US snatches 3 golds on Day 6 of Daegu Worlds

Updated: 2011-09-02 10:11

(Xinhua)

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US snatches 3 golds on Day 6 of Daegu Worlds
Lashinda Demus of the US clears a hurdle next to Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic (L) and Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica (R) on her way to winning the women's 400 metres hurdles final at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu Sept 1, 2011. [Photo/Agencies] 

DAEGU, South Korea - The Daegu Worlds is experiencing another floppy and unimpressive day on Thursday without significant marks in the total of six track and field finals, of which three golds were taken away by the United States.

After a break on Wednesday, which featured only the women's 20km race walk, the 9-day Daegu Worlds continued its competitions on Thursday with six finals - men's high jump, women's triple jump, men's 3000m steeplechase, women's 1500m, women's 400m hurdles and men's 400m hurdles.

If there is any result in the six finals that could be seen as impressive, it came from women's 400m hurdles.

Lashinda Demus from the United States overtook defending champion Melaine Walker of Jamaica to win her first world title in women's 400m hurdles with a season's world leading time of 52.47 seconds, just 0.05sec away from the championships record.

Walker finished second in her personal season best of 52.73. That's just the second time in history that two women hurdlers have dipped under 52.75sec in the same race.

The other data that is worth mentioning came from men's high jump, in which the United States also bagged the gold.

American Jesse Williams crowned the worlds title in the men's high jump with a clearance of 2.35 meters. The winning mark itself is unimpressive, even two centimeters lower than Williams' personal best of 2.37m.

Of significance is that seven jumpers cleared the bar height at 2.32m, a new record for this event in the history of 13 IAAF World Championships since 1983. Previously, the one in Rome in 1987 had seen six high jumpers clearing 2.32m in the final.

Aleksey Dmitrik of Russia, at 27, won the silver medal on Thursday, also with a clearance of 2.35m. But he made it in the second attempt when the bar was set at 2.35m. Trevor Barry of the Bahamas took the bronze with a leap of 2.32m, which is also his personal best.

Dmitrik said Thursday's competition was like a breaking point for him. "I felt like an underdog before the competition and I wanted to prove I am able to jump at major competition."

"I did not feel much support as our coach was saying that I am unstable. I felt hurt and had a huge motivation to change my reputation," he said.

"Thanks to this achievement, I hope I will get a chance to compete on the top level and will perform well regularly," the Russian added.

USA's third gold came from the women's 1,500 meters, in which Jennifer Barringer Simpson clinched her first world title with a powerful sprint in the last 50 meters, clocking four minutes and 5. 40 seconds.

The winning mark is far away from the world and championships records, or even nearly two seconds behind the 4:03.74 mark in Berlin.

Britain's champion Hannah England took the silver medal in 4:05. 68. Spanish veteran Natalia Rodriguez, who qualified for the final with the fastest time in semifinals, finished home the third in 4: 05.87.

In the women's triple jump, Olha Saladuha from Ukraine claimed her first world title with a jump of 14.94 meters in her first attempt.

Kazakh jumper Olga Rypakova took the silver medal with 14.89m. Caterine Ibarguen, a joint leader of the world listing this year, delivered the first-ever medal for Colombia in a World Championships by winning the bronze medal with a 14.84m jump.

In men's 3000m steeplechase, defending world champion Ezekiel Kemboi of Kenya took the gold medal in eight minutes and 14.85 seconds. His teammate Brimin Kiprop Kipruto took the silver in 8: 16.05. Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad of France collected the bronze in 8:16.09.

In men's 400m hurdles, the last final of the day, David Greene of Britain took the gold medal in 48.26 seconds. Javier Culson of Puerto Rico took the silver with a time of 48.44 seconds. L.J. van Zyl of South Africa collected the bronze in 48.80sec.

Greene's mark is the slowest winning time ever for this event in the history of 13 IAAF World Championships since 1983.

As of Thursday, on the medal table, the United States ranks the first by collecting 7 gold, 4 silver and one bronze. Russia is in the second with 4 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze. Kenya ranked the third with 4 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze.

On Friday, Usain Bolt of Jamaica, the world's fastest man, will take to the blue track in the Daegu stadium again in the men's 200m qualifying round and the semi finals.

The world will put attention on him again after his sensational disqualification in the men's 100m final on Sunday night.

Another six golds are up for grabs on Friday - men's shot put, women's javelin throw, men's long jump, women's 5000m, women's 200m and men's 4x400m relay.