Day 5 (19th) Evening Wrap

Brought to you by Edward Ovadia who is in Berlin with official IAAF accreditation covering the championships for Runnerstribe.com

The Aussies were well represented in the mens 400m semi finals, the first event up on the evening of day five. In the first semi was Joel Milburn, the second Sean Wroe, and the third John Steffensen. The qualification requirements were strict, with only the first two making it through, and then the next two fastest. Milburn struggled a bit in his semi, after not having had the best season. Wariner won the semi in 44.69. Wroe gave it a good shot, and looked to be coming home well, but just lost the legs a little in the final straight, and only managed to finish fourth in 45.32. LaShawn Merritt won in a new world leading time 44.37, and looks to be the one to beat. Steffensen had a big crack, and was close to leading with 100m to go, but like Wroe didn't have the legs. Steffensen was fifth in 45.50. But while none of the boys made it though to the final, the relay hopes are looking brighter than ever, and the Aussies could be set for something special there.

Milburn: "I haven't had the best European season leading into this, I've been training awesome, the last five or six weeks I've put in a really good block of training, so I've known that the form's there, it's just I haven't had the race fitness. I've been out running 46s, not running the low 45s I need to run."

Wroe: "You set such high goals for yourself, and you've been in a position where you've made the semi finals before, and obviously made the semi finals last year, and you just want to go that one step further. I mean, I really gave it a shake out there tonight, I attacked the first 200m, but just ran out of legs in the last 100m."

Steffensen: "I put myself up there, I declared I was fit, and it's a testament to the guys who beat me, they've been running well all season. It's just championship running, and if you don't come in championship form, you're not gonna be in the final! The relay's always exciting, and obviously on paper we've got a pretty great time. I think we all need a bit of a rest in the next couple of days, but then we'll sit down with team management and try and freshen up and out together the best possible team so we can get the best possible result come Saturday!

Merritt: "I feel good, that was a great race. I wanted to run an excellent race and I raced smartly. So with 44.37 I cannot complain. Jeremy Wariner? He made the final and he is the main competitor. But there are six [other] men in the final and I take them all seriously."

In the womens 100m hurdles, Sally McLellan ran a solid semi final to come second in a fast 12.66 seconds. But Dawn Harper took it out in a personal best 12.48, to take over from McLellan as the fastest woman in the Wolrd Champs field this year. Lopes-Schliep also looked good in winning her heat in 12.60.

Usain Bolt looked back to his old self after looking a bit tired in the first two rounds of the 200m. He cruised to become the fastest qualifier for the final, running an easy 20.08 seconds. He looks set for at least a 19.50 in the final, but whether he can dip under that and challenge another world record will be seen on the day! Wallace Spearmon won the other semi final in 20.14, but didn't do it as easily as Bolt did.

Bolt: "I am feeling much better than yesterday. My birthday is on Friday, but I did not plan a party. I will have the day for myself, but I cannot do a lot because the 4x100m relay is on Saturday. Yet, I will not run the relay heats on Friday. As far as the 200m are concerned and a new world record? I have really not done the same amount of work like I did for the 100m."

Next up was the womens 200m heats, where all the favourites made it through easily. Most impressive was Allyson Felix, who won easily, as did Marshevet Hooker, who won her heat in a season best 22.51, to be the fastest qualifier for the quarter finals.

Then came the big one! The mens 1500m final. Could Lagat defend his title? Can the Kenyan duo of Asbel Kiprop and Augustine Choge take it out? Will Mehdi Baala's comeback take him all the way to the gold? Who else will figure? Will it be fast? We were about to find out.

Choge took the lead, with Lagat tucked in on his shoulder, and passed one lap in 59 seconds. 800m was passed in the same order, in 2:00. Kiprop was at the back, and stayed there. With one lap to go the clock was at 2:44, and the race was on. Lagat got boxed in, and Kiprop was last with 300m to go, and left himself too much to do. (Kiprop was apparently warned by Kip Keino not to be last at the bell in the final after the semi final.) Mekonnen from Ethiopia took the lead with 300m to go, and made a run for home. Kamel, who had come Down Under early this year, kicked down the straight, and managed to get ahead of Mekonnen and a fast finishing Lagat, who had also had too much to do after getting out of his box. Coming into the home straight, everyone was still in it, but when the dust settled it was Kamel first, in a 50.5 second last lap, Mekonnen second, and Lagat third, with Kiprop out of the medals in fourth.

Kamel: "I am really happy because nobody expected such a race today. Nobody expected Yusuf to win the world title. Yes, I was confident that I can win because I had good times at 800 metres and I felt OK. Kenyans promised they were gonna do a fast race but they did not. But even if they did, I was ready for it and I was not afraid."

Mekonnen: "I am delighted to have got silver. It's the first time Ethiopia took silver at the World Championships [in the 1500m], and I'm very happy."

Lagat: "It is disappointing to surrender the World title,. But I proved that I can still run with the young guys. I was able to come out here and got third place. Everything I was trying to avoid in this race [tactics-wise], it happened. Yusuf Saad Kamel is a worthy successor, he is the son of Billy Konchellah, a great Kenyan runner. So he is not a surprise for me. What actually surprised me was that Kiprop and Choge will not be on the podium, I feel bad for them. Even if I am the oldest runner in the field with 34 years, I still have the hunger to beat the field. So I am looking for Korea [in 2011] and the London Olympics. I do not look at age, but at progression."

In the womens 100m hurdles final, one of Australia's big medal hopes was Sally McLellan, Olympic silver medallist, and a real contender for the gold. Problem is, so is the entire field, with seven of the eight finalists having PBs between 12.45 and 12.51. McLellan got off to a great start, and was tied for the lead over the first six hurdles. But then the rest of the field started to catch up to her, and unfortunately McLellan hit the last hurdle and they went past her. In the end it was the Jamaican Brigitte Foster-Hylton who took it out in 12.51, from Lopes-Schliep, and Ennis-London, with McLellan gutsy in fifth.

McLellan: "I don't have a reaction yet, I'm still a bit in shock. I didn't have the best weeks leading up to these championships, I had a really bad back injury, I couldn't even get up without assistance. So yeah, it wasn't the best week before Worlds, but I think that was my best race of all three of them, even though it wasn't the best time, I hit a couple of hurdles, and I think as I get on in the European season coming up, I'll be able to get better and better with each race."

The mens discus final was a thrilling one for the German crowd. Poland's Piotr Malachowski took on Germany's Robert Harting. Malachowski took the early lead from Harting by 50cm, and extended it to nearly a metre with a throw of 69.15 to claim the Polish national record. But Harting was never far behind in every round, and with the two throwing one after the other the competition was very exciting. Then in the last round, Harting, who was first up, launched his best attempt of 69.43, to claim the German record and take the lead in front of his home crowd. Malachowski had one throw to respond, but could only manage 67.33, and the gold was Harting's. The German crowd went wild!

The womens 800m was a very anticipated race, with the young phenomenon Semenya from South Africa taking on the World Champion Jepkosgei from Kenya. The first lap was passed in high 56 seconds, with Semenya leading the whole wa.y. She slowly started to string the field out in the second lap, with Jepkosgei sitting in behind. But with 200m to go Semenya kicked, and it was game over. She flew home to win by ten metres from Jepkosgei who just outdipped a surprise bronze medallist in Jennifer Meadows from the UK, who ran a personal best 1:57.93 to come third. Semenya ran 1:55.45, a world leading time, personal best, and 26th fastest time in history. Very impressive for an eighteen year old whose best last year was 2:04.23!