Teenager Tirunesh Dibaba led an Ethiopian sweep in the women's 10,000m Saturday at the world championships with as much ease as American Justin Gatlin showed to reach the semifinals of the 100m.
Dibaba will now go for a long-distance sweep in the 5,000m, which the 19-year-old won two years ago in Paris. Dibaba held off defending champion Berhane Adere and her sister Ejegayehu Dibaba, winning in 30:24.02.
After finishing second twice at the worlds and at the Olympics, American shot putter Adam Nelson finally won gold, holding off Rutger Smith of the Netherlands and Ralf Bartels of Germany. Intense and pumped up, Nelson threw 21.73m on his first attempt.
PHOTO: EPA
Triple world champion John Godina failed to make the final.
Olympic champion Gatlin is feeling so confident at the championships that he's already thinking about a world record.
He breezed into semifinals of the 100m Saturday, easily dominating both a sunny opening heat and a gusty quarterfinal to set him up for the first of possibly three sprint titles.
Running into a strong headwind, Gatlin only managed 10.27 to win the quarterfinal heat.
"I haven't run that slow in a long time," he said. "But I am still dominant."
He said he could cut more than half a second to win Sunday's final and get the world record if needed.
"If it takes a world record I will go out and run a world record," Gatlin said.
Gatlin's task in the 100m was made easier by the no-show of world record-holder Asafa Powell, who is out with a groin injury after setting a mark of 9.77 early in the season. Gatlin's top time this season is 9.89.
Later in the championships, Gatlin wants to add more golds in the 200m and 400m relay to emulate the 1999 feat of sprinting great Maurice Greene.
Defending champion Kim Collins finished only fourth in his quarterfinal and had to wait until the session was over before learning he was the last of 16 to go through.
Darrel Brown of Trinidad and Tobago had the top time of 10.10.
Defending champion and former Olympic champion Jefferson Perez of Ecuador clinched the first gold of the competition, winning the 20km walk ahead of Spaniards Francisco Fernandez and Juan Manuel Molina. Perez finished in 1:18:35.
Olympic heptathlon champion Carolina Kluft, performing on a tender ankle, fought back from a bad start to keep up 2001 champion Eunice Barber.
``I was not confident about my foot and I was not able to push hard on it. If you are not confident it is impossible to be at your best,'' Kluft said.
Still, it was almost good enough to end the first day in first place. Barber held off Kluft by a tiny 3,973-3,971 margin.
After the Swede finished second to Barber in the opening 100m hurdles, the margin widened further during the high jump. Kluft cleared 1.82m, 12 centimeters below her season's best. Barber, equaled her best this season with a jump of 1.91.
Kluft got back into the race with a personal best of 15.02 meters in the shot put, while Barber only managed her season's best of 13.20.
Roared on by the Nordic crowd at the 40,000-capacity Olympic Stadium, Kluft's time of 23.70 seconds in the 200m edged Barber's by .31, bringing both close together ahead of Sunday's three events.
Even though Tatyana Lebedeva qualified for the final of the triple jump, the Russian forfeited two attempts after a mediocre opening jump of 14.15 and scraped through as the 10th of 12 qualifiers.
Lebedeva is still unbeaten in Golden League meets, but a tender Achilles at the Oslo meet last week has cast doubt on her fitness. She is going for a third straight title.
"I have a slight problem in my foot so I wanted to use as little energy as possible to be fit for the final," Lebedeva said.
Compatriot and Olympic high jump champion Yelena Slesarenko pulled out of the high jump ahead of qualifying because of an injured left ankle.
In the triple jump, Olympic champion Francoise Mbango Etone also pulled out at the last moment, capping a frustrating season.
In the 400m hurdles, defending champion Felix Sanchez cruised into the next round despite a right foot injury which has spoiled his season so far.
Nineteen-year-old Kerron Clement, who has the top time this year, was fastest in 48.98 seconds.
On a cool blustery night, Dibaba suddenly cut through a drizzle over the last lap to leave everybody but her two compatriots standing.
If Kenenisa Bekele, another Ethiopian, owns men's long distance, Dibaba could quickly do the same on the women's side.
She doubled at the world cross country championships earlier this year.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB