World Championships Opening - Clean sweep by the Kenyan women marathoners

The 13th edition of the IAAF World Championships 2011 Daegu ,South Korea, kicked-off at 9:00am this morning under cloudy skies and temperatures of mid 20's deg C with the women marathon which saw Kenya completed a historic 1-2-3 clean sweep led by Edna Kiplagat who took the 1st gold medal of the championships despite a dramatic fall as a result of a collision with her team mate Sharon Cherop who finished 3rd, at the 35km drinking station.

Kiplagat, 31, a police officer and a mother of two and coached by her husband, won this championship for the 1st time after winning last year's New York marathon.

Women Marathon
Top 10 finishers:

Gold - Edna Ngeringwonv Kiplagat - 2:28:43
Silver - Priscah Jeptoo (KEN) - 2:29:00
Bronze - Sharon Jemutai Cherop - 2:29:14 (SB)
4th - Bezunesh Bekele (ETH) - 2:29:21
5th - Yukiko Akaba (JPN) - 2:29:35
6th - Zhu Xiaolin (CHN) - 2:29:58
7th - Isabellah Anderson (SWE) - 2:30:13
8th - Wang Jiali (CHN) - 2:30:25
9th - Marisa Barros (POR) - 2:30:29
10th - Remi Nakazako (JPN) - 2:30:52

Watch on YouTube

World Record : 2:15:25 - Paula Radcliffe (GBR) London 2003
Championships Record : 2:20:57 Paula Radcliffe (GBR) Helsinki 2005
Last Worlds winner : 2:25:15 Bai Xue (CHN) Berlin 2009

Countdown 2 Days AND Asafa Powell has withdrawn from the 100m line up due to a groin injury

World Champions Daegu - Countdown 2 days

Jamaica suffer a major blow when Asafa Powell has to withdraw from the 100m line up due to a groin injury and his place has been replaced by Michael Frater.

However he may recover in time to join and defend the 4x100m relay title in the LAST event of the meet on 4 September
The traditional closing event of 4x400m relay has been replaced by 4x100m for the first time this time

IAAf World Championships 2011 Daegu - Men's 10,000m 28 Aug 7:30pm. Bekele - Mo Farah Showdown

Mo Farah - Fastest 10,000m runner this season




Bekele says '2' after winning his 2nd Gold in 10,000m after 5,000m at Worlds Berlin 2009










Men 10,000m

World Record -> 26:17.53 Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) Brussels 2005
European Record and WL -> 26:46.57 Mo Farah (GBR) Eugene, USA 3 Jun 2011

Kenenisa Bekele won his 4th consecutive 10,000m world title in the last edition in Berlin 2009 with a championship record of 26:46.31

Kenenisa Bekele (ETH), 29, has won 12 consecutive gold medals since 2003 (including 2 Olympic n 4 world titles along with 2 world records) in this 25-lap distance which he has never been beaten.
This will be his 1st race since early 2010.
He will defend his 5,000m title too.
If he wins in Daegu, he will become the first runner at any distance to win five consecutive outdoor world titles.

Mo Farah (Mohammed Farah) (GBR), 28, arrived in Britain from Somalia 20 years ago and settled in West London, has now moved to Oregon in the U.S. to be coached by three-times New York Marathon winner Alberto Salazar.
He has been unbeaten in his last 10 races
If he wins, he will become the first European to do so in this event when it started in 1983

IAAF World Championships 2011 Daegu - Men 100m Final Sun 28 Aug

Berlin 2009 100m Final : Gold - Bolt (2nd from R), Silver - Gay, Bronze -Powell
Usain Bolt after 100m Final Berlin 2009 Aug 16


Men 100m

WR - 9.58 Usain Bolt (JAM) Worlds Berlin 2009
WL - 9.78 Asafa Powell (JAM) Lausanne 20 June

Area Records:
Africa - 9.85 - Olusoji Fasuba (NGR) Doha 2006
Asia --- 9.99 - Samuel Francis (QAT) Amman 2007
Europe-9.86 - Francis Obikwelu (POR) Athina 2004
North, Cent America & C - 9.58 - Usain Bolt (JAM) Berlin 2009
Oceania - 9.93 - Patrick Johnson (AUS) Mito 2003
S America - 10.00 - Robson da Silva (BRA) Mexico 2008


Result of last edition at Berlin 2009 Aug 16:
Gold - Usain Bolt (JAM) -- 9.58 - World Record
Silver - Tyson Gay (USA) - 9.71 (National record)
Bronze - Asafa Powell (JAM) - 9.84


Main contenders:
Usain Bolt(JAM) --- SB 9.88 Monaco 23 July
Asafa Powell (JAM) - WL 9.78 Lausanne 20 June
Walter Dix (USA) --- SB 9.94 USA
Justin Gatlin (USA) - SB 9.95 USA
Michael Frater (JAM) - PB 9.88 Lausanne 20 June 2011


Tyson Gay (USA) SB 9.79 and Steve Mullings (JAM) SB 9.80 have been ruled out due to hip injury and being suspended for a 2nd doping offence respectively

Men 100m - Schedule:
Sat 27 Aug -- 12:55 - Preliminary Round, 21:45 Heats
Sun 28 Aug -- 18:30 - Semi Final, 20:45 FINAL

IAAF World Championships 2011 Daegu - Women's Marathon 27 Aug 9:00am

Bai Xue won China's 1st worlds marathon title


IAAF World Championships - Women Marathon
Championship Record - 2:20:57 Paula Radcliffe (GBR) Helsinki 14 Aug 2005

Berlin 2009 champion - 2:25:15 Bai Xue 白雪 (CHN) - who will NOT defend

Main contenders:

1) Edna Kiplagat (KEN) - 2:20:46 - 2011 London pacesetter
2) Priscah Jeptoo (KEN) - 2:22:55 Paris
3) Sharon Cherop (KEN) - 2:22:43 Toronto Marathon 2010
4) Aselefech Mergia (ETH) - 2:22:45 Champion Dubai
5) Bezunesh Bekele (ETH) - 2:23:42 - 4th London
6) Atsede Baysa (ETH) - 2:23:50 - 5th London
7) Zhou Chun Xiu (周春秀) (CHN) - 2:25:38 4th Worlds Berlin 2009
8) Zhu Xiao Lin (朱晓琳) (CHN) --- 2:26:08 5th Worlds Berlin 2009
9) Yoshimo Ozaki (JPN) PB 2:23:56 Yakohama 2011, n 2nd Worlds Berlin 2009
10) Yukiko Akaba (JPN) - 2:24:09 6th London 2011
11) Remi Nakazato (JPN) - 2:24:29 2nd Yakohama

Results of last edition at Berlin 2009
Gold - Bai Xue (CHN) - 2:25:15
Silver - Yoshimi Ozaki (JPN) - 2:25:25
Bronze - Aselefech Mergia (ETH) - 2:25:32


Mary Keitany (KEN) and Liliya Shobukhova (RUS) - the 2 leading marathoners of 2011 did not enter.

World Record - 2:15:25 - Paula Radcliffe (GBR) London 2003

IAAF World Championships 2011 Daegu - Men's Marathon 4 Sept 9:00am

Abel Kirui won at last edition Berlin 2009










Main contenders :

1) Abel Kirui (KEN) - Defending champion - 2:06:54
2) Vincent Kipruto (KEN) - SB 2:05:33 (ranked 3rd WL) April Rotterdam
3) David Barmasai (KEN) - Dubai champion 2:0718
4) Benjamin Kiptoo (KEN) - Paris champion 2:06:31
5) Gebre Gebremariam (ETH) - PB 2:04:53 Boston 2011
6) Eshetu Wendimu (ETH) - SB 2:07:33 Paris
7) Chala Decasse (ETH) - SB 2:08:47 Rotterdam
8) Abderrahim Goumri (MAR) - SB 2:09:11
9) Abderrahime Bouramdane (MAR) - SB 2:08:42

Winners at World Championships 2009 Berlin
Gold - Abel Kirui (KEN) - 2:06:54 (championship record)
Silver - Emmanuel Mutai (KEN) - 2:07:48
Bronze - Tsegay Kebede (ETH) - 2:08:35


2:03:02 - Geoffrey Mutai (KEN) Boston 2011 - Fastest marathon ever run
2:03:59 - Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) Berlin 2008 - World Record

World Marathon Majors

The World Marathon Majors (WMM) is a new series of competition launched collectively by the following 5 world's leading marathons on 23 Jan 2006 :
BAA Boston Marathon
Virgin London Marathon
BMW Berlin Marathon
Bank of Chicago Marathon
ING New York City Marathon

In additional to the above 5 races, this championship-style competition also includes 2 other qualifying non-annual races, viz
- The IAAF World Championship (held once every odd year) and
- The Olympic Games (in years divisible by 4)

Each WMM series spans over 2 years, the inaugural 2006-2007 series was launched at the 110th Boston Marathon on 17 April 17 2006 and concluded on 4 November 2007 at the ING New York City Marathon.

Every new WMM series offers a USD500,000 jackpot each to the top Male and Female marathoners based on the points system of the WMM.

Some statistics about WMM:
............... Since - Capacity - Largest* ----- 2010* - Sp'tators - CR (M) - CR(W)
Boston -- 1897 - 25,000 - 35,868 (1996) - 22,540 - 500k -- 2:03:02 - 2:20:43
London - 1981 - 35,700 - 36,550 (2010) - 36,550 - 1m ----- 2:05:10 - 2:15;25
Berlin -- 1974 - 40,000 - 35,913 (2008) - 34,002 - 1.5m --- 2:03:59 - 2:19:46
Chicago -1977 - 45,000 - 36,088 (2010) - 36,088 - 1.7m --- 2:05:41 - 2:17:18
N York -1970 - 45,000 - 45,103 (2010) - 45,103 -- 2m ----- 2:07:43
* Number of finishers

The 2009/2010 series was won by the late Sammy Wanjiru (KEN) (75 points) followed by Tsegaye Kebede (ETH) (65 pts) and Emmanuel Mutai (KEN) (50pts) while Liliya Shobukhova (RUS) (85points) won the women section followed by Irina Mikitenko (GER) (41pts) and Salina Kosgei (KEN) (36pts)

Meanwhile the top 2010/11 Leader Board as of April stands as follows:
Men:
1) Emmanuel Mutai (KEN) - 55 points
2) Tsegaye Kebede (ETH) - 41 points
3) Geoffrey Mutai (KEN) - 40 points
4) Gebre Gebremariam (ETH) - 35 points
5) Patrick Makau (KEN) - 35 points

Women:
1) Liliya Shobukhova (RUS) - 65 points
2) Mary Keitany (KEN) - 35 points
3) Edna Kiplagat (KEN) - 35 points
4) Brzunesh Bekele (ETH) - 25 points
5) Teyba Erkesso (ETH) - 25 points

Ref.: World Marathon Majors

Final 2010-2011 Standings:
http://worldmarathonmajors.com/US/news/316/