The 2017 IAAF World Championships have begun in London and we’re still in the U.S. but here to provide the most entertaining and informative analysis and results from the championships.

The first day offers some of the early and qualifying rounds of events but we will see Mo Farah run his final 10,000 meter final. He has won every world championship title in this event since 2012. It’s fitting that his final world championship race will come before a home crowd in London.

The meet will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network and can be streamed online using the $69 (#nice) NBC Sports Gold package.

Here are some key links that can help:

Our full Day 3 preview from Jesse Squire

Our full Day 1 recap from Ryan Sterner is here.

Our full Day 2 recap from our idiot blogger can be found here.

Schedule and results can be found here.

The IAAF will also offer a live stream via YouTube and Facebook which will be available in a large number of nations (which includes Canada but not the USA).

Radio: The IAAF Radio service will be available globally and can be accessed through both the IAAF website and the IAAF mobile app.

Let’s get rolling!

Final Update: Holy shit. That’ll do it for me today. I’ll be back blogging tomorrow for the people (hello? Is anyone there?) What a day it was. I’m absolutely jazzed.

Do you not want me to blog ever again? Please direct your ire to my personal email account: Ryan@citiusmag.com

Women’s 100m Final

1:50PM

It’s too bad, just from a consistency standpoint, that Elaine Thompson doesn’t have a hyphenated name like the other great Jamaican sprinters that came before her–Veronica Campbell-Brown, Shelly-Anne Fraser-Price, etc.

Anyway. Names aside I’m sure she’ll do great. It’s a formidable final, though. I imagine her stiffest competition will be Bowie and Ahoure. This is Bowie’s first stop in her quest for a historic double, but she’ll have to run a perfect race to steal a gold here.

HOLY CROW DID TORIE BOWIE TAKE IT AT THE LINE? IT LOOKED LIKE TA LOU HAD IT BUT TORIE BOWIE HAD A TEXTBOOK LEAN AND DOVE ACROSS THE LINE LIKE WONDER WOMAN. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY BONKERS. DID ANYONE GET A PHOTOT? BECAUSE I’M POSITIVE AT ONE POINT SHE WAS COMPLETELY PARALLEL WITH THE GROUND. WHAT A FINISH BY BOWIE!!!!!!!!!!

The favorite and world no.1 Elaine Thompson, finishes off the podium. Who got the last medal? Netherlands Dafne Schippers. What an upset of a 100m final. And you know what? That’s the best kind of final.

Arena update: The DJ is playing the crowd pleasers. Who knew the Brits loved Neil Diamond? A rousing rendition of “Sweet Caroline” is currently taking place, and the DJ is cutting the track when ol’ Neil gets to the “ba! ba! ba!” part. The crowd then takes over and, with no trace of their cheeky British accent whatsoever, fills it in perfectly.

Hold the phone. Now they’re introducing the women’s 100m final, and the arena DJ (could it be Nijel Amos?) now starts playing Guns ‘n’ Roses “Welcome to the Jungle.” American rock and roll is alive and well in the UK, my friends.

Shotput update: Joe Kovacs has just thrown himself into 2nd place. That’s a silver medal folks!

Proof:

Men’s 800m Semi-final

1:35PM

This heat is a real bear. A loaded gun, if you will. I’d say this will be the hardest one to get out of and I expect it to be the fastest of the three. Mo Aman, Brazier, Bett, Pierre Bosse. All of these men have high-1:42, low-1:43 PRs.

Bett controls at the front. Followed by Bosse, with Aman tucked in. They go through slower than the second heat, 51.52 and Bett still leading. Aman is boxed in. Bosse is in good position. Brazier is in bad position. Bett still leading with 600m to go. Who’s going to pull the trigger first? Everybody still in it with 100m to go. It’s going to come down to a sprint. Bett is going for it. Aman follows. It’s going to be Bett and Aman. Finishing time 1:45.03, which is the fastest time of the day. I imagine the other two qualifiers are going to come from this heat.

1:25PM

Drew Windle. Lewindowski. Korir. This should be fast.

McBride of Canada lead from wire to wire. He took it out nearly three seconds faster than the first heat, and the field responded by stringing out. Korir gave chase early, and was the only one intent on going with the Canadian. There was almost no movement until the last 75 meters. Korir began to fade and Langford of Great Britain and a few other men started to close. Korir tied up, and Langford snagged the 2nd place, auto qualifying spot behind McBride. We will not see Korir in the final, who is the world leader this year.

1:14PM

First heat lining up on the track. The overall favorite and Botswana’s no. 1 Club DJ, Nijel Amos is in the house. Your American in this race is Isaiah Harris. Also in this race is a general competitor, Poland’s Adam Kszczot, who hasn’t ran well this year but owns a 1:43.3 PR.

Rotich is in the front as they go through the first 400m in 52.95, which is rather pedestrian. Amos moves up onto his shoulder with 300 to go. Kszcsot will be the first to make the move with 200m to go and he’s making it a race. Kszczot still leading with 75 to go. Amos moving up into 2nd. Rotich will hold on for third and our own Isaiah Harris is fourth.

It was a rather handsy semi, with some bumping and clipping. But you know what they say, rubbin’ is racin’.

They’re taking two from each heat plus the next two fastest times to the final. Our first two qualifiers are Kszczot of Poland and Rotich of Kenya.

1:08PM

There’s been some rounds of the women’s heptathlon 800m. Since most of the events have taken place in the morning (I think, that’ll be my excuse anyway), I’m not well versed on what’s been going on. So I’ll just take a screenshot of the winners table when they’re done calculating the points.

The only thing I know right now is that the Americans did not do great.

Men’s 110m Hurdles Semi-finals

12:28PM

Aries Merritt, a man that’s made a tremendous comeback from a kidney transplant, is on the line. This is where he won his Olympic Gold back in 2012.

A very muscular Hungarian man, Balasz Baji, wins the heat, out leaning Merritt at the line. Merritt still gets the auto-qualifier.

12:19PM

Two-time US Champion, Devon Allen, is on the line in this 2nd heat. After a disappointing 5th place finish in Rio, Allen will be looking for a bit of redemption here in London.

Wow. Four guys, including Allen, all finished in a straight line. The naked eye will not be able to determine who will win. Thank god for computers.

As they sort it out, it looks like here are the results. Devon Allen will miss the final which is a huge bummer:

12:10PM

Omar McLeod, Rio Gold Medalist, shouldn’t have a problem winning this heat. He’s a member of the sub-13 club, with a newly minted 12.90 PR. Let’s see how it plays out–two big Qs and two small Qs.

McLeod came on late, but took the heat in 13.11. There was a fall over about the fourth hurdle by Al-Youha of Kuwait. The Frenchman Garfield Darian and McLeod were neck and neck over the last few hurdles, with McLeod just out leaning him.

12:05PM

A few things: Luvo Manyonga just got his medal for the long jump. If you need a refresher, Manyonga had a promising start to his career, but it was derailed in 2012 after he got addicted to crystal meth, went to jail, went to rehab, served a suspension and now he’s back. This is his second medal on the world stage since returning, as he was the silver medalist in Rio as well.

However, when he got his medal, he stood on the podium and dabbed. This is truly disappointing, as I thought that dabbing was something reserved for idiot teens, not reformed meth heads.

Men’s 400m Semi-final

11:57AM

I’ve spotted the other Borlee twin. I’ve also spotted a very fast Botswanan, Isaac Makwala. He went sub-44 and sub-20 in the same day. He finished 2nd to Van Niekerk in the Monaco DL 400m. I’d say he’s the number one contender for the South African world record holder.

Makwala runs 44.30 seconds and is the clear winner. Demish Gaye, a Jamaican, overtakes Gil Roberts down the home stretch to snag the 2nd auto-qualifier. Lane 7 has been a tough draw for the Americans. All three of them were in lane 7, and none of them are auto-qualifiers. Fred Kerley made it through on time, but Gil Roberts wasn’t as lucky.

Here’s your final:

11:47AM

Behold! Wayde Van Niekerk is in this race! As well as LaShawn Merritt. This should be a somewhat exciting pre-final match up.

Van Niekerk and Merritt broke away early, but as Van Niekerk continued to accelerate, Merritt showed his age and faded to last place. Van Niekerk shut it down early, finishing in 44.22, after chasing down Babolaki Thiebe of Botswana on the home stretch. Thiebe wanted to rattle the Olympic champ and World Record holder. It’s a strange phenomena, but I kind of like it: young runners trying to intimidate the overwhelming favorite in the semi-final. The big boys know where the real race is run.

Discussion question: Is this the last we’ve seen of LaShawn Merritt?

Results:

 

11:39AM

Two Americans in this heat: the great Fred Kerley and Wil London. I also recognize one of the Borlee boys. Should be fast. Kerley is young, but he’s also 16-0 this year, and the world no. 1. Let’s tuck in:

Kerley comes out of the turn in the lead. But loses to Gardner and Allen of the Bahamas and Jamaica over the last 100m. Kerley finished third. I’d say he went out far too hard over the first 200m, more than making up the curve. The world no.1 will have to wait anxiously to see if he gets through on time.

Steven Gardener of the Bahamas dipped under 44 seconds for the first time in his career, and in the process is the new Bahamian Record holder. He is still laying on the track though, and we shouldn’t discount the toll a sub-44 effort takes on your body.

Anybody know the fastest time in a 400m semi-final? Hello?

Women’s 100m Semi-final

I should take back the mean thing I said about Deajah Stevens. She had an O.K. start, but upon further inspection looks like her first three steps were essentially a stumble. It’s too bad, because, generally speaking, she is very fast.

Here’s tonight’s final:

11:29AM

Torie Bowie took this heat, making her 10.91 look easy.

Ahoure is the other auto qualifier. She will join her teammate, Ta Lou, in the final. The west African country with a population of 23 million has two women in the final.

11:20AM

The American to watch in this race is Ariana Washington. But the real story for this heat is Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson, your world number one who has run 10.70 this year.

Thompson runs a very impressive, very easy 10.84. She took her foot off the gas with about 20 meters to go. The American, Washington, suffered the same fate as her fellow countrywoman, Stevens: a terrible start.

The other auto-q is Santos of Brazil who ran 10.91. According to IAAF, that’s a national record! By about .14 seconds! Big time!

11:10AM

We have the first of three very fast women’s 100m semi-final heats on the track right now. We have three Americans to watch, and you bet they’re fast.

Wow–The Duck, Deajah Stevens had, and I’m not exaggerating, the worst start I’ve ever seen in professional sprinting–and I watched Usain Bolt yesterday. She will not make it to the final.

The winner was Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast, and the other auto-qualifier will be Schippers of the Netherlands, in 10.87 and 10.98 respectively. The others will have to bite their nails to see if they can make it through on time.

GOOD MORNING

11:07AM

I had a bowl of oatmeal and a slice of leftover pizza for breakfast. I watched the first hour of a Netflix documentary called Icarus, in honor of Justin Gatlin winning the 100m yesterday, and I feel ready to deliver some top notch blogging. Is anyone listening?

Oh right. Also, I’d like to give a big shoutout to Amy Hastings-Cragg! Big time!

True grit.@HastyHastings just won a bronze medal in the world championships marathon.

Her podcast with us: https://t.co/La9xKLkRDM pic.twitter.com/rzeJTThx37

— CITIUS MAG (@CitiusMag) August 6, 2017