IAAF World Championships Day 4 Preview

IAAF World Championships Day 4 Preview

Aug 29, 2011 by Jesse Squire
IAAF World Championships Day 4 Preview


Ennis, Isinbayeva, Rudisha, and Merritt are the highlights



Day 4 of the IAAF World Championships feature world record holder David Rudisha going after his first Worlds gold medal, Yelena Isinbayeva attempts to regain her champion status, and Jessica Ennis and America's LaShawn Merritt attempting to defend the golds they won two years ago.

In the 800, Nick Symmonds has a very real chance at a medal, which would be only the third an American has ever won in this event at the Worlds. America's Jen Suhr is battling various health problems but is still capable of winning a pole vault medal, maybe even gold.

All this, plus Kenya's female steeplechasers going after their first-ever Worlds gold medal, the men's discus final, and heart-stopping semis in the women's 1500 and men's and women's 400 hurdles.

Schedule, start lists and results

How to watch


9:00 PM tonight
Live webcasts at Universal Sports and CBC.ca/sports/olympics

10:00 PM tonight
TV coverage on Universal Sports (tape-delay package)

11:35 PM tonight local time
TV coverage on CBC (tape-delay package)

6:00 AM tomorrow
Live webcasts at Universal Sports and CBC.ca/sports/olympics

6:00 PM tomorrow
TV coverage on Universal Sports (tape-delay package)

Event-by-event...

Morning Session


9:00 PM – Heptathlon Long Jump
Going into the final three events, Britain’s Jess Ennis leads Tatyana Chernova (Russia) by 159 points, with the USA’s Hyleas Fountain in third. This is a notable return to form for Fountain, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist, who has battled injuries for the last two years and was only sixth at the USATF Championships.

Ennis and Fountain are good long jumpers but Chernova is a great one, as her 2011 best (6.82 meters) is the same as Brittney Reese’s winning jump on Day 2. Look for Ennis’ lead to narrow significantly.

9:10 PM – Men's High Jump qualifying
The top 12 will qualify to the finals, with a height of 2.31 meters automatically getting you there.
Group A includes Americans Jesse Williams and Erik Kynard, along with top medal threats Aleksey Dmitrik (Russia) and Jaroslav Baba (Czech Republic). Williams is expected to get through easily; Kynard should make it if he regains his form of the NCAA season, but that was a long time ago.
Group B includes Russia’s Ivan Ukhov and Aleksandr Shustov, as well as the USA’s Dusty Jonas.

9:20 PM – Women's 5000 meters heats
The two heats have 23 entries, of which 15 will get to the final (top five from each heat plus the next five fastest). But there are very few “pretenders” entered; some good athletes will not qualify.
Heat 1 – Leading athletes here are top Ethiopians Sentayehu Ejigu and Meseret Defar. American Amy Hastings will have to beat several runners with faster seasonal bests in order to make it to the final.
Heat 2 – 10k medalists Vivian Cheruiyot and Linet Masai lead the way. Getting to the final will be a tough task for the USA’s Molly Huddle, but Lauren Fleshman has a fighting chance.

10:20 PM – Men's 1500 meters heats
About two-thirds of the entries will qualify to the semifinals, with the top six in each heat plus the next six fastest making it.
Heat 1 – Kenya’s Daniel Komen and Ann Arbor-based Kiwi Nick Willis are the leading names in this heat; Oregon’s Matt Centrowitz’s fine tactical racing skills give him a chance to qualify.
Heat 2 – Asbel Kiprop (Kenya) and Mekonnen Gebremedhin (Ethiopia) are expected to lead this one. Andrew Wheating’s lack of racing due to nagging injuries make him a big question mark.
Heat 3 – Silas Kiplagat (Kenya) lit up the summer racing season, but Amine Laalou (Morocco) is a wily and fast-closing racer himself. Leo Manzano has a tendency towards inconsistency, but if he’s on he’ll make it through. Canada’s Geoffrey Martinson has an uphill battle.

10:40 PM – Heptathlon Javelin group A
This is a very strong event for Tatyana Chernova, and medal hopefuls Jennifer Oeser (Germany) and Natallie Dobrynska (Ukraine) are pretty good too. All should move closer to the lead.

10:45 PM – Women's Triple Jump qualifying
The top 12 qualify to the finals, and a mark of 14.45 meters or better will do it automatically.
Group A has medal hopefuls Olha Salduha (Ukraine) and Caterine Ibargüen (Colombia). America’s Amanda Smock is not expected to qualify.
Group B has gold medal favorite Yargeris Savigne (Cuba).

11:50 PM – Heptathlon Javelin group B
Jess Ennis and Hyleas Fountain are weak enough in this event to be in the second grouping. They’ll just be trying to hold on here.

Evening Session


6:00 AM – Women's 400m Hurdles semifinals
Just the top two in each heat will qualify, along with the next two fastest, leaving no room for error.
Heat 1 – Kaliese Spencer (Jamaica) is one of the gold medal favorites, and is expected to get through along with Vania Stambolova (Bulgaria). America’s Jasmine Chaney, down in lane 1, has her work cut out for her.
Heat 2 – Defending champ Melaine Walker (Jamaica) is here, and is favored to advance with Natalya Antyukh (Russia). American Queen Harrison has a fighting chance to make it.
Heat 3 – U.S. champ Lashinda Demus and Zuzana Hejnova (Czech Republic) are among the medal favorites and should advance.

6:05 PM – Women's Pole Vault Final
Russia's world record holder, Yelena Isinbayeva, is the favorite. But she's a shaky favorite, having taken all of last year off and competing sparingly this year. America's Jenn Suhr is capable of winning, but has been hampered by various physical maladies and is similarly shaky. Anna Rogowska (Poland) was the dominant vaulter of 2011 until she missed a bunch of time this after gashing her hand on a broken pole. In other words, this is wide open.

6:30 PM – Men's 400m Hurdles semifinals
As with the women’s semis, only the top two in each heat plus the next two fastest will qualify to the final.
Heat 1 – This is a tough heat, with Americans Jeshua Anderson and Angelo Taylor and Javier Culson (Puerto Rico).
Heat 2 – Dai Greene (Great Britain) is expected to lead this heat. Defending champ Kerron Clement has not looked good at all this year and is stuck out in lane 8.
Heat 3 – L.J. van Zyl (South Africa) appears to have regained some of his stellar early-season form, but the USA’s Bershawn Jackson will still probably win this heat.

6:55 PM – Men's Discus Final
The favorite is defending champ Robert Harting (Germany), who is undefeated in 2011. Veteran thrower Virgilius Alekna (Lithuania) is always a threat at the big meet, though, and European champ Piotr Malachowski (Poland) could challenge as well. The USA has Jason Young in the final.

7:00 PM – Heptathlon 800 meters
Tatyana Chernova is marginally better at the 800 than Jess Ennis, so the Brit needs to be leading by ten or twenty points going into this event.

7:35 PM – Women's 1500 meters semifinals
There are 24 runners total in two heats, and 12 will qualify to the final. The first five in each heat plus the next 2 fastest will get there.
Heat 1 – Shannon Rowbury and Morgan Uceny carry American hopes, and both are capable of getting through to the final. Everyone will be watching gold medal favorite Maryam Yusuf Jamal (Bahrain), and Anna Mishchenko (Ukraine) is a strong runner too.
Heat 2 – There are no truly strong runners in this heat, which gives the USA's Jenny (Barringer) Simpson a fighting chance to get through to the final.

8:00 AM – Men's 800 meters final
All eyes are on world record holder David Rudisha (Kenya), who looks to have mastered the art of championship (i.e. non-rabbitted) racing. He's passed the preliminary test, but this is of course the final exam. Abubaker Kaki (Sudan) is a tremendous runner in his own right, who also hasn't always gotten the knack of this. Alfred Kirwa Yego (Kenya) is a smart runner who has won gold and silver at the last two Worlds. And of course Nick Symmonds could get the USA on the medal stand, something done only twice before at the Worlds.

8:20 AM – Women's Steeplechase Final
Kenya's men have never been beaten at the Olympic or World steeplechase – they've won gold every single time they've entered. Shockingly, Kenya's women have never won gold in the short history of this event. Milcah Chemos Cheywa is expected to turn that around, though, and keep Kenya's women's distance-event win streak alive. The only threat to win from outside Kenya is Sophia Assefa (Ethiopia).
The USA has Emma Coburn in the final, but it was a major accomplishment for her just to get here.

8:45 AM – Men's 400 meters final
LaShawn Merritt looks like gold after a two-year layoff. His first round time of 44.35 is the fastest of the year by almost three-tenths of a second. If he is to be challenged, it will come in the form of 18-year-old NCAA champion Kirani James. Six of the eight finalists ran for U.S. colleges; Tabarie Henry failed to make this year’s NCAA final for Texas A&M, but is here representing the Virgin Islands.