Hurdlers, High Jumper and Milers lead US Medal Hopes

Day 6 of the IAAF World Championships has huge potential for adding to the USA's lead in the medal table.

Jesse Williams is pointing towards gold in the men's high jump final. The women's 1500 meters final includes Morgan Uceny and Jenny (Barringer) Simpson; Uceny earlier this year became the first American woman in nearly three decades to win consecutive 1500s at European invitationals. And the USA's strength, the hurdles, comes to the fore as Lashinda Demus is favored in the women's 400 hurdles, and Bershawn Jackson and Angelo Taylor are both in the men's race.

All this in Day 6, plus the men's steeplechase final, Matt Centrowitz and Leo Manzano fighting for spots in the 1500 meter final, and more sprinting from Carmelita Jeter and Allyson Felix in the women's 200 meters.

Schedule, start lists and results
LIVE results and live blog

How to watch

9:00 PM tonight
Live webcasts at UniversalSports.com and CBC.ca/sports/olympics

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

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

5:30 AM tomorrow
IAAF Radio (free)

5:50 AM tomorrow
Live webcasts at UniversalSports.com and CBC.ca/sports/olympics

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

Event by event...

Morning session

9:00 PM – Men's Shot Put qualifying
The top 12 will qualify to the final, with a mark of 20.60 or better doing it automatically. The shot put does not typically have any surprise non-qualifiers, so this is usually a mere formality for the top guys.
Group A has Americans Ryan Whiting and Adam Nelson, along with Tomasz Majewski (Poland) and Andrei Mikhnevich (Belarus).
Group B has Americans Christian Cantwell and Reese Hoffa, plus Dylan Armstrong, Canada's best chance for gold at these Worlds.

9:05 PM – Men's 5000 meters heats
There will be two heats, cutting 41 entrants down to 15 finalists (the first five in each heat plus the next five fastest), so these are serious races that will eliminate some good runners.
Heat 1 has the USA's two great hopes for this event, Bernard Lagat and Galen Rupp. Kenenisa Bekele is on the start list but his participation is not likely. Other notable runners in this hest include Isiah Koech (Kenya), Craig "Buster" Mottram (Australia), and Dejen "One Shoe" Gebremeskel (Ethiopia), who until Sunday's 10k was the last man to beat Mo Farah.
Heat 2 has the aforementioned Mo Farah (Great Britain), who is bent on coming out of Korea with gold. Other athletes here include Imane Merga (Ethiopia), Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya), and the USA's Andrew Bumbalough.

9:10 PM – Women's Javelin qualifying, group A
The top twelve will qualify to the final, with a throw of 61.00 meters or better doing it automatically. This group includes medal favorites Christina Obergföll (Germany) and Maria Abakumova (Russia). The USA's Rachel Yurkovich is a long shot to make the final.

9:45 PM – Women's High Jump qualifying
The top 12 will qualify to the final, with a mark of 1.95 meters doing it automatically.
Group A includes Anna Chicherova, the 2011 world leader, along with America's Inika McPherson.
Group B includes defending champ Blanka Vlasic, who is suffering from a knee injury. She' soldiering on but may be at reduced capacity. Also in this group is US champion Brigetta Barrett and European indoor champion Antonietta Di Martino.

9:50 PM – Women's 200 meters heats
The first four in each heat plus the next four fastest will qualify to the semifinals.
Heat 1 – 100 finalist Kerron Stewart (Jamaica) is here, along with America's Jeneba Tarmoh.
Heat 2 – Two of the 100 finalists are here in Blessing Okagbare (Nigeria) and gold medal-winning Carmelita Jeter (USA).
Heat 3 – Allyson Felix USA) is way out in lane 8, but should get through with ease.
Heat 4 – US champion Shalonda Solomon is here along with Canada's Kimberly Hyacinthe.
Heat 5 – The other heavy favorite, Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica), is also stuck out in lane 8.

10:25 PM – Women's Javelin qualifying, group B
This group includes former World and Olympic champion Barbora Špotáková (Czech Republic). America's Kara Patterson is in this group as well; she has struggled at times this summer, but is capable of getting through to the final.

10:35 PM – Men's Long Jump qualifying
The top 12 will qualify to the final, with a mark of 8.15 meters or better doing it automatically.
Group A includes defending champion Dwight Phillips, who has jumped little this year and poorly when he has. He'll need to do far better just to get to the final. Also in this group is US champion Marquise Goodwin, who is skipping Texas football to be here, and gold medal favorite Mitchell Watt (Australia).
Group B includes both men who are tied for the 2011 world-leading mark, NCAA champion Ngoni Makusha (Zimbabwe) and 2007 World champion Irving Saladino (Panama), along with Americans Trevell Quinley and Will Claye.

10:40 PM – Women's 800 meters heats
The first four in each heat plus the next four fastest will qualify to the semifinals.
Heat 1 – Yuliya Rusanova (Russia) and Jenny Meadows (Great Britain) are possible medalists; Maggie Vessey (USA) should also qualify.
Heat 2 – Kenia Sinclair (Jamaica) is the best runner in this heat.
Heat 3 – Ekaterina Kostetskaya (Russia) and Alysia (Johnson) Montano (USA) are the leading names here,
Heat 4 – World leader Mariya Savinova (Russia) is in this heat, along with America's Alice Schmidt, who quietly had a great summer of racing.
Heat 5 – Canada's Lemlem Bereket has a good chance of qualifying to the semis.

11:30 PM – Men's 4x400 Relay heats
The top three in each heat plus the next two fastest will qualify to the final.
Heat 1 includes South Africa, who may use Oscar Pistorius. Despite not using any 400 hurdlers (whose final is later in the day), the USA should have no trouble qualifying. Jamaica will likely get through as well.
Heat 2 has Belgium, who will lean heavily on the Borlee twins, and the Bahamas, which has the depth to possibly challenge the USA for gold.

Evening Session

6:00 AM – Men's Javelin qualifying, group A
The top twelve will qualify for the final, with a mark of 82.50 meters or better doing it automatically.
Andreas Thorkildsen (Norway) is a very strong favorite for gold, and is in this group. Other notable athletes here are Mattias de Zordo (Germany) and Tero Pitkämäki (Finland). Mike Hazle (USA) is unlikely to make the final, but Scott Russell (Canada) might be able to pull it off.

6:10 AM – Men's High Jump Final
The Oregon Track Club's Jesse Williams is on the short list of favorites for the gold. No American has won gold at the Worlds since Charles Austin in 1991. His main competition will come from Russians such as Ivan Ukhov, Aleksandr Shustov, and Aleksey Dmitrik, and a young 20-year-old Qatari named Mutaz Essa Barshim.

6:20 AM – Women's Triple Jump Final
The battle for gold is expected to be between Yargeris Savigne (Cuba) and Olha Saladuha (Ukraine). No Americans qualified to the final.

6:25 AM – Women's 200 meters semifinals
Qualifiers are yet to be determined.

6:55 AM – Men's 1500 meters semifinals
The top five in each heat plus the next two fastest will qualify to the finals.
Heat 1 includes favorites Silas Kiplagat (Kenya) and Amine Laalou (Morocco). Matt Centrowitz (USA) and Geoffrey Martinson (Canada) face uphill battles to get to the finals, but in a tactical race just about anything can happen.
Heat 2 includes the very fast and very unpredictable Asbel Kiprop (Kenya) and the wily and fast-closing Nick Willis (New Zealand). America's Leo Manzano is capable of qualifying to the final.

7:20 AM – Men's Javelin qualifying, group B
Notable throwers in this group are Sergey Makarov (Russia) and Vadims Vasilevskis (Latvia).

7:25 AM – Men's Steeplechase Final
Brimin Kipruto leads a strong Kenyan contingent into the final here. Kenya has won eight of the twelve Worlds steeplechases (plus two more by Kenyan-turned-Qatari Saif Saeed Shaheen) and looks good for win #9. Kipruto narrowly missed the world record earlier this year, and his teammate Ezekiel Kemboi was not far behind. With two more Kenyans present (Richard Mateelong and Abraham Chirchir), a medal sweep is a distinct possibility.

7:55 AM – Women's 1500 meters Final
The USA has two finalists in Morgan Uceny and Jenny (Barringer) Simpson, and Uceny has shown herself as a real threat to win a medal, possibly even gold. However, two-time defending champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal (Bahrain) has looked very tough to beat.

8:15 AM – Women's 400m Hurdles Final
The USA's Lashinda Demus ran by far the best semifinal race and assumes the mantle of gold-medal favorite. There are many women in this race who can win, though; Natalya Antyukh (Russia) and Zuzana Hejnova (Czech Republic) are the two biggest threats. Jamaicans Kaleise Spencer and Melaine Walker have tough lane draws, in 2 and 8 respectively.

8:30 AM – Men's 400m Hurdles Final
Two American runners are in this race in Bershawn Jackson and Angelo Taylor. Jackson is among the favorites, but it should be noted that he's not won a single final since the Kansas Relays back in April. On the other hand, he's not been worse than second since May 6. He's the most consistent of all hurdlers this year, and that counts for a lot. Angelo Taylor is stuck down in lane one, but he won an Olympic gold out of lane one, so that might not mean much. If there's an athlete on the rise, it's Dai Greene (Great Britain).