By Bryan Green ( @bryangreen1)

The final three days of the World Championships had a tough act to follow as day six was far and away the most dramatic and exciting of the entire meet.  The rain on day seven didn't help much, but it did make for a few interesting field events.  Days eight and nine were extremely exciting, with the battles between Jamaica and the US in the sprints and Ethiopia and Kenya in the distances providing much of the drama.  Of course, there were some wonderful upsets in the field events, with the Europeans continuing to dominate the field.

Ethiopia vs Kenya: Ethiopia falls...literally

Coming into the final three days, the Kenyans had been having their best ever world championships, especially on the women's side.  Masai won the 10k, Cheywa took bronze in the steeple, and Jepkosgei took silver in the 800m.  Ethiopia had managed just a silver and bronze from the 10k.  But with the marathon, 5k, and 1500m all to go in the final three days, Ethiopia had a chance--a very good one it seemed--to make up that ground. 

It wasn't to be.  In the 5k, battling illness all week, Meseret Defar again went for gold at the bell.  But she again didn't have it.  In the final 30 meters, Vivian Cheruiyot managed to pass her en route to gold, and then Sylvia Kibet made it a top two finish for Kenya.  Defar had a rough go of it in Berlin, and won't think too fondly of this meet.  She showed guts though, and will keep a bronze as a reminder that even at her worst, she's still top three in the world. 

The marathon gave Ethiopia another opportunity, with favorite Dire Tune going, but she fell at the 90 minute mark and was never a serious contender again.  Her countrywoman Mergia did surprise for a bronze though, after holding off the hard-charging Zhou Chunxiu of China.  Kenya's women ran poorly, never factoring.  The real star of the race was 20-year old Xue Bai of China, who took the gold.  While China's team doesn't currently contend on the track, they've staked their claim as a marathon power by dominating the team competition, placing three in the top five (1-4-5).

Amazingly, going into the 1500m on the last day, Ethiopia's women did not have a distance gold.  It would be up to Gelete Burka, who gamely took the pace--in a field with no Kenyan qualifiers, surprisingly--and attempted to win from the front, until she was hip-checked to the ground by Natalia Rodriguez with 200 to go.  She gamely got up and finished the race, but in a distant 10th.  After Rodriguez was DQ'd, the victory went to Maryam Jamal of Bahrain (formerly Ethiopia).  It was a metaphorically fitting end to the Ethiopian women's world champs.  High hopes turned into crashing disappointment.

On the men's side, Bekele had dominated the 10k and Mekonnen took bronze in the 1500m, but their lack of depth had shown.  Kenya had scored bronze in the 10k (Masai) and gold and silver in the steeple (Kemboi, Mateelong), but were surprisingly shut out of the 1500m (though two former Kenyans did finish 1-3).  They had the marathon, 5k, and 800m left on the schedule.



The marathon turned into the battle everyone expected, with the Ethiopians and Kenyans battling at the front and taking the top five spots.  Kenya had the better men, however, with Abel Kirui taking gold in 2:06:54 and Emmanuel Mutai scoring silver in 2:07:48.  Tsegay Kebede of Ethiopia took bronze in 2:08:35.  Unlike the women's marathon, where there is more parity across nationalities, the men's marathon has become a two country affair.  On the other end of the distance spectrum, the 800m saw South Africa's Mbulaeni Mulaudzi go wire-to-wire for the win, giving South Africa a sweep at 800m.  He held off the fast charging Alfred Kirwa Yego of Kenya and Yusuf Saad Kamel, winner of the 1500m.  This was the lone race on the men's side not won by a Kenyan, Ethiopian, or former athlete of those two countries.

Of all the races in the final three days, the men's 5k was no doubt the best.  It saw 10k champ Bekele taking on reigning champ Bernard Lagat and a slew of fresh sub-13 runners, including Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya and Moses Kipsiro of Uganda.  Bekele led every split at a fairly pedestrian pace, and no one in the field made any effort to push it.  On the final lap, Bekele fended off challenges from numerous runners until the final 70 meters, when Bernard Lagat pulled abreast and looked to have it.  But Bekele had the better top gear, and he accelerated to win his second gold of the meet.  James Kwalia C'Kurui of Qatar (formerly Kenya) outsprinted the rest of the field for bronze. 

That's right.  Across the board, athletes born in Kenya or Ethiopia took more than 2/3 of the distance medals.  I think Great Britain deserves special mention, however, as they placed two women on the podium in the middle distances, effectively outperforming the deeper American squad.  Lisa Dobriskey took silver in the 1500m, and Jenny Meadows 3rd in the 800m. 

My top distance performances of the final third:

1. Kenenisa Bekele - 5000m - 13:17.09 -- Lagat ran the perfect race and still Bekele beat him
2. Xue Bai - marathon - 2:25:15 -- Just 20 years old, she led China to a romping victory
3. Mbulaeni Mulaudzi - 800m - 1:45.29 -- He led wire-to-wire, and still held everyone off
4. Abel Kirui - marathon - 2:06:57 -- A World Championships record in his marathon victory
5. Vivian Cheruiyot - 5000m - 14:57.97 -- Held on during Defar's surge, and snuck by for the gold

USA vs Caribbean: Could USA regain it's mojo?

Following Usain Bolt's lead, Jamaica and the Caribbean islands had an amazing first six days of the World Championships.  They took victories in the men's 100, 200, and 110 hurdles, and the women's 100, 110 hurdles and 400 hurdles.  They also took a total of three silvers and three bronzes.  The US, on the other hand, had managed just two golds (women's 400 and men's 400 hurdles), three silvers and four bronzes after six days.  With a few stars entered in the remaining sprints, the US was looking to regain its mojo.

And it did, kind of.  Allyson Felix won the 200 meters, giving the US its third sprint gold, but Jamaica's Veroncia Campbell-Brown took silver and the Bahamas Debbie Furguson-McKenzie took bronze.  This marked the fifth straight championship meet in which Felix or Campbell-Brown won the 200m.  The men's 400 meters saw LaShawn Merritt and Jeremy Wariner go head-to-head once again, and they once again went 1-2.  Felix and Merritt doubled the US sprints gold medal total with their performances.  



The only thing left were the relays.  In the men's 4 x 100m relay, the US were disqualified for passing the baton outside of the zone.  They didn't make it out of their semifinals.  Jamaica won uncontested in the second fastest time ever, 37.31 seconds.  Interestingly, it was strangely anti-climactic seeing Bolt not break a world record.  Talk about high expectations!  The US women didn't make it out of the semifinals either.  During a bad exchange between Alexandria Andreson and Muna Lee, Lee injured her leg and went down.  Jamaica again went on to win gold, with the Bahamas taking silver.  It would be an exaggeration to say that the short relays were a microcosm of the World Championships for the US sprinters, but they certainly made one thing abundantly clear: the short sprints were not the US strong point in Berlin.

As you can see from the graph, the US won eight medals in the long sprints--those consisting of 400 meters--and just six in the short sprints, despite there being five short sprints and just three long sprints.  On the other hand, the Caribbean islands scored 15 medals in the short sprints and just six in the long.  The US still has a firm grip on the 400 meter distance.  It's the short sprints where we have either lost ground or continue to fail to execute.  In some cases, like with Usain Bolt in the men's short sprints, all anyone can do is grin and bear it.  There was no beating Bolt in Berlin.  The same goes for the US 4 x 400 meter teams, however.  The US is simply too deep at that distance. 

Interestingly, of the eight sprint medals won by non-Caribbean or US athletes, five of them came in the relays.  It should be noted, however, that if the US could find four athletes who can pass a baton around the track in the 4 x 100 meters, and if Bahamas hadn't been DQ'd in the 4 x 400 meters, the number of medals would likely have been just two.  As for the individual medallists, they consisted of Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Canada (silver in the 100 hurdles), Alonso Edward of Panama (silver in the 200 meters), and Antonina Krivoshapka of Russia (bronze in the 400 meters). 

In terms of depth, there are a number of countries with many very good runners.  But sprinting at the highest level has really become the game of one country and a few small neighboring islands.



My top sprint performances of the final third:

1. Allyson Felix - 200m - 22.02s -- It's not just that she won, but how smooth she looked doing it
2. Jamaica - 4 x 100m - 37.31s -- Second fastest time ever, second most impressive of the three days
3. LaShawn Merritt - 400m - 44.06s -- Not his fastest time, but good enough to win easily
4. USA - 4 x 400m - 3:17.83 -- Dunn, Felix, Demus, Richards...good luck world
5. USA - 4 x 400m - 2:57.86 -- Taylor, Wariner, Clement, Merritt...the US still owns 400m

Field Events: Europe vs The World

The final three days of action in Berlin saw some of the best field event action.  There were a number of favorites who came out and took care of business, but there were also a lot of underdogs who outperformed expectations and took away big medals.  And while Europeans didn't take gold in all of the remaining field events in the last three days of the meet, they certainly put up huge numbers of medals.

The rainy friday night saw a sloppy and mind-bogglingly bad high jump competition.  One has to wonder if the rain affected the ground in some way, as an incredible number of top high jumpers failed to even come close to clearing some relatively low heights.  In some cases, they looked like they forgot how to do it entirely.  As such, the few who did rise to the occasion medalled.  Yaroslav Rybakov was able to sneak away with his first gold, but the story of the event, was young Sylwester Bednarek of Poland, who jumped a 4cm PB to tie for bronze, giggling with delight throughout his magical night.

At the same time, there was another young star making her mark in the women's discus.  Australia's Dani Samuels won the event with a huge PB of 65.44 meters, and it was certainly no fluke.  Her throws just looked better than those of her competition.  Just 21 years old, the former World Junior Champion is officially here.  The same goes for USA's Brittney Reese, who won the long jump competition with a personal best and world leading 7.10m.  She had the world leading mark of 7.06m going in, but this was below many of the PBs of her competition.

The other field events were pretty much dominated by the favorites coming in.  Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk threw a world record in the hammer, 77.96m, and dominated the competition, which included a national record 77.12m by Betty Heidler of Germany.  Dwight Phillips won the long jump easily with a jump of 8.54m.  Godfrey Khotso Mokoena took another silver--he was second in Beijing--and Irving Saladino of Panama failed to get a mark, faulting on all three of his jumps.

Andreas Thorkildson launched a massive 89.59m throw to win the javelin.  Nobody seriously challenged him, with Cuba's Guillermo Martinez taking silver at 86.41m, and Japan's Yukifumi Murakami a surprise bronze in 82.97m.  These events were all entertaining and enjoyable.  But the field event of the final third was most certainly the men's pole vault. 

Going into the pole vault, Steve Hooker of Australia was the big favorite.  But he had injured his leg and was afraid he couldn't jump more than one time.  So he waited to enter the competition until there were just three men left.  If he could clear and not continue, he would win a medal.  As it turns out, he missed at 5.85m, but passed to 5.90m, which he cleared easily.  His competition, Romain Mesnil and Renaud Lavillenie of France, were unable to clear it and Hooker took the bronze.  Two jumps, one clearance, one gold.  He is truly the best pole vaulter in the world today.

As you can see from the graph above, the medal count across the field events is really quite staggering in favor of Europe.  The only event area in which the rest of the world was competitive in terms of number of medals were the horizontal jumps, in which the world outscored Europe 8-4.  But in every other area, it was Europe taking the majority of medals.  In the vertical jumps, Europe out-medalled the world 11-2 (there were two bronzes in the men's high jump, both European).  In the throws, they put up a 17-7 shellacking of the rest of the world.  You can see the total medal counts in the graph above.



My top field event performances of the final third:

1. Steven Hooker - pole vault - 5.90m -- Hard to describe how cool it was to see him win
2. Anita Wlodarczyk - hammer - 77.97m -- Normally a world record would be #1, but I like drama
3. Dani Samuels - discus - 65.44m -- Very cool to see the young Samuels calmly destroy everyone else
4. Andreas Thorkildson - javelin - 89.59m -- He doesn't even look like he tries to throw it far
5. Dwight Phillips - long jump - 8.54m -- Not his best jump, but good enough

Silvers with a Silver-Lining

Because if there's one group of people we pay too much attention to, it's gold medallists.  Sometimes, a silver medallist is just a gold medallist competing on the wrong day or at the wrong time.  So let's call out a few of the top silver medallists from the final three days, men and women who had exceptional performances that may not be remembered the way they should be.

My top Silver Medal Performances of the final third:

1. Betty Heidler - hammer - 77.12m -- She broke the national record, in a nation that takes throws seriously
2. Trinidad and Tobago - 4 x 100m - 37.62s -- A very fast national record might have beaten USA if they qualified
3. Sylwester Bednarek - high jump - 2.32m -- Actually, he got bronze, but it was a big 4cm PB, and I'm lining it silver
4. Emmanuel Mutai - marathon - 2:07:48 -- He was puking the last few kilometers, but he held it together
5. Bernard Lagat - 5000m - 13:17.33 -- He ran the perfect race, Bekele was just better

USA Distance: A couple medals, a solid meet

The meet ended with a lot of US runners competing.  Let's get a couple events out of the way.  The men's marathon was...not really worth talking about.  The women's marathon saw Kara Goucher run with the leaders, but fade to 10th.  She apparently had fluid problems during the race.  There was one bright spot, and that was the big PB by Desiree Davila in 11th.  She ran 2:27:53, making her the 9th fastest American all-time.  Finally, the women's 5000m saw Jen Rhines run 15:11.63 for 9th.  Honestly, that's about as fast as I'd have guessed she could run.

The final day saw three big races for the US.  First up was the men's 5000m.  The race was slow and dictated by Kenenisa Bekele.  In the final lap, we had three Americans within contact of the main pack, but Chris Solinsky was dropped pretty quickly.  Matt Tegenkamp was at the back of the pack, so even though he finished fairly well, he was never in striking distance when the sprinting began.  He finished 8th.  Bernard Lagat ran a tactically perfect race, and even managed to get a half-step on Bekele down the home straight, but Bekele had another gear and pulled away for the victory.  Lagat settled for silver.  In many ways, this was the race of the championships, because it proved that even on tired legs, Bekele can win any race you try to run.

The next race was the women's 1500m, in which three more Americans were in the final.  The race was marred by the Spanish runner Natalya Rodriguez knocking down Gelete Burka, as discussed above.  That moment created a break for Shannon Rowbury, however, who moved up to third, and then fell back to fourth at the finish in 4:04.18.  With Rodriguez's DQ, however, she won the bronze.  Christin Wurth-Thomas finished in 5th, and Anna Willard 6th.

Last but not least, Nick Symmonds ran in the 800m final.  He ran an aggressive race, choosing to get near the front and stay near the front, which is not his typical style.  With that said, against a field of kickers, he was probably right to employ this strategy rather than trying to hold back and roll them up in the last 150m.  Unfortunately, he didn't quite have it in the home stretch, and he ended up finishing in sixth.

The US ended up with one silver and two bronze medals in the distances.  This is an improvement on Beijing, where only Shalane Flanagan medalled in the 10k (bronze), and on par with their performance in Osaka, where they had two golds (Lagat, 1500m/5k) and a bronze (Goucher, 10k).  Unlike those meets, however, we were much more successful at advancing athletes into the finals of their respective events.  And, in the men's races, many of our athletes were the lone non-Africans in the lead packs.  If you remove the 10k and marathon, which have no heats, this graph shows how many athletes qualified for the finals, and how many medals were won.  By this measure, Berlin may not have been a rousing success, but it was an improvement.



My top US performances of the final third:

1. Bernard Lagat - 5000m - 13:17.33 -- What can you say? Silver to Bekele ain't that bad
2. Shannon Rowbury - 1500m - 4:04.18 -- Might have been 5th, but circumstance moves her to 3rd
3. Nick Symmonds - 800m - 1:45.71 -- Symmonds went for it, but just didn't have it
4. Anna Willard - 1500m - 4:06.19 -- Willard also went for it, and had even less
5. Matt Tegenkamp - 5000m - 13:20.23 -- Teg ran a solid race, but lacked the big finish when he needed it