Bolt grabs third gold in Jamaica’s 4x100m relay win

Team USA disqualified as China bag silver; Mo Farah wins 5,000m to complete ‘triple-double’.

Beijing 2015 IAAF World Championships
Jamaica has won their sixth straight major global championships, including the last two Olympics [EPA]

Usain Bolt secured a sweep of the sprint golds at a world championships for the third time when he helped Jamaica’s relay team to a fourth successive 4×100 metres title.

The 29-year-old, who had already won the 100 and 200 metres events, ran the anchor leg as the Jamaicans took gold in 37.36 seconds at the Bird’s Nest Stadium.

The United States team featuring Justin Gatlin, who won silver behind Bolt in both individual sprints, botched their final handover and were disqualified. The silver went to China.

Kenya’s athletics suffers from doping scandal

It was a record-extending 11th world gold for Bolt, who also won three sprint titles at the 2009 and 2013 world championships.

His team mates Nesta Carter, Asafa Powell and Nickel Ashmeade helped extend Jamaica’s dominance of the sprint relay to a sixth straight major global championships, including the last two Olympics.

Jamaica, anchored by Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, clocked the second fastest time in history to retain their women’s 4×100 metres relay title.

Veronica Campbell-Brown, Natasha Morrison and 200 metres silver medallist Elaine Thompson ensured Fraser-Pryce had a good lead when she took the baton and the 100 metres champion stormed across the line in 41.07 seconds.

Earlier, Britain’s Mo Farah stormed to victory in the 5,000 metres to secure an unprecedented third successive distance double at major global championships.

The 32-year-old Olympic champion, who won the 10,000m in Beijing last weekend, clocked 13 minutes 50.38 seconds to win his third straight 5,000 metres world title, which was also a record.

It was Farah’s seventh successive major distance crown after he won the 5,000m at the 2011 world championships and the double at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2013 world championships in Moscow.

Caleb Ndiku won silver for Kenya in 13.51.75 with Hagos Gebrhiwet taking bronze for Ethiopia in 13.51.86.

Farah has won seven successive major distance crowns [EPA]
Farah has won seven successive major distance crowns [EPA]

Mariya Kuchina won the women’s high jump with a clearance of 2.01 metres to become Russia’s second gold medallist at this world championships.

The 22-year-old from Moscow had a blemish-free card to that height, her lifetime best performance.

In silver and bronze positions were the medal winners from this event in the Bird’s Nest Stadium at the Beijing Olympics seven years ago – 31-year-old Croatian Blanka Vlasic and 33-year-old Russia Anna Chicherova.

Source: Reuters