World Athletics: GB win silver and bronze in 4x400m relays, plus Semenya wins gold – as it happened

Last modified: 08: 47 PM GMT+0

On another thrilling night Caster Semenya dominated the women’s 800m, and British quartets won silver in the women’s 4x400m and bronze in the men’s

I leave you with a Hero the Hedgehog highlights reel. Bye! Again!

📹 Not the Hero London needs. The Hero London deserves.

For one more time tonight #BeTheNext #HEROtheHedgehog pic.twitter.com/beIV8ezwC4

— IAAF World Champs (@IAAFWorldChamps) August 13, 2017

As Bolt walks around the track, waving his final farewells, it seems an opportune time for me, too, to head for the exit. Don’t worry about the massive framed thing, it’s OK. Bye!

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Meanwhile Usain Bolt is back on the track, collecting some kind of enormous framed thing.

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@Simon_Burnton We've had a championships with relay finals absolutely free of controversy/disqualifications, haven't we?

— Mark Press (@Stuffedparatha) August 13, 2017

Indeed we have. We’ve had to rely on cramps, muscle-pulls and simple athletic excellence for our drama.

The top of the final medal table looks like this:

  1. United States (10 golds, 11 silvers, 9 bronzes)
  2. Kenya (5/2/4)
  3. South Africa (3/1/2)
  4. France (3/0/2)
  5. China (2/3/2)
  6. Great Britain & Northern Ireland (2/3/1)
  7. Ethiopia (2/3/0)
  8. Poland (2/2/4)
  9. Authorised Neutral Athletes (1/5/0)
  10. Germany (1/2/2)

Interesting statistic alert.

Trinidad & Tobago become the 27th country (incl 'Neutrals') to win gold at #london2017, a new record. There were 26 in 1997.

— Gracenote Olympic (@GracenoteGold) August 13, 2017

Lalonde Gordon brilliantly overhauls Fred Kerley in the final metres to steal gold – the Americans weren’t really that bad – while there were a few seconds when it looked like Martyn Rooney might catch up with them both. But then he didn’t.

Trinidad & Tobago win men's 4x400m gold!

America win silver, and Britain take bronze in the final race!

It’s US, T&T and Britain for the medals, well clear of Spain!

Not a great first leg for the British, but Dwayne Cowan is finishing his second leg in third, with Trinidad & Tobago second and the US first.

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The final event of the championships is under way!

Borlée latest: Robin Vanderbemden leads out the Belgians, with Borlées second, third and fourth. They’re quite the family.

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Matt Hudson-Smith, who was reported to have walked out on the relay team yesterday and who Martyn Rooney, who runs the anchor leg, said “needs to get his head right”, will lead the British off tonight.

“This great Britain team has a chance for gold,” says Michael Johnson, who thinks the US team is “very weak” and Belgium are “not as strong as they have been in the past”.

And then there was one. Well, one race, and 32 athletes. The men’s 4x400m relay is but a few moments away.

Meanwhile, Jamaica reacts to their latest relay drama:

Sigh!!!!
Prayers be Team Jamaica 🇯🇲🇯🇲🙌🏽🙌🏽

— Usain St. Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) August 13, 2017

Mutaz Barshim, the high-jump gold-medalist, seems pleased.

It was an amazing night. It’s impossible to forget this night. I love the pressure. That’s when I perform the best, when I’m under pressure. I expect for myself much more than everybody, so for me it’s just more motivation. It’s no pressure, it’s just motivation.

So lightning strikes twice for Jamaica, as injury stops them midway through another relay. Remarkable.

Yesssss Well done ladies🥈for 4x400m wickedddddddd #london2017

— PSD (@shakesdrayton) August 13, 2017

It's women's 4x400m silver for Great Britain!

Emily Diamond holds off a late surge from Poland’s Justyna Swiety. America’s winning margin was just 0.02sec shy of six seconds, and Poland were 0.41sec behind the British.

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America wins 4x400m gold!

They’re in a different postcode from the rest!

It’s Emily Diamond v Justyna Swiety for silver, and Diamond goes out hard!

Eilidh Doyle is running a fine third leg, and it looks like it’s between Britain and Poland for bronze.

America are way out clear, with Britain and Poland second and third as the third leg begins.

Jamaica won’t finish! Anneisha McLaughlin has pulled up with a muscle strain!

Chrisann Gordon is running an excellent first leg for Jamaica, but Zoey Clark has been less impressive for Britain.

Can anyone stop the US? Or, more realistically, who will finish second? We’re about to find out!

So the field events are now officially over, and just two more issues remain to be settled on the track. Next up: the women’s 4x400m relay, another potential medal for Britain, and also no end of baton-dropping, handover-failing dramatic potential.

“A cracking 1500m race, with the Kenyans ruling once again, but really there’s a bit of dust in my eye as we say goodbye to Brendan Foster,” writes Guy Hornsby. “What a legend he was on the track, a jovial, but steely Gateshead man who was even better on the mic. I can’t think of another athletics commentator I loved listening to, even David Coleman, and I’ll always hear “Rooosa Mooota” when I remember him. Fitting he hands over to another champion, we’re in good hands with Steve Cram.” Well said sir.

Majd Ghazal’s emotional, coach-and-anyone-else-who-was-interested-hugging reaction to sealing bronze was very special indeed. Clearing 2.29m was enough to give him the medal; the cleared the same height in qualification, when six people, including both the other medalists and also Robbie Grabarz, cleared 2.31.

Mutaz Barshim has failed three times at 2.40m, so the high jump competition is thus over.

Britwatch: For the second time this evening, the Briton finished last. Chris O’Hare was not at his best: third after one lap, fifth after two, and last after 1200m and 1500m.

Ingebrigtsen seemed to dive – literally dive – in front of Mechaal as they approached the finish, so there might be some kind of afters there.

Elijah Manangoi wins 1500m gold for Kenya!

Timothy Theruiyot comes second, and Filip Ingebrigtsen wins bronze, just pipping Spain’s Adel Mechaal!

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Filip Ingebrigtsen of Norway is in with a shout here, with half a lap to go!

Barshim, meanwhile, fails to clear 2.40m at the first attempt. So he is human.

1500m latest: There are Kenyans in first, second and third after two laps, and they’re pulling clear! Britain’s Chris O’Hare is fourth.

Starter’s pistol alert! The men’s 1500m final is on!

Mutaz Barshim wins high jump gold for Qatar!

Danil Lysenko’s third attempt at 2.35m ends in failure, and he thus takes silver. Majd Ghazal of Syria takes bronze. But the competition isn’t over yet: Barshim is jumping against himself now, but he’s going to have a go at 2.40m. His personal best is 2.43m, but he pretty much looks ready to jump over the moon at the moment.

Brendan Foster, the BBC athletics commentator, is about to hang up his microphone. He will retire after the men’s 1500m final, which is about to happen.

Lysenko does not clear it, or his next attempt either. Barshim has been absolutely imperious here, and no one can live with him.

Barshim clears 2.35m at the first attempt! And Lysenko has to ace his next jump if he’s to have a reasonable chance of victory!

High jump latest: So it is between Mutaz Barshim and Danil Lysenko for gold, with the bar moving up to 2.35m. Barshim, who has flown over every previous height at the first attempt, is in the lead as things stand.

High jump latest: two more failures at 2.32m mean that Edgar Rivera, who failed twice at 2.29m, comes fourth, and Majd Ghazal, who failed just the once at 2.29m, takes bronze for Syria!

Sandra Perkovic wins discus gold for Croatia!

Discus latest: Robert-Michon throws 66.21 at the last attempt, and takes bronze. As her discus lands, Perkovic’s gold is confirmed!

High jump latest: Only two men have cleared 2.32, with Ghazal and Rivera both preparing for their final attempts. Bondarenko and Przybylko are out.

Discus latest: Into the final round, and just the top three to throw. Dani Stevens goes next, with silver within her grasp. And she throws her best throw of a night! And a massive personal best! It’s 69.64m, and can Mélina Robert-Michon do anything about it?

Lynsey Sharp faded in the second lap and finished last. Semenya, though, was in a league of her own, and won in a personal best time of 1:55.16.

Caster Semenya wins 800m gold!

In the home straight Caster Semenya moves wide and flies past first Ajee Wilson and then Niyonsaba!

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Halfway through, Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi leads the field, but everyone’s very close. Lynsey Sharp is in fourth!

The women’s 800m is under way!

Discus latest: For four rounds every one of Sandra Perkovic’s throws was longer than any one of anyone else’s by at least 2.99m. But she’s just fouled her fifth attempt, so she’s not perfect.

The women’s 800m finalists are on the track and getting ready to race. “For a few days I’ve been bothered by the thought: what is the point of the bell in the 800 metres?” wonders Justin Horton. “Nobody can be in any doubt what lap they are on. You might as well ring a bell to start a 400 metre race, as ring one after the first lap of a two-lap race. Is there actually any purpose being served here?” It is a faintly comic bell, to be sure, but might be necessary: as we saw in the steeplechase athletes can be a forgetful lot.

I have, I fear, been insufficiently excited about Hellen Obiri’s 5,000m gold. Just an astonishing turn of speed in the final lap left the just-not-quite-as-brilliant Almaz Ayana trailing, and was jaw-droppingly impressive. She ran the last lap in 60sec. Whoosh.

Discus latest: Australia’s Dani Stevens has just pulled out a season’s-best throw of 66.82 to take over in second place. They’re into the fifth round of throws, so it is very much the business end of the competition.

Oooh, there’s a sixth man still in the high-jump hunt: Ukraine’s Bohdan Bondarenko passed at 2.29m, so hasn’t eliminated himself yet. He’s just failed his first attempt at 3.32m, though.

The bar is set to 2.32m, and Barshim sails over at the first attempt! But he might not have this all his own way: so, too, does Danil Lysenko!

Scratch that: Mexico’s Edgar Rivera clears 2.29m at the final attempt, and Grabarz finishes joint sixth. There are five athletes still in the hunt for a medal, but only Mutaz Barshim has a 100% record.

High-jump latest: Robbie Grabarz fails a third attempt at 2.29m, and his competition is over. It looks like another fifth place for Britain.

High-jump latest: Germany’s consonant-heavy Mateusz Przybylko becomes the fourth athlete to go over 2.29m, but having failed twice, and once at 2.25m, he lies fourth overall.

Hellen Obiri wins 5,000m gold for Kenya!

Almaz Ayana comes second, nearly six seconds back, and Sifan Hassan of HOlland takes bronze, having broken well clear of her mini-group. Laura Muir came a very creditable sixth. The winning time was 14:34.86.

Updated

5,000m latest: Hellen Obiri has heard the bell and put on the afterburners. She’s out on her own now. That’s just spectacular.

High jump latest: A third athlete has cleared 2.29m. It’s Syria’s Majd Eddin Ghazal. Read an interesting feature about him from last year here, if you fancy.

5,000m latest: The front two continue to stretch their lead. The Brits seem out of contention for bronze: Senbere Teferi of Ethiopia, Margaret Kikemboi of Kenya and Sifan Hassan of Holland are fighting for that one.

5,000m latest: After 3,000m Ayana and Obiri have a lead of almost 10sec on the third-placed athlete. Any number of people might come third, though.

Robbie Grabarz fails again at 2.29m. At the moment only two athletes have cleared it: Mutaz Barshim at the first attempt, and the Russian Danil Lysenko at the second.

So the chasing pack is being caught by the pack chasing the chasing pack, but the front two are way clear and appear to be engaged in a two-way tussle for gold.

The 5,000m runners have been split into three, with Almaz Ayana and Hellen Obiri at the front, a second group of five 20m further back, and the rest – including both Brits – a further 25m away.

The fight for silver in the women’s discus looks pretty hot. France’s Mélina Robert-Michon is in second with a season’s-best 65.49m, which is just 3cm further than Australia’s Dani Stevens. Sandra Perkovic has, meanwhile, just cleared 70m again.

… and the next at an only slightly more rapid 1:18.

The first 400m of the women’s 5,000m final is run in a pedestrian 1:21.

Grabarz clips the bar with a heel on his first attempt at 2.29m. Only Barshim so far has cleared that height with his first try.

Track action! It’s the women’s 5,000m. Massive cheers greet Laura Muir and Elish McColgan as the athletes are introduced. The distance races make, in my humble opinion, the very best watching, so I for one am excited.

Perkovic’s second throw is even longer than her first. With 70.31m she leads the field by very nearly 5m, from France’s Mélina Robert-Michon. She is, for the moment, competing against herself.

More from the high jump: Eike Onnen, who struggled over 2.20, has failed to clear 2.25 and is the second athlete to leave the competition.

Meanwhile in the high jump, six athletes have cleared both 2.20 and 2.25 at the first attempt and are thus joint first at the moment. Mutaz Barshim, the favourite, has looked in fine form in doing so, but Britain’s Robbie Grabarz is also among them.

No one in the field has thrown further this year than Perkovic’s opening 69.30. Only one of them – Denia Caballero of Cuba – has ever thrown further. Gold could already be settled here, with only half of the first round of throws completed.

The women’s discus throw has also started, and after five throws Dani Stevens of Australia had a lead of over 1m. Then Sandra Perkovic, the favourite, came out and bettered it by more than 5m.

Updated

Onnen has cleared 2.20 at the third attempt, but that’s not a good start for him. Ivanov meanwhile appears to have retired.

After one round of high-jump jumping, Germany’s Eike Onnen and Bulgaria’s Tihomir Ivanov were the only athletes not to clear 2.20m at the first attempt. Onnen’s just failed a second attempt as well.

I find mascots who prance about drawing attention to themselves incredibly annoying, but Hero the Hedgehog has actually been impressively acrobatic and, at times, quite funny. This is how he arrived in the stadium this evening:

We ❤️ Hero!#London2017 #bbcathletics https://t.co/kk0O79YE4O pic.twitter.com/6q58HaGzDK

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 13, 2017

Action! The men’s high jump has begun. Mateusz Przybylko gets the evening’s action under way. That’s a very high consonant-to-vowel ratio in that surname right there.

The men’s 4x400m teams have just got their medals. Tonight’s action doesn’t start for 10 minutes yet but the stadium is packed for the national anthem – they haven’t had many opportunities to hear it, so it was worth the effort.

The women’s 4x100m medalists are about to receive their gongs. The footage of the British team watching the men’s race that followed theirs last night is among the very finest of this week. It’s worth rewatching yesterday’s BBC coverage to see, if you haven’t already done so.

There are some fabulous pictures in this photo essay – well worth a few moments of your time. Your eyeballs will appreciate it.

Hello world!

It ends here. It has, I think, been a fine championships. Times/heights/distances haven’t been world-beating – Inês Henriques set the only world record of the tournament so far earlier today, in the women’s 50km race walk, which is a new event added to the schedule this year and without a world record at all until January – but there has been no shortage of drama and interest. Tonight we should get plenty more, with seven finals to be held. Here’s what we’ve got to look forward to (with all times in BST):

7pm: Men’s high jump final
Mutaz Barshim of Qatar can boast the first, second, third, fourth, joint fifth and joint sixth best jumps this year and is thus the overwhelming favourite to take gold, in the absence of the injured world and Olympic champion, Canada’s Derek Drouin. Britain’s Robbie Grabarz, who got a bronze in 2012 and came fourth in Rio last year, will hope to grab a medal.

7.10pm: Women’s discus final
Croatia’s Sandra Perkovic, who won gold in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, at the last four European Championships and at the 2013 World Championships (there was only a silver in Beijing two years ago), is the overwhelming favourite here. Cuba’s Yaimé Pérez could push her.

7.35pm: Women’s 5,000m final
Elish McColgan and Laura Muir bring home interest, but the gold medal is expected to end up in the clutches of either Hellen Obiri of Kenya or Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana.

8.10pm: Women’s 800m final
Caster Semenya is the strong favourite, with Ajee Wilson of America and Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba also expected to medal. Semenya won gold in Rio last year, with Niyonsaba second and Kenya’s Margaret Wambui – who also runs here – taking bronze. Britain’s Lynsey Sharp, sixth then, adds home interest.

8.30pm: Men’s 1500m final
The Kenyan duo of Asbel Kiprop and Elijah Manangoi are the bookmakers’ tips for the title. Chris O’Hare represents Britain and has shaved nearly two seconds off his personal best this year, but it is still nearly five seconds slower than Mamangoi’s best time which, like O’Hare’s, was set in Monaco last month.

8.55pm: Women’s 4x400m final
America are expected to win this comfortably, but Britain are third favourites, and as yesterday’s relays proved anything can and probably will happen. The British run in lane five, sandwiched between the US and the next best quartet in town, Jamaica.

9.15pm: Men’s 4x400m final
The final event of the championships will, injury or baton-dropping mishaps notwithstanding, also be won by America. Trinadad & Tobago look strong, while both Belgium – whose team in the heats featured the full house of Borlées, with 24-year-old Dylan joining his 29-year-old twin brothers Kevin and Jonathan – and Britain, controversially disqualified after winning their semi-final in Rio, will hope to end the event with a medal.

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Preamble

Simon will be here shortly. In the meantime here is Andy Bull’s take on a dramatic send off for Usain Bolt:

Contributor

Simon Burnton

The GuardianTramp

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