the last leg, it was a similar story for Jamaica in the women's 4x400m, as second-leg runner Anneisha McLaughlin-Whilby pulled up injured while in second place.
This left the USA with a clear path to victory and the nation known for its rich history in the 4x400m rose to the challenge, clocking a world lead of 3:19.02, almost six seconds clear of silver medallists Great Britain (3:25.00) and Poland (3:25.41) in third, to regain the world title they last won in Daegu in 2011.
The USA were the overwhelming favourites heading into the final, having taken victory at both the Olympic Games in Rio last year and at the IAAF World Relays Bahamas 2017.
In the heats 24 hours prior, the quartet of Quanera Hayes, Kendell Ellis, Shakima Wimbley and Natasha Hastings made their intentions clear, setting a world lead of 3:21.66. Swapping in freshly crowned world 400m champion Phyllis Francis and bronze medallist Allyson Felix for the final, victory was never in any doubt and the quartet of Hayes, Felix, Wimbley and Francis enjoyed a gun-to-tape victory, extending their winning margin on every leg.
"We passed the test,&rdquo; said Hayes. &ldquo;Well done to all the girls, they all ran awesome legs.&rdquo;
At the end of leg one, the USA's Hayes (50.56) led from Jamaica's Chrisann Gordon (50.98) and Nigeria's Patience George (51.46). However, disaster struck for the Caribbean nation less than 100 metres into the second leg, as McLaughlin-Whilby pulled up, suddenly leaving the door open for other teams to make their charge.
Running a storming leg of 50.83, Great Britain's Laviai Nielsen capitalised on Jamaica's misfortune, coming through strongly for second place at the end of leg two ahead of Poland and Germany.&nbsp; Meanwhile, with a 48.64 clocking &ndash; the fastest of all the relay runners &ndash; Felix extended the USA's lead by more than three seconds at the halfway point.
Little changed at the front on leg three, as Wimbley continued the USA's dominance with 49.60 &ndash; the only other sub-50-second clocking of the race &ndash; as British team captain Eilidh Doyle held off a chasing Aleksandra Gaworska of Poland.
As Francis (50.22) continued the US procession on the anchor leg, Emily Diamond ran a smart and measured race to hold off Poland's Justyna Swiety and ensure the British quartet upgraded their bronze medals from the Olympic Games last year to silver.
Poland was delighted to win their country's first medal in this event in IAAF World Championships history, having also made the podium at the IAAF World Relays earlier this year.
Behind the medallists, France placed fourth with 3:26.56, while Nigeria matched their highest ever placing of fifth in this event in 3:26.72. Germany faded to sixth in 3:27.45 and Botswana placed seventh in 3:28.00.
Having taken gold medals in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays &ndash; as well as her 400m bronze &ndash; at the IAAF World Championships London 2017, Felix has now won 16 World Championships medals, surpassing the previous record of 14 shared by Usain Bolt and Merlene Ottey.
Emily Moss for the IAAF

After the drama in the men's 4x100m when Bolt pulled up with cramp on the last leg, it was a similar story for Jamaica in the women's 4x400m, as second-leg runner Anneisha McLaughlin-Whilby pulled up injured while in second place.

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