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Lewis Hamilton wins in Russia

to foil Ferrari renaissance

World Champion Coleman shows who’s the sprint king

Monday 30 September 2019

FROM LEFT: Michael Cherry, Wilbert London, Allyson Felix and Courtney Okolo of the USA celebrate after setting a world record in the Mixed 4x400m Relay final yesterday.

‘Neutral athlete’ Sidorova wins pole vaultFAWAD HUSSAIN THE PENINSULA

Russia’s Anzhelika Sidorova, competing as a neutral athlete at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, clinched gold medal after a thrilling women’s pole vault final yesterday.

The 28-year old from Moscow produced one of the best shows at the Khalifa International Stadium last night, leaping to a world lead of 4.95m in her last attempt to win the title.

She faced a stiff fight with Amer-ica’s Sandi Morris for a gold medal as nothing could separate the duo

until the last barrier. Both Sidorova and Morris reached the mark of 4.90 in their very first attempts before the Russian excelled to display the world leading jump.

While Morris failed to clear 4.95m in all her three attempts, Sidorova did it in her very last attempt to amuse spectators. Morris, who looked in remarkable form yes-terday, had to content with a silver medal with her season best performance.

“My first thought today, if nothing else was to have fun,” said Morris after the event.

“It showed in the way I jumped when I hit everything in my first

attempt. This exact scenario hap-pened in the reverse at the world indoor championships when Sidorova got second. I guess, she owed me one for that,” the American athlete added.

Olympic champion Katerina Ste-fanidi of Greece, who was tipped to win gold, secured bronze medal with a mark of 4.85m.

“We all came here to win but I can tell you I had so much fun even if I did not win. I am so excited to be a part of great competition where I guess six girls went over 4.80m. That is just amazing and I can be happy to come out with a medal,” said Stefanidi.

Fraser-Pryce wins gold in DohaARMSTRONG VAS THE PENINSULA

Sprint legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica yesterday won the women’s 100m title in emphatic fashion. It was her’s fourth 100m world title and eighth overall.

The ‘Pocket Rocket’ crossed the finish line in 10.71 secs – the fastest time in the world this year, sending the Jamaican supporters into a celebration mood.

European champion Dina Asher-Smith, who made history by becoming the first British woman to reach a world championship 100m final, clocked 10.83, with Marie Josee Ta Lou of Ivory Coast got the bronze in 10.90.

Earlier, United States quartet of Wilbert London, Allyson Felix, Courtney Okolo and Michael Cherry won gold in the mixed 4x400m while setting a new record, following up their world record in the heats clocked 3:09.34 to emerge on top.

The gold medallists were followed by Jamaica and Bahrain in the third place. Cherry had a big gap to close on Justyna Swięty-Ersetic of Poland on the anchor, and he did that within the first 100 yards. He continued to power through with no seriously challenging him as he approached the finish line.

Swięty-Ersetic still held second with 120m to run, but Jamaica’s Javon Francis had a burst left, kicking down the straight to claim silver.

Abbas Abbas also moved clear of Swięty-Ersetic with 50m to go, holding the position to claim bronze for Bahrain. Poland finished fifth, Belgium sixth and India seventh.

For Felix of USA, it was her 12th World Cham-pionship title and the American now has one more than Usain Bolt A small slice of athletics history was made on Saturday with the mixed 4x400-metre relay makes its competitive debut at the Championships with two men and two women per nation combine competing in the track ath-letics’ first mixed-gender event.

Meanwhile, the Indian quartet of Muhammed Anas, V.K. Vismaya, Jisna Mathew and Noah Nirmal Tom, who clocked a season-best 3:16.14s to finish third in the semi-final, earned India a Tokyo Olympics berth given to the top eight fin-ishers of the mixed relay.

Felix overcomes Bolt as USA rewrite record books Taylor marks hat-trick of triple jump world titlesFAWAD HUSSAIN THE PENINUSLA

American star Christian Taylor bagged his third straight men’s triple jump title at the IAAF World Athletics Championships after bouncing back from a shaky start at the Khalifa Inter-national Stadium yesterday.

Taylor, who has won the last two Olympic titles, fouled in the first two rounds and was on the brink of exiting the competition before he produced his season best performance of 17.92m to win his fourth overall world title.

“It is a great feeling,” Taylor said after winning the title.

“It is very good to be here and competing at the World Champion-ships. I am very happy to win another world title,” he added.

Taylor’s compatriot Will Claye, who has a world leading jump of 18.14, finished with a silver medal after a jump of 17.74. Claye has won Olympic silver behind Taylor at London 2012 and Rio 2016, and world silver behind him in London before falling short against him in Doha.

It was a tough contest as for the first time four men went beyond 17.60m in the competition, with Burkinabé ‘s Hugues Fabrice Zango’s (17.66m), clinching the bronze medal.

Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce celebrates after winning the women’s 100m final at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, yesterday. RIGHT: Fraser-Pryce holds her son Zyon after the race.

1 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM) 10.71 WL2 Dina Asher-Smith (GBR) 10.83 NR3 Marie-Josée Ta Lou (CIV) 10.904 Elaine Thompson (JAM) 10.935 Murielle Ahouré (CIV) 11.02 Sb6 Jonielle Smith (JAM) 11.067 Teahna Daniels (USA) 11.19W

OM

EN

'S

100 M

ETR

ES

FIN

AL

02 MONDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2019SPORT

AIU applauds QADC’s commitment towards sports integrityARMSTRONG VAS THE PENINSULA

The CEO of Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) Brett Clothier yesterday applauded the good work of the Qatar Anti-doping Commission (QADC) in educating athletes over doping matters and sports related integrity issues at the ongoing IAAF World Cham-pionships.

“The Qatar Anti-doping Commission is doing a fan-tastic job of supporting us on the education initiatives being put forward by us at the Ath-letics Sports Integrity hub. It’s really important to build awareness for the athletes about our role and what we do and how we aim to protect the integrity of the sport and also for them to get education about matters that affect them. So it’s a really important thing that’s happening here at the World Championships and the volunteers are doing an amazing job,” said Clothier while speaking to The Peninsula.

The AIU has set up a special hub during the ongoing IAAF World Cham-pionships at the Ezdan Hotel where most of the teams are staying. A host of volunteers have been distributing booklets and explaining to the athletes the role of the AIU and educating them about doping substances and integrity issues.

“There are various pieces of reading material given out to athletes, which explains the rules that they have to comply with and their obligations as

athletes and their rights and their role to preserve those ethics some of the information concerns the role of the ARU and what we do so that they’re aware of it,” added Clothier.

Explaining the role AIU, Clothier said: “The AIU is important for the public, for the athletes for the fans and it’s so important that the things that they see happening on the track are an authentic affair and can be trusted. So without integrity sports is nothing.”

Clothier said the role of WADA and AIU are com-pletely different and there is no conflict of interest.

“WADA overseas the anti-doping standards across all sports and all countries. Our job is to enforce the

anti-doping standards and the integrity standards within the sport of athletics,” he added.

The AIU is also overseeing the drug-testing programme at the Championships.

“The IAAF World Athletics Championships is one of the greatest sports events in the world and it is AIU’s respon-sibility to ensure fair play,” AIU Chairman David Howman said.

“Transferring samples of athletes from the host nation to another World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited laboratory is a proactive measure to avoid any perception of conflict.

“Public confidence in the integrity of a sporting event is paramount and we do not want to leave any stone

unturned to ensure this is achieved for the biggest ath-letics event.”

The AIU has also launched a bet monitoring operation during Championships.

“It is the AIU’s responsi-bility to pro-actively combat all forms of corruption and ethical misconduct in ath-letics, and that includes ille-gitimate betting practices and competition manipulation related to such activities,” Howman said.

“The risk in athletics is currently low relative to some other sports, but with growth in key betting markets our activities are designed to get ahead of the curve and dis-courage unethical behaviour in our sport before it takes place,” he said.

Lyles makes successful entry, Abdelaziz marks season’s best

FAWAD HUSSAIN THE PENINSULA

Dubbed as the next big sprint star after Usain Bolt, USA’s Noah Lyles eased into the semi-finals of the men’s 200m at the IAAF World Championships living up to his favourite tag in the elite event.

With the 100m winner decided on Saturday, spot-light is now on the 200m battle among the men’s track events at the pictur-esque Khalifa International Stadium.

The next two days, which will feature semi-final and the final of the men’s 200m, promise to be action-filled as Canadian star Andre De Grasse and top Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake also advanced to the semi-final. Newly-crowned 100m champion Christian Coleman will be missed after he withdrew from the contest.

World leader Lyles, who clocked 19:50 in Lausanne last July, took 20:26 to finish second in the last heat yesterday to move into the semi-final.

“I expect from myself to keep winning as the rounds go on, trying to conserve energy and hold it off and let it lose at the finals,” said Lyles, who sported a new grey hair colour to mark his

World Championships debut.

“The new grey hair colour is my ultra instinct for fans out there,” he said.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards finished ahead of Lyles with a time of in 20.23.

“I knew it was not going to be easy with Noah Lyles in the heat. It was a narrow win and I am satisfied,” Richards said after the heat.

Returning from a show that lent him 100m bronze medal, De Grasse cruised on top in his heat with a time of 20.29, while Blake

(20.23), who missed a men’s 100m medal on Saturday, came second in heat 3. Diamond League star Alex Quinonez of Ecuador won the heat with a time of 20.08.

“From the first centim-eters, I wanted to see where I am at and wanted to go safely to the semi-final. Now it is the time to cool down and get ready for the semi-final,” said De Grasse.

Britain’s Adam Gemili won the first heat of men’s 200m, recording 20.06 fol-lowed by Turkey’s Ramil Guliyev (20.27) and Yamir

Burnet (20.37). Trinidad and Tobago’s Kyle Greaux and Canada’s Aaron Brow also won their heats.

Qatar’s 2018 Youth Olympics gold medalists Abdelaziz Mohamed marked his season best time of 20.75 before bowing out of the competition.

In the men’s 800m semi-final yesterday, Qatar’s Abubaker Haydar Abdalla failed to enter the title race after he finished last in his heat, clocking 1:46.87. The heat was won by Puerto Rican who clocked 1:43.96.

Noah Lyles of the US in action during the Men’s

200 metres heats at the Khalifa International

Stadium in Doha, yesterday.

The CEO of Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) Brett Clothier (left) and AIU Chairman David Howman during a press conference held in Doha, yesterday. PICTURES: ARMSTRONG VAS / THE PENINSULA

FROM LEFT: Qatar’s Abdelaziz Mohamed, Jamaica’s Rasheed Dwyer, Britain’s Miguel Francis and Canada’s Aaron Brown in action during the men’s 200 metres heats yesterday.

I expect from myself to keep winning as the rounds go on, trying to conserve energy and hold it off and let it lose at the finals. The new grey hair colour is my ultra instinct for fans out there: Lyles

New world record...USA’s Wilbert London passes the baton to team-mate Allyson Felix (bottom) in the Mixed 4x400m Relay final of the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships at the Khalifa International Stadium, in Doha yesterday. USA won the gold medal in world-record time, beating Jamaica and Bahrain. It was the 12th gold medal at a world championship for Felix, putting her ahead of Usain Bolt for the most ever. Eight of her golds have been in relays.

03MONDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2019 SPORT

Wales edge Wallabies to end years of Cup miseryAP TOKYO

Wales beat Australia in the Rugby World Cup for the first time in 28 years and earned the inside track for winning their pool in a pulsating 29-25 victory yesterday.

Wales lost five straight World Cup matches to the Wallabies, including a quarter-final and two pool deciders, but finally ended the streak with a clinical performance.

The Welsh led 26-8 soon after halftime and their fans broke into “How Great Thou Art,” but nobody else at Tokyo Stadium believed the outcome was set, not when these two teams in the past decade have frequently decided their contests in the dying moments.

Add another thriller to their rivalry.

Australia hit back with two converted tries and a penalty to cut Wales’ lead from 18 points to one with 12 minutes to go. Wales replied with a penalty to star replacement flyhalf Rhys Patchell in the 72nd minute. Of course, the Wallabies were far from done.

Several floodlights blew out to add to the drama, but in the faded light the Wallabies bent the Welsh defence but couldn’t break it, and a knock-on at the Welsh 22 finally ended Australia’s sterling comeback with seconds left.

It’s too early to know whether this match determines who wins Pool D, but both teams are expected to advance to the quarter-finals at the expense of Georgia, Fiji, and Uruguay.

Wales, the Six Nations champion, hit the ground running.

Wallabies captain Michael Hooper received the kickoff and was mauled over by Wales and Dan Biggar slotted a dropped goal after just 40 seconds.

The game was back and forth but not as clean again for another 13 minutes, when Wales used a scrum penalty and an advantage to get position for Biggar to crosskick to the right corner, where center Hadleigh Parkes leaped over Australia winger Marika Koroibete to score.

Biggar converted for 10-0, but Koroibete came firing back with a surge down the left touch line that twisted up the defence for Bernard Foley to crosskick to the right, where Adam Ashley-Cooper took the catch, slipped, and still had time to dive over untouched.

The tension caused Wal-labies coach Michael Cheika to stand and punch the air.

Koroibete was just warming up. Another break down the left saw him heading for the tryline until Biggar hurled himself at the winger and knocked the ball loose, but the Welsh flyhalf took a match-ending head knock.

Patchell strolled in and had an immediate impact. He kicked two penalties, and put the Aus-tralians on notice from referee Romain Poite after he appeared to be hit in the neck by Samu Kerevi, who was harshly judged after his fend hit the chest and slipped up the upright Patchell’s body. The television reviews took several minutes, and the decision left the Australian players confused.

Australia restarted 16-8 down and was stunned by Wales when scrumhalf Gareth Davies, who’d already picked off opposite Will Genia once, came out of nowhere to intercept him again and ran 60 meters to the line. Patchell’s conversion gave Wales 10 points in two minutes, and a remarkable 23-8 lead at halftime.

Cheika sent in Toomua for

Foley, and Nic White soon after for Genia, and the replacements gave the team a pronounced, and more accurate, lift.

But Patchell had a dropped goal in him for 26-8, drawing Welsh fans into song.

The Wallabies started to get on song with Toomua and David Pocock setting up a try for fullback Dane Haylett-Petty, then the forwards going tight and

scoring through Hooper from their third consecutive lineout maul. Toomua converted both and landed a penalty to trail only 26-25, and yet another grand-stand finish was on.

But it was Wales which scored next after George North knocked-on while jumping over Kurtley Beale in the in goal.

Patchell landed his third penalty goal to give Wales a little

breathing room, only for Aus-tralia to suck the air out of the stadium with another attack reaching the Wales quarter.

But Kerevi lost the ball in contact, and Wales had consec-utive wins over Australia for the first time since 1975.

Two-time champion Aus-tralia, meanwhile, lost only its third pool game in Rugby World Cup history.

Wales’ lock Alun Wyn Jones (center) is tackled by Australia’s lock Rory Arnold during their 2019 Rugby World Cup, Pool D match at the Tokyo Stadium in Tokyo yesterday.

Wales to celebrate ‘tough game’ over AustraliaAFP TOKYO

Warren Gatland said his team would deservedly go out and celebrate their nail-biting 29-25 World Cup victory over Australia yesterday before immediately refocusing on two more victories to top Pool D.

Wales raced out to a 23-8 half-time lead in Tokyo before holding off a spirited Wallaby comeback that took the game to the final whistle, as recent tra-dition dictates in meetings between the two countries.

Gatland dubbed the victory a real confidence-booster ahead of their final pool matches against Fiji and Uruguay.

“I’d like to see them cele-brate tonight, they deserve to celebrate, it was a tough game and a great win,” said Gatland.

“But we’ve only won two games in our group at the moment. We have to make sure we do a job for the other games as well.”

Fiji dominated the Wallabies early on before going down 39-21 in their opening game, but then suffered a shock 30-27 defeat by Uruguay in their last pool match.

“We can’t take anyone lightly in this group,” stressed Gatland.

“We’ve got to play well in these next two matches. Fiji will be hurting. We saw how well they played against Australia in that first half.”

Uruguay earlier yesterday went down 33-7 to Georgia, whom Wales saw off 43-14 in their opener.

“We’ll make sure we’ve pre-pared the best possible way we can, don’t take any performance for granted and try to be as clinical as we can,” Gatland said.

Turning to the match at

Tokyo, the Kiwi coach called it “one of toughest Test matches they’ve played in a long, long time”.

“We played pretty well in the first half, but Australia were really good in the second half, put us under a lot of pressure and had a lot of ball.

“It became a typical Wales-Australia clash going right down to the wire!

“To win that is very pleasing and that means the pool is our own destiny.”

Gatland praised fly-half Dan Biggar, who opened the scoring with a snap drop-goal after just 37 seconds, and his replacement Rhys Patchell, who scored 14 crucial points.

“Game management has improved significantly,” he said.

“It was good in the autumn last year and particularly in the Six Nations and we’ve learnt a lot from those experiences,” he said.

“Even though we were under a lot of pressure in that second-half, I thought our composure and fitness were really good and we soaked up a lot of pressure,” he said.

Gatland confirmed that Biggar failed a head injury assessment after a potentially try-saving tackle on Samu Kerevi into touch and will have to go through the protocols in the coming week before a possible return to the pitch.

Fullback Liam Williams also rolled his ankle, but the problem doesn’t look serious, Gatland added.

Australia’s hooker Silatolu Latu (left) is tackled by Wales’ flanker Justin Tipuric during the 2019 Rugby World Cup match at the Tokyo Stadium in Tokyo yesterday.

Georgia back on track with win; Uruguay back to earthAP KUMAGAYA

Jaba Bregvadze gave Georgian and Japanese fans a bonus cheer when he scored a try and set up another with a chip kick to lead his lineup to a 33-7 victory over Uruguay in a Rugby World Cup Pool D game yesterday.

Uruguay was coming off an upset win over Fiji on Wednesday and didn’t have the energy to match the physical Georgian line-up, which was over-hauled after an opening loss to Wales.

The 32-year-old Bregvadze, who plays for the Japan-based Sunwolves in Super Rugby and was leading his national team for the first time, secured a bonus point with Georgia’s fourth try when he dived across from a rolling maul in the 52nd minute.

Georgia had nothing going on in attack six minutes later when the veteran hooker, standing out from a ruck, decided to chip ahead and then pinned Uruguayan Rodrigo Silva on the tryline, allowing center Giorgi Kveseladze the easiest of tries.

From 12-7 up at halftime, Georgia added three further tries before the hour mark for a team record five tries in a World Cup game..

The Georgians will have to regroup quickly for a crucial game against Fiji on Thursday, while Uruguay gets an extra two days off before taking on two-time champion Australia.

Bregvadze said the aim for his team yesterday was “not to make ourselves proud, but more to make all Georgians proud and all Georgians back at home more interested.”

Now for the next challenge: a Fiji team des-perate to rebound from its shocking 30-27 loss to Uruguay.

“We’ll forget this win and prepare for the next game,” Bregvadze said. “The job is not done.”

Uruguay finished a man down after replacement prop Facundo Gattas was red-carded for a high tackle with two minutes to go.

Skipper Juan Manuel Gaminara said the short turnaround after the Fiji win wasn’t to blame for the comedown.

“We knew it was going to be like that since we qualified,” he said. “I congratulate Georgia. They played a really intelligent game.”

Georgia scored tries through left winger Alex-ander Todua and No. 8 Otari Giorgadze in the first half hour and appeared to be on the verge of taking control of the game before Uruguay rallied with a try against the run of play in the 33rd.

Georgia’s back row Mamuka Gorgodze (right) reacts with team-mate Zura Dzneladze during their 2019 Rugby World Cup, Pool D match against Uruguay at the Kumagaya Rugby Stadium in Kumagaya yesterday.

04 MONDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2019SPORT 05MONDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2019 SPORT

Women’s

hammer

throw gold

medalist

DeAnna

Price of the

US during

the medal

ceremony.

Gold medallist Japan’s Yusuke

Suzuki poses on the podium

during the medal ceremony

for the Men’s 50km Race Walk

yesterday.

Athletes compete in the Men’s 50km Race

Walk final at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics

Championships.

USA’s Christian Coleman reacts after

winning the men’s 100m final at IAAF

World Athletics Championships on

Saturday night.

Women’s 10,000 metres gold medallist Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan during the medal

ceremony.

India’s Jisna Mathew (right)

hands the baton to Noah

Nirmel Tom in the Mixed 4

x 400m Relay heats at the

2019 IAAF World Athletics

Championships at the Khalifa

International Stadium in Doha

yesterday.

Germany’s Lisa Ryzih

competes in the women’s

pole vault final yesterday.

China’s Rui Liang crosses the

line to win gold in Women’s 50

Kilometres Race Walk .

Puerto Rico’s Wesley Vazquez in action with Qatar’s

Abubaker Haydar Abdalla during the men’s 800 metres

semi-finals yesterday.

esterday.

Britain’s Holly

Bradshaw reacts

during the women's

pole vault final.

Sandi Morris of

the US reacts

in the women’s

pole vault final.

New champion Gayle can go on to break long jump world record, coach says

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REUTERS/DOHA

Tajay Gayle, Jamaica’s first world long-jump champion, can go on to

break the world record, his coach Stephen Francis said yesterday.

“That is the aim,” Francis told Reuters from the training track at the

Khalifa Stadium, a day after Gayle jumped a personal best of 8.69 metres

to beat favourite Juan Miguel Echevarria of Cuba to the gold medal in

Doha.

Francis said he believed Gayle could eventually beat American Mike

Powell’s world record of 8.95m which has stood since 1991.

“He was 23 this year and he has only been with us (MVP Track and

Field Club) for four years so, given the lifespan of the athletes who we

normally have, barring injuries and bad luck and him being able to cope

with all that this (gold medal) will bring and to focus, I think he’ll go a lot

further in the near future,” he said.

“The IAAF table, which normalises performances across all the events,

says that his jump yesterday is better than 9.77 seconds in the 100m and

slightly less given the wind,” added Francis, who coached Shelly-Ann Fra-

ser-Pryce to three World and two Olympic 100m titles and Elaine

Thompson to the Olympic sprint double at Rio 2016.

“It was one hundredth less, one point less, than 9.76 which (gold

medallist Christian) Coleman ran.

“So therefore he’s on the level of Coleman which says it all. He has

propelled himself into the stratosphere and I expect him to go even fur-

ther, maybe to the moon who knows?

“Obviously it is quite satisfying that he went further than I had

expected him to go. I expected him to go 8.5m or thereabouts and it’s a

tribute to his ability to concentrate and ignore the pressure and to exe-

cute to get as far as he did with the (all-time) 10th furthest jump in the

World,” Francis added.

Gayle paid tribute to Francis, who also coached former world-record

holder Asafa Powell in the sprint and Jamaican-born high jumper Ger-

maine Mason who won silver for Britain at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“It’s a dream come true and I’m very, very grateful for this,” Gayle

told Reuters on Saturday. “(Credit) to Stephen Francis, who is my very

motivational coach.”

FROM LEFT: Italy’s

Filippo Tortu, USA’s

Justin Gatlin, USA’s

Christian Coleman,

South Africa’s Akani

Simbine, de Canada’s

Andre De Grasse,

Britain’s Zharnel

Hughes, Jamaica’s

Yohan Blake and

Canada’s Aaron Brown

compete in the men’s

100m final at the 2019

IAAF World Athletics

Championships at the

Khalifa International

Stadium in Doha on

Saturday night.

Jamaica’s Tajay Gayle

competes in the Men’s

Long Jump final at the

2019 IAAF World Athletics

Championships at the

Khalifa International

stadium in Doha.

06 MONDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2019SPORT

Mercedes’ British

driver Lewis Hamilton

during the Russian Grand Prix yesterday.

Hamilton wins in Russia to foil Ferrari renaissanceAFP SOCHI

Lewis Hamilton extended his world championship lead to 73 points yesterday when he rode his luck to claim a strategic victory for Mercedes in a roller-coaster Russian Grand Prix.

The defending five-time champion came home 3.829 seconds ahead of team-mate and nearest championship rival Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes took advantage of Ferrari’s reliability and tactical problems by delivering a Silver Arrows one-two.

Having grabbed the lead from pole man Charles Leclerc on the opening lap, Sebastian Vettel ignored team orders to let him pass before he suffered a mechanical failure and stopped on lap 28.

The resultant Safety Car period gifted Mercedes, who started on medium tyres while their rivals all used softs, a chance to extend their Sochi supremacy to six consecutive wins.

Leclerc came home a frustrated and disgruntled third, claiming he expected Vettel to repay him for his slip-stream in a race punctuated by two Safety Car interventions and one use of the Virtual Safety Car.

Hamilton’s win was his first since the Hungarian Grand Prix on August 4, his ninth in 16 outings this year and the 82nd of his career, lifting him 73 points clear at the top of the drivers’ title race. He scored an additional point for fastest lap.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fin-ished fourth, having started ninth, ahead of team-mate Alex Albon, who had started from the pit lane.

Carlos Sainz was sixth for McLaren ahead of Sergio Perez of Racing Point, Kevin Magnussen of Haas, Lando Norris in the second

McLaren and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg.

“That’s exactly what we needed,” exclaimed a delighted Hamilton on the team radio following a flawless strategic per-formance by Mercedes. “It was an incredible job by all the team - not giving up. Keeping up with Ferrari was a hard task, but we kept pushing.”

Leclerc remained poised, despite his disappointment.

“At least we are consistent,” he said. “It’s a shame for the team not to have both of us up here... I will always trust the team, but our tactic was for me to give the slipstream, which I did - and then, well I need to speak to the team about that.”

Leclerc had made a clean start, but behind him Vettel enjoyed a superb launch from third to pass Hamilton by the first corner and, after slip-streaming the Monegasque, taking the lead.

Before the order settled, Ricciardo collided with Grosjean at Turn Four sending the Haas driver spinning into the barriers. A Safety Car was deployed and Grosjean retired.

“We are looking into the swap further into the race,” Ferrari told Leclerc, running second, suggesting they had agreed to repay him for punching through the air for his team-mate.

This was confirmed when Leclerc was told ‘Sebastian will let you by next lap’ - an order not welcomed by Vettel

as he stayed in front by 1.4 seconds with Hamilton adrift in third.

Vettel said Leclerc, beaten in Sin-gapore by a strategy decision in Vet-tel’s favour, needed to close up.

“I respected everything,” answered Leclerc.

“We will speak later, but now it is difficult to close the gap. Obviously.”

A revitalised Vettel was 3.6 seconds clear by lap 16 as Leclerc held off Hamilton until the team freed him to attack before he pitted for mediums on lap 23, Hamilton taking second.

The Ferrari re-joined fourth behind Bottas. Within two laps, Vettel said ‘my rears are falling now’, but Ferrari left him out until lap 27 when, with a three-seconds stop, he was half a second slower than Leclerc and re-joined behind him in fourth.

Vettel’s race ended seconds later when a power failure saw him stop

at Turn 15. A Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed and, immediately, Hamilton pitted for softs followed by Bottas.

Leclerc took second before Wil-liams’ George Russell crashed, prompting a full Safety Car intervention.

A luckless Vettel vented his frus-tration on the team radio as he climbed from his car.

Hamilton’s elevation to leader gave him a record as leader of 143 Grands Prix, one more than Michael Schumacher.

Ferrari then called in Leclerc for a set of scrubbed softs.

He re-joined third behind Bottas as the field compressed for a 21-lap sprint to the flag. On the re-start, Hamilton pulled two seconds clear, leaving Bottas to resist Leclerc’s superior straight-line speed with a battling display.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton celebrates with a trophy

on the podium after winning the Russian Grand Prix yesterday.

Formula One: Russian Grand Prix Results

1. (2) Lewis Hamilton, Great Britain, Mer-cedes, 53 laps, 1:38.277, 26 points.

2. (4) Valtteri Bottas, Finland, Mercedes, 53, +03.829 seconds, 18.

3. (1) Charles Leclerc, Monaco, Ferrari, 53, +05.212, 15.

4. (9) Max Verstappen, Netherlands, Red Bull Racing Honda, 53, +14.210, 12.

5. (20) Alexander Albon, Thailand, Red Bull Racing Honda, 53, +38.348, 10.

6. (5) Carlos Sainz Jr, Spain, McLaren Renault, 53, +45.889, 8.

7. (11) Sergio Perez, Mexico, Racing Point BWT Mercedes, 53, +48.728, 6.

8. (7) Lando Norris, Great Britain, McLaren Renault, 53, +57.749, 4.

9. (13) Kevin Magnussen, Denmark, Haas Ferrari, 53, +58.779, 2.

10. (6) Nico Hulkenberg, Germany, Renault, 53, +59.841, 1.

11. (14) Lance Stroll, Canada, Racing Point BWT Mercedes, 53, +1:00.821.

12. (19) Daniil Kvyat, Russia, Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda, 53, +1:02.496.

13. (15) Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari, 53, +1:08.910.

14. (16) Pierre Gasly, France, Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda, 53, +1:10.076.

15. (12) Antonio Giovinazzi, Italy, Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari, 53, +1:13.346.

16. (18) Robert Kubica, Poland, Williams Mer-cedes, did not finish, 28.

17. (17) George Russell, Great Britain, Wil-liams Mercedes, did not finish, 27.

18. (3) Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Ferrari, did not finish, 26.

19. (10) Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, Renault, did not finish, 24.

20. (8) Romain Grosjean, France, Haas Ferrari, did not finish.

Driver Standings (top five):1. L Hamilton, Britain, Mercedes, 296 points.2. Valtteri Bottas, Finland, Mercedes, 231.3. Charles Leclerc, Monaco, Ferrari, 200.4. Max Verstappen, Netherlands, Red Bull

Racing Honda, 200.5. Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Ferrari, 194.Manufacturers Standings (top five)1. Mercedes, 527.2. Ferrari, 394.3. Red Bull Racing Honda, 289.4. McLaren Renault, 89.5. Renault, 67.

Beach handball to take center stage at ANOC GamesTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Despite being one of the “new comers” to the world stage, beach handball is rapidly gaining traction globally and the sport will be one of the major centerpieces as the maiden edition of the ANOC World Beach Games, also known as Qatar 2019, which will kick off on October 12, in Doha.

Beach handball, whose first major inter-national competition, the Beach Handball World Championships, was held as recent as 2004, is one of the major team sports of Qatar 2019.

At the draw ceremony held in August, hosts Qatar were drawn in Group B of the men’s competition, alongside Croatia, Hungary, Spain, Uruguay and Tunisia while Group A threw up Brazil, Sweden, Denmark, Oman, United States and Australia as con-testants. For the women’s event, the draw placed Brazil, Denmark, Hungary, Argentina, USA and Tunisia in Group A, while Group B comprises Greece, Spain, Poland, China, Aus-tralia and Vietnam.

Beach handball, which made its first Olympic appearance at the Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games, traces its history back to a small island in Ponza in the southern Italian region where it began to emerge as an interesting sport on the beaches

of the region towards the end of the 1980s. The Italian coach Simonetta Montagni was the first to begin developing handball on the beach at about the same time as the players in the Netherlands began experimenting with the new trend sport.

In July 1992, Giovanni Buttareli and Franco Schiano, the president of the Italian Handball Federation, presented the idea of a new type of beach handball.

Later that same year, Giovanni Buttarelli and Schiano Franco also established the “Comitato organizzatore Pantai Bola Tangan (COHb)” in Italy, which was the first organized association around the world rep-resenting beach handball. In May 1994, beach handball was officially recognized by the International Handball Federation (IHF).

Egypt emerged the first world champions of the sport after defeating Turkey 2-1 on home-soil at the inaugural edition of the World Championships staged in El Gouna in 2004.

In Asia, the sport made its maiden appearance on the continental level at the 2008 Asian Beach Games in Bali where the men’s event was won by Pakistan, with Kuwait and Thailand taking the silver and bronze medals respectively. For the women’s event, China nicked the gold while silver and bronze went to Thailand and Chinese Taipei respectively.

For Team Qatar, the horizon looks good for the men’s team, and Qatar 2019 is yet another opportunity for them to once again prove their mettle as the undisputed “Kings of Asia” having being the dominant force in Asia and one of the top teams in the world.

The team have finished third twice at the IHF World Men’s Beach Handball Champi-onship (2014 World Beach Championships in Brazil and the 2016 World Beach Cham-pionships in Hungary). The team also fin-ished third at the 2017 World Games held in Wrocław, Poland.

In Asia, the team have won the Asian Men’s Beach Handball Championship a record five times. The Qatari beach handball team clinched the first of their series of tro-phies at the Championships with the defeat of host country Oman in 2011 at the Muscat tournament.

They again defeated now familiar foe Oman at the Hong Kong tournament in 2013 to lift their second trophy before repeating same feat against the same opponent in 2015, 2017 and 2019 at tournaments hosted by Muscat, Pattaya (Indonesia) and Weihai (China) respectively.

Beach handball is one of the 14 sports featuring at the ANOC World Beach Games to be held from October 12 to 16 in Doha. All matches of the sport will be played at the Al Gharafa Stadium.

07MONDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2019 SPORT

Winning shoe at 1956 Games joins IAAF heritage collectionIAAF DOHA

The members of the IAAF Council and the IOC Board led by their respective Presidents, Sebastian Coe and Thomas Bach, visited the IAAF Heritage World Athletics Championships Exhibition in Doha.

The focus of the official visit was the long-term loan to the IAAF Heritage Collection of the spikes (right shoe), which Brazil’s Adhemar Ferreira da Silva wore when winning the 1956 Olympic Games triple jump title in Mel-bourne, Australia. Fittingly, the left shoe rests in The National Sports Museum at the Melbourne Cricket Ground where those Games took place.

Da Silva, who had previously won the triple jump gold medal four years earlier at the Olympic Games in Helsinki, was a five-time world record holder and is widely recognised as South America’s greatest ever track and field athlete.

The spike shoe was presented to Sebastian Coe by its owners Wilfred and Rosemary Mula, who are close friends of the Da Silva’s family.

IAAF President Coe said: “It was good to step back in history

today accompanied by Thomas (Bach) and athletics legends Lasse (Viren), Sergey (Bubka), Gail (Devers) and Nawal (el Mouta-wakel), all of whom are featured in the exhibits and displays of our World Athletics Heritage Exhibition.”

The shoe joins Da Silva’s 1952 & 1956 Olympic uniforms and gold medals which are already on display in the Heritage Exhi-bition, thanks to a loan from the collection of Roberto Gesta De Melo.

“The exhibition is very inspiring with so many heroes of athletics brought to life,” Bach said. “For me it brings back so many great memories because it allowed me to relive all the amazing world championships that I attended. And it was great to see my Olympic hero Wilma

Rudolph represented, she was the athlete who first inspired my love of the Olympic Games.”

The men’s triple jump is well represented in the exhibition. One of the 1995 (current) world record bib numbers of Jonathan Edwards, the 2003 World Cham-pionships kit of Christian Olsson and a pair of bespoke spikes from three-time world and two-time Olympic champion Christian Taylor are among the artefacts on display in Doha.

The IAAF Heritage World Athletics Championships Exhi-bition, whose six-month display was inaugurated on April 18, 2019 by Coe, is open from 10am to 10pm every day (until midnight on Thursday, Friday and Saturday) and closes on October 7. The exhi-bition is located on the third floor of the City Center Doha.

Shoe worn by Adhemar Ferreira da Silva at the 1956 Olympics. PICTURE: IAAF

IAAF and Mondo renew partnership

IAAF DOHA

As the World Athletics Championships unfold in Doha, MONDO and the IAAF are already looking to the future, announcing today that their partnership, which began in 1987, will continue until 2024.

MONDO S P A has renewed its contract as official IAAF World Athletics Series supplier in the ‘Athletics equipment and athletics tracks’ category for another five years.

The agreement signed today between IAAF and MONDO illustrates again the central position the Italian company has in the world of athletics. MONDO will provide sports surfaces for all World Athletics Series (WAS) events, including supplying the tracks and ath-letics equipment for the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in 2021 and Budapest in 2023, as well as for the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing next year.

“Our goal is simple: we want to help athletes to improve and achieve their personal best. We are ded-icated to ensuring that every athlete can improve their results and their performance, even if only by a tenth of a second. This is why we listen to athletes and coaches and are constantly working on optimising our products – to help sportsmen and women everywhere achieve success,” said Maurizio Stroppiana, MONDO Sport & Flooring Director.

Sebastian Coe, the President of the IAAF, added: “We have always been impressed by MONDO’s company-wide commitment to helping athletes achieve their per-sonal best and maximise their performance. The IAAF is grateful for MONDO’s long-term commitment to ath-letics and enthusiastically welcomes its decision to con-tinue our partnership for many years to come.”

MONDO created a unique pink track at Khalifa Inter-national Stadium for the championships in Doha, sup-plying 17,000m2 of its premium MONDOTRACK WS, and is currently installing the athletics tracks for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Track and field memorabilia on display at the IAAF Heritage Exhibition at the City Centre Doha.

Alonso breaks rookiehome run recordAFP LOS ANGELES

Pete Alonso broke Major League Baseball’s single-season rookie home-run record on Saturday, when the New York slugger hit a solo blast in the Mets’ 3-0 win over the Atlanta Braves.

Alonso’s milestone 53rd homer came in the third inning on a 2-1 pitch from Mike Foltynewicz. Alonso’s blast broke a tie with Aaron Judge who set the mark of 52 two years ago.

Alonso dropped his bat, walked a few steps up the baseline and then raised his arms before rounding the bases and then celebrating with his teammates. Robinson Cano was the first player to greet Alonso, who raised his arms before being engulfed in hugs.

Rene Rivera hit a two-run homer earlier in the inning for the Mets, who have won the first two games of the season-ending three-game set.

Verlander makes history as Astros clinch home fieldAP ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA

Justin Verlander recorded two strikeout milestones, getting his 3,000th in the majors and career-high 300th of the season, and the Houston Astros clinched home-field advantage throughout the postseason with a 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night.

Jose Altuve and Josh Reddick homered to back Verlander (21-6), who became the 18th pitcher to reach 3,000 career punchouts and the 19th since 1900 to reach 300 in a season.

The right-hander came into the game with 2,994 strikeouts. He achieved the career milestone in the fourth inning when he got Kole Calhoun swinging at a slider. Calhoun reached first, though, on a wild pitch, and Andrelton Simmons then gave Los Angeles a 3-0 lead with a two-run homer to left-center. Brian Goodwin supplied the first run in the second when he lined Verlander’s curveball over the wall in right-center.

According to Baseball-Reference and Retro-sheet, that’s the first time a pitcher has recorded his 3,000th strikeout on a wild pitch.

Verlander - who struck out 12 in six innings while allowing three runs and four hits - reached 300 in a season for the first time when he got Calhoun on a foul tip in the sixth.

Verlander and teammate Gerrit Cole are the first teammates to record at least 300 strikeouts in the same season since Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2002. Cole has 316 this year.

It was Verlander’s sixth game this season and fourth since the All-Star break with 12 or more strikeouts.

Houston rallied with a five-run sixth. Altuve brought the Astros within a run with a two-run shot to left-center off starter José Suarez. Alex Bregman walked and Aledmys Diaz was hit by a pitch from Luke Bard (3-3) before Reddick sent a slider over the right field wall to put Houston on top.

Altuve, who had three hits and drove in three runs, doubled to drive in Kyle Tucker in the seventh to extend Houston’s lead to three runs. Roberto Osuna worked the ninth for his 38th save.

The Astros are only one game in front of the Dodgers but clinched home field by virtue of having a better intra-divisional record. Houston beat the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series to claim its first championship, winning Game 7 on the road.

Houston will face either Tampa Bay or Oakland, who play on Wednesday night in the AL wild-card game, starting Friday in the Division Series. The Yankees and Minnesota will meet in the other ALDS, which starts the same day.

The scoreboard at Citi Field displays a congratulatory message to New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso on saturday.

Houston Astros starting pitcher

Justin Verlander pitches during

the fourth inning against the Los

Angeles Angels on Saturday.

Woods cleared to resume practice AFP MIAMI

Reigning Masters champion Tiger Woods has recovered well enough from his fifth career left knee surgery to resume full practices, with the 15-time major winner set to resume competition next month in Japan.

The 43-year-old American, who won his first major title since the 2008 US Open last April at Augusta National, underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee last month.

Woods, speaking on ABC’s Good Morning America earlier this week, said he had “got the clearance last week to start full practice” and had already played nine holes.

Woods said the knee was “sore” after the practice round but he is excited for the chance to return to playing shape.

The next event for Woods will be “The Challenge: Japan Skins” alongside Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama and Jason Day on October 21 before he plays at the US PGA’s inaugural Zozo Championship October 24-17 at Chiba, Japan.

Champ takes Safeway Open lead AFP SAN FRANCISCO

American Cameron Champ, who is playing this week with a heavy heart, fired a bogey-free five-under 67 to seize a three shot lead after the third round of the PGA Tour’s Safeway Open.

Champ rolled in five birdies on Saturday as he seeks his second title on the US Tour after winning the Sanderson Farms Champi-onship last year.

He has a 14-under 202 total at the Silverado Country Club course in Napa, California.

“I am executing

everything,” Champ said. “I am not making the little mistakes I was before.

Champ is three strokes ahead of last week’s Sand-erson Farms winner Sebastian Munoz (67) and Adam Hadwin (67) and Nick Taylor (70).

Former PGA Champi-onship winner Justin Thomas is a stroke further back following his one-under 71.

Champ’s grandfather, Mack, is in hospice battling stomach cancer. The family has been dividing their time between the hospital in Sac-ramento and the nearby Napa golf course. Defending

champion Kevin Tway missed the cut by just one shot after ending second round with a bogey on No. 18.

Phil Mickelson also fell below the cutline in his season debut with a 69 on Friday.

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo saw his bid to make a PGA cut fall apart on the front nine on Friday. Romo, playing the tournament on a sponsor’s exemption, made bogeys on six of his first nine holes. Romo, who shot a two-under-par 70 on Thursday, finished his Friday round at six-over 78.

Cameron Champ hits out of a bunker on the 18th hole during the third round of the Safeway Open in Napa, California, on Saturday.

Suzuki, Liang clinch race walk golds at Corniche

SPORT 08MONDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2019

Honestly I try not to think too much about the championship.

One race at a time and one step at a time...one foot in front of the other. We don’t want to stumble.

World ChampionLewis Hamiltonafter winning the Russian Grand Prix.

CHINTHANA WASALA THE PENINSULA

Yusuke Suzuki became the first Japanese race walker to win a world title while China’s Rui Liang took the gold at the flood-lit Doha Corniche on the second day of the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Cham-pionships yesterday.

Suzuki escaped from the pack in the early stages of the race and went on to build the lead, remaining almost unchallenged until the end as he crossed the finish line in 4 hours, 4 minutes and 20 seconds.

“It was very hot today and I am very happy to win this tough race. After the finish, it took me some time to recover because of dehydration and I also got cramps,” Suzuki said after his win yesterday.

Veteran Portuguese athlete Joao Vieira, 43, made history by becoming oldest medallist ever in the history of the Worlds, finishing

second behind Suzuki. Evan Dunfee took bronze and became Canada’s first ever medallist in the 50km race walk.

Suzuki made an unconven-tional move early on, slipping away into the lead after just a couple of minutes while most of the field deciding to take it easy in the midst of humid conditions.

Suzuki kept extending the lead with each lap. With most of the rest hesitating to challenge, it was the defending champion Yohann Diniz who decided to fight for his title. The Frenchman caught up with Suzuki at 10km, but failed to keep up with Suzuki’s pace and dropped out of the race over the course of the next few rounds.

Olympic champion Matej Toth and Mexico’s Isaac Palma were among those who tried to pursue Suzuki during the first half but no one was able to match the calm and focused Japanese.

The most significant moves of the race came on the final lap as

Vieira overtook China’s Niu Wenbin to move into second place. Then Dunfee went past the Chinese race walker before Suzuki celebrated his country’s first medal in Doha.

The women’s category, run concurrently with the men’s event at the same venue which hosted the historic maiden midnight

marathon the day before, saw Chinese stars winning the top two spots on the podium.

Liang, 25, a former world record-holder, won China’s first gold medal in Doha in 4 hours, 23 minutes and 26 seconds. Liang’s compatriot Li Maocuo took the silver after finishing the event three minutes later. Italy’s European record-holder Eleonora Giorgi took the bronze medal in 4 hours, 29 minutes and 13 seconds.

The winners in Doha will only have one more chance to defend their title as the IAAF’s race walking committee has decided to scrap from the World Champi-onships by 2023.

Accordingly, the 20k and 50k events will be replaced with 10k and 30k respectively, with the 2023 World Championships in Budapest the first major event to be affected.

World Champion Coleman shows who’s the sprint king

RIZWAN REHMAT THE PENINSULA

American sprinter Christian Coleman on Saturday night silenced his critics with a sublime

performance that got him the world’s leading time this season.

The 23-year-old Atlanta-born clocked the sixth fastest time ever to become

the 2019 World Champion in a time of 9.76 seconds in an air-condi-

tioned Khalifa International Stadium.

Only Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay have run faster than Coleman in the history of IAAF World Athletics Championships. At Berlin 2009 championships, Bolt clocked the world record time of 9.58 seconds ahead of the fastest loser Gay who posted 9.71.

On a cool evening in Doha, Coleman pro-

duced an explosive start and once he p a s s e d t h e 30-meter mark,

there was no stopping the American

who beat 2017 World Champion Justin Gatlin (9.89secs) and Andre De Grasse (9.90secs) to the finish.

“To add my name to the list of the legendary guys who’ve come before me is an honour and a blessing. It’s a great feeling, too good to be true. To make it here and come out with gold is incredible,” Coleman said after the race.

“From the start (of the race), I got up on top of everybody. I knew that if I was being patient, the end would take care of itself,” he added.

Coleman arrived in Doha on the back of a major concern about his whereabouts between June 6, 2018 and April 26, 2019, having missed three doping tests over a period of 12 months. According to rules, three missed tests within a year can bring about an anti-doping violation.

The American dismissed all the media concern showing him in bad light and raced to a win that probably saw that last of Gatlin at the worlds.

“Justin Gatlin is a great guy and a great competitor. He’s always been there. I remember watching him back in 2004 when I was eight years old and to think all these years later I could come and win gold too is a great feeling,” Coleman said.

“At the end all my worries just evaporated out

there. It was a crazy feeling. Last time it was a sur-prise when I won silver but this time there was a lot of pressure, but I managed to come out with gold,” he added.

“I’ve just got to continue doing my job and more and more people will see the beauty in the sport that I see,” Coleman said.

Gatlin, who won the 2017 worlds ahead of Coleman and Bolt in London, said he will be back next year.

“Christian has had a spectacular season and I knew he’d be tough to beat. He ran a great race, but I have a message for next year - I’m coming,” Gatlin said. “He’d better be ready. To get another world medal feels amazing. This season has had a lot of ups and downs. But running this time this late in the season makes me excited for next year,” the 37-year-old added.

Canada’s De Grasse was pleased to be on the podium, posting a personal best.

“I am grateful to get myself back on the podium. I thought I could do a little bit better, but I can’t dwell too much as I have to get ready for the 200m tomorrow,” De Grasse said.

“A lot of us (Canadians) have a chance to medal here, definitely Aaron (Brown) in the 200m, Alysha (Newman) in the Pole Vault and Damian Warner in the decathlon. In the last couple of years, I have been trying to keep my mind positive and telling myself that I can come back and be back where I was and even better.

“Definitely today was a good sign. I had a per-sonal best. I will take it and I am sure it will be a great year for me in the 100m,” he added.

South Africa’s Akani Simbine, who was placed fourth, said: “It is always a blessing to represent your country at the world stage. We will come back stronger and fight harder to get on the podium.”

He added: “Today, we showed that we can rep-resent South Africa well on the international stage. It’s great to be able to be in a position to inspire the kids and the upcoming generations to keep believing that no matter where you are from or what the cir-cumstances are, you can become greater.”

To add my name to the list of the legendary guys who’ve come before me is an honour and a blessing. It’s a great feeling, too good to be true. To make it here and come out with gold is incredible: Christian Coleman

SCOTLAND VS SAMOA (Pool A) 13:15 Qatar Time

OCTOBER 02FRANCE VS USA (Pool C) 10:45 Qatar Time NEW ZEALAND VS CANADA (Pool B) 13:15

TODAY’S FIXTURE

Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki crossing

the finish line to win the men’s race walk gold.

Bekele misses world record by two secondsAFP BERLIN

Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele won his second Berlin Marathon on Sunday in a time of two hours one minute and 41 seconds, just two seconds short of the world record.

Bekele left it late to hit the lead, overtaking countryman Birhanu Legese on the 38th kilometre before hitting top speed as he chased the world record of 2:01:39 set in Berlin last year by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge.

Bekele was more than a minute behind the world record time with 10 kilometres to go, but finished in a flurry to better his personal best of 2:03:03 set at the 2016 Berlin Marathon.

Legese finished second with fellow Ethiopian Sisay Lemma in third.

Ashete Bekere, also from Ethiopia, was the fastest of the women, finishing just eight seconds ahead of countrywoman Mare Dibaba in a time of 2:20:14, high-lighting the African nation’s domi-nance in the sport.

Bekere and Dibaba were elbow to elbow as they ran through the Brandenburg Gate with just a few hundred metres to go, before Bekere pulled away with the finish line in sight.

Bekele was more than a minute behind the world record time with 10 kilometres to go, but finished in a flurry to better his personal best of 2:03:03 set in 2016.

Bekele put his slow start down to a hamstring complaint.

“I felt something in my hamstring early on and of course I am coming back from injury, I was still in rehab two or three months ago,” he said.

Women’s winner Bekere was thrilled with her victory, saying she put her performance down to intu-ition rather than tactics.

While Bekele was favourite for the men’s event, women’s pre-race favourite Gladys Cherono left in tears with half of the course com-pleted due to an apparent muscle problem.

MEN'S 100 METRESFINAL1: Christian Coleman (USA) 9.76 (WL)2: Justin Gatlin (USA) 9.89 3: Andre De Grasse (CAN) 9.90 (PB)4: Akani Simbine (RSA) 9.93 (SB)5: Yohan Blake (JAM) 9.97 6: Zharnel Hughes (GBR) 10.03 7: Filippo Tortu (ITA) 10.07 (SB)8: Aaron Brown (CAN) 10.08

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China’s Rui Liang in action

during the

women’s race walk yesterday.

USA’s Christian Coleman crosses the finish line to win the men’s 100m final of the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha on Saturday.