BERLIN (AP) — Americans LaShawn Merritt, Allyson Felix and Sanya Richards each won a second title at the world championships in the 1,600-meter relays Sunday.
Kenenisa Bekele earned a second long-distance double in as many years by adding the 5,000-meter title to his 10,000 victory – the same feat he accomplished at the Beijing Olympics.
The Ethiopian extended his reign after first holding off a Kenyan challenge in mid-race then outlasting defending champion Bernard Lagat of the United States in a thrilling sprint to the line.
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An elated Bekele slapped his chest with an open hand and beamed.
“It was a very hard race,” he said after becoming the first Ethiopian to win 5,000 world championship gold. “I’ll never forget this race.
“I never made a double in the Olympics and world championships. I’m so happy.”
So was Lagat, who was running with four stitches in a numbed up left ankle after he was spiked in qualifying.
“I didn’t know I was going to run,” the American said. “It is a huge cut.”
Bekele finished in a slow 13 minutes, 17.09 seconds, with Lagat .24 seconds behind. James Kwalia C’Kurui of Qatar took bronze in 13:17.78. Both the silver and bronze medalists are Kenyan-born.
A win for Bekele partly salvaged the championships for Ethiopia, which saw its women’s running team underperform while rival Kenya surged up the standings. Bekele’s gold was Ethiopia’s second, compared with Kenya’s four.
Ethiopia could have added a third in the 1,500, but favorite Gelete Burka was pushed to the ground by Natalia Rodriguez of Spain in a hectic final 200 meters. The Spaniard crossed the line first but was disqualified, giving defending champion Maryam Jamal of Bahrain the gold medal.
The United States also got a surprise individual gold from Brittney Reese in the woman’s long jump, beating defending champion Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia with a jump of 23 feet, 3 /12 inches. Reese’s victory came one day after American teammate Dwight Phillips won the men’s long jump.
In the final standings, the United States had 10 gold medals and 22 overall, with Jamaica second with seven gold and 13 overall.
Earlier on the closing day of the competition, Bai Xue shook off Yoshimi Ozaki of Japan in the latter stages of a sun-drenched women’s marathon through the heart of the German capital to clinch China’s first ever major title in the event.
The world’s most populous country with 1.3 billion people finally had a title to celebrate as Bai waved the red flag with five yellow stars around, with a few Chinese fans dancing wildly under the Brandenburg Gate.
Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway won his first world championship javelin title after finishing second twice. Thorkildsen won with a throw of 295 feet, 1 inch.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
