The Athletics World Championships commence!

             

 

                 The IAAF World Championships kicked off at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. The 8-day event which started on Sunday saw bids from Brisbane and Barcelona, but Moscow won the bidding process to stage to World Championships. The first day turned out to be quite eventful, even though the Luzhniki stadium was more or less deserted, with vacant seats, and rare instances of spectators cheering the athletes on. 

 



               In one of the earliest events in the World Championships, Briton Mo Farah won gold with a well-executed run at the 10,000 m. run. Mo Farah, originally from Somalia, had also won 5000 m. and 10, 000 m. gold at the London Olympics. Ethiopian Ibrahim Jeilan, who won the title at Daegu in 2011, won silver while Kenyan Paul Tanui won bronze.

 



               Indians disappointed on the first day, as medal-prospects relinquished medal hopes. In the men's 20 km. walk, India's K T Irfan was disqualified, and compatriots Gurmeet Singh and Chandan Singh finished at a dismal 33rd and 34th respectively.
               Sudha Singh, gold medallist at the Asian Games, ended up a miserable 12th in the 3000 m. steeplechase heats.
               100 m. world record holder, 26-year old Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won gold in the 100 m. finals. He clocked his season-best 9.77 seconds to regain his world title after having a false start at Daegu. Following him, Justin Gatlin from USA (9.85s.) bagged silver, and Nesta Carter (9.95s.) from Jamaica again bagged bronze.

 



               In the women's 10,000 m. Ethiopia's star runner Tirunesh Dibaba won gold to add a third world title for 10,000 m. She had earlier won gold for both 5000 m. and 10,000 m. at the Beijing Olympics, and 10,000 m. at the London Olympics as well as 2 world titles for 5000 m. Kenya's Gladys Cherono won silver, and Ethiopian Hitomi Niiya won bronze.
               In the women's discus throw, Croatian Sandra Perkovic won the gold with a 67.99 m. throw and added the title to her Olympic gold last year at London. The silver and bronze was bagged by France and Cuba respectively.  USA's Ashton Eaton gained the world decathlon title in addition to last year's Olympic gold. Germany's Michael Schrader and Canada's Damian Warner won silver and bronze respectively.
               Meanwhile, Brittney Reese of USA bagged the gold for women's long jump besides the silver of Nigerian Blessing Okagbare, and bronze of Serb Ivana Španović. Kenya's legendary marathon runner Edna Kiplagat became the first woman ever to retain a marathon world title by clocking 2:25:44.