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 1 preview from Jesse Squire

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!

1:52PM

Alright y’all. That’ll do it for today and what a day it was. We saw Usain Bolt get the welcome he deserves. We saw some very fast women’s 1500m heats. We saw the American’s all advance in their respective events. And we watched Mo Farah win his final gold medal on the track for 10,000m. Don’t cry for him, though. We’ll see him in the 5,000m where after this, he’s gotta be the overwhelming favorite.

Did you hate my blog? Please email me complaints: Ryan@citiusmag.com

Men’s 10,000m FINAL

1:48PM

Hadis and Mo Farah are battling for the lead. He takes it definitely with 600m to go. No one has challenged him. Mo looks very relaxed. Bell lap. Mo in the lead. 25:53. He takes three Kenyans with him. Tanui and him are shoulder to shoulder. Farah trips a bit, and takes one step on the infield. Cheptegei, Tanui. It’s close. Farah is starting to streak away with 110m to go. No one is going to catch him. Cheptegei comes with but he can’t close!

Mo Farah does it in 26:49.53!

1:45PM

I’m starting to get antsy. Someone should probably try to go for it, even if it’s for naught. You gotta give yourself a chance.

Well. Mo Farah just moved into the lead for a brief moment, and I can only feel like he’s starting to drive the nails into the coffins of everyone else in this field. He’s so savvy.

1:41PM

Seven laps to go, and despite a large contingent of teammates, the Ethiopians, Kenyans and Ugandans have failed to take this one away from Mo Farah. He’s in very nice position, and has done absolutely no work here. The talk is about how these types of races play into the hands of Farah’s strengths, but we’d be remiss to forget that there are other people who are very good closers in this race as well.

1:38PM

I’ve spotted Hassan Mead. He is in no man’s land behind the lead pack. His two American teammates clinging onto the back of that Pack as Ethiopia’s Kifle is in the lead, with Kamworwor and company on his heals. Mo Farah just won’t be broken.

1:35PM

The discus action has ground my 10,000m updates to a halt. I imagine they’ve already passed through the 5,000m mark and some decisive moves are currently being made. I know nothing, however, because I’m watching discus.

NEVERMIND.

We’re back. Farah was in 3rd. He’s currently behind three Kenyans, three Ethiopians, and two Ugandans. They’re definitely working together, taking turns with the lead. We have ten athletes in touch with the hot pace, including the American Kipchirchir.

1:32PM

Mo Farah is done messing around. He waves at the crowd and makes a move to put himself in 3rd place. Cheptegei, who had waved Tanui and Kamworwor around him a lap earlier, retakes the lead.

1:29PM

Cheptegei still leading with Tanui and Kamworwor in tow. The pace has cooled off a bit, as they’re single file, but nothing crazy. Mo is running back with the Americans Korir and Kipchirchir, just behind the large pack of Ugandans and Kenyans.

1:26PM

The East Africans are still up front, with world number one Geoffrey Kamworwor taking them through in 4:20.30. My feed has switched over to pole vault action, so this is the only update I have for now.

1:25PM

I’ll be giving sparse updates on this, mostly because it’s so long I don’t really know what to say.

Sights and sounds: Mo Farah did the mobot just as the gun went off and the arena lost their minds. I imagine they’re all now suffering from soggy bottoms.

Looks like Uganda and Kenyan athletes are taking this out. 800m in 2:05 is quick and the field is a little strung out. Farah is towards the back. We’ll see if they’ll try to run it out of Mo. If I had to guess, I’d say that the Kenyan’s and Ugandans have a plan going into this race to take down Mo and return the 10,000m title back to East Africa.

1:15PM

Mo Farah is in the house. A notable absence in London is the beleaguered coach of Nike Oregon Project, Alberto Salazar. Word on the street is that Mo has been distancing himself from Salazar in an attempt to clear his name of the doping allegations embroiling his training group and coach. No bones about it, though, whether he wins or loses, there will be plenty of questions surrounding his performance. It’s his last track World Championships, and if he wins he’ll make it 10 world titles. Nothing to guffaw at.

Men’s 100m Heats

All three Americans through to tomorrow’s semi-final!

1:02PM

Usain Bolt gets a taste of Beiber-mania as he’s giving a Queen’s greeting from the Brits. This is in direct contrast with perennial-villain Justin Gatlin’s reception. This is our first glimpse of him this week and it feels just about as momentous as it’s been billed. He’s getting a better reception than the British athlete in this heat.

Holy crow! Bolt had a horrendous start. Was in probably 6th place with 50 meters to go. He threw on the afterburners and strode past everyone without blinking an eye. He wins it in 10.08. He looked fantastic. If he doesn’t win gold, I’ll eat my shoe.

 

12:54PM

Justin Gatlin is in this heat. They announce his name and the stadium gives a collective “BOO” (HAHAHA). A fantastic reception for the unapologetic Gatlin. I’m sure he loves it.

We have a false start. I couldn’t see who it was with my naked eye, but computers are way smarter than us. Looks like the false start will be issued to South Africa’s Thando Roto. The announcer just says “rules are rules.” Again, I really don’t like false start rules. You gotta feel for Roto.

Second time around. Clean start. Gatlin wins in 10.06 as the London Stadium again gives him a big “BOOO.” I haven’t heard a good boo-ing in a while, and this pleases me greatly.

12:43PM

Wow. A lot of interesting things I’m noticing in this heat. Chijindu Ujah, a Brit and a sub-10 man, in this heat. Another sub-10 man, Christian Belcher in this heat. There’s also Jeremy Dodson, a former University of Colorado All-American and Team USA member at the 2011 World Championships. He’s now running for Samoa, as he apparently has for the past couple of seasons. You learn something new everyday.

We have a false start! Mosito Lehata has been removed from the field. That’s a terrible way to go.

Second time around, we have a clean start. Ujah had a very nice start, but Bingtian Su came on strong over the last quarter of the race. Su wins in 10.03. Ujah 2nd and Belcher snags the last auto-qualifier in 3rd place.

12:41PM

Another music update: my ears aren’t as good as they once were but I think I now hear Lady Gaga. It’s too bad they’re choosing primarily American artists to blast in this British arena. If I were the DJ, I’d exclusively play Adele records front to back for the entire meet.

12:34PM

This heat would have featured Andre De Grasse. Instead we have a bunch of people I haven’t really heard of. I’m sure they are all very nice and very fast. We’ll still have fun.

Hmm. Looks like the joke is on me. The world no.3 is in this heat. He’s ran 9.92 and his name is Simbine from South Africa.

Forte of Jamaica wins in a PR of 9.99. Simbine finishes 4th! Oh no!

12:27PM

I only recognize two people in this heat: the oft-forgotten Yohan Blake, and the new Slovakian 100m record holder Jan Volko. Let’s see how these two gentleman fare.

Japan’s Sani Brown takes the heat in 10.06. He wears short shorts and he looks great. Sprinters should wear short shorts more often. Yohan Blake was 3rd, and our friend Jan Volko was probably 5th.

Just kidding. They posted results and looks like Blake was 2nd. When’s the last time you’ve seen a Japanese and Chinese sprinter finish top three in the same heat of a Championship 100m? It’s a beautiful thing.

 

12:20PM

World number 1, Chris Coleman is in this heat. The only other guy I remember is Ramon Matadi, who qualified for this heat just a mere half hour ago. Still waiting for a middle-aged dad wearing khakis to walk down and race these guys.

As I typed that stupid joke, Christian Coleman won in a very easy 10.01. Top three in each heat and next 6 fastest times go through to tomorrow’s semi-final.

12:19PM

We have a bit of downtime, so I’d like to take a minute to do some blogging. I think at Citius we’ve done a good job avoiding the trite “What can we do to save track & field” posts. Stuff like that is reductive, and does nothing to help our sport except delegitimize it, in my idiot opinion.

With that being said, with the opening heats of the marquee event of the 2017 World Championships coming up, I’d like to present an idea. In Usain Bolt’s heat of the 100m, they should add a 10th lane to the track and choose one volunteer from the crowd to run in the heat. All of this just to demonstrate the sheer speed and power that not only Bolt has, but even the man who finishes last in the heat possesses.

Women’s 1500m Heats

Hey! We have three Americans through to the semi-finals! Exciting stuff!

11:59AM

The final heat is about to line up. I think I can hear a Justin Timberlake song playing in the background. Needless to say, everyone in that stadium is enjoying themselves.

The best story to come out of Sacramento this year, Sarah Vaughn, is in this heat. As well as Laura Weightman, KONSTANZE KLOSTERHALFEN, Faith Kipyegon, and Besu Sado. At a glance, this feels like the fastest heat.

Klosterhalfen takes the women through in 2:12. She is making this a fast race. Kipyegon goes with her. They hit the bell in 3:00.11. This is slower than the first heat, faster than the 2nd heat.

Sadu, Kipyegon, Klosterhalfen, Weightmen, Bahta are your leaders. Kipyegon looks like she’s going to take it. Sarah Vaughn trying to close hard at the back of the pack. Kipyegon wins it in 4:03.10. She’s the 2016 Olympican Champion and world no.1, and she looked like it out there.

I’m not positive, but I’m sure that Sarah Vaughn has ran fast enough to be one of the little q qualifiers. Fantastic.

11:47AM

BEEF ALERT: Laura Muir and Jenny Simpson are both in this second heat. They don’t like each other and these are the type of storylines that really get us jazzed. Let’s see how it plays out.

So, I think, the ones to watch in this heat are Siffan Hassan, Jenny Simpson, Laura Muir, and Gudaf Tsegay.

Pen Freitas of Portugal is leading at the moment. It’s very bunched up, with Simpson on her shoulder. Muir making a move on the outside to get up with the leaders. Hassan sitting comfortably in last pace, probably calculating how she will destroy the field. Soon, she thinks.

Tsegay takes the lead now, with Muir and Simpson in tow. They hit the bell in 3:07. Which is much slower than the first heat. Muir challenging the leader now. Simpson boxed in coming out the backstretch. Hassan finally making her move. Simpson has to get better position, but she will still finish in top-6.

Muir and Tsegay stride for stride down this homestretch. Hassan challenging now and nips the field at the line in 4:08.9. All the big players make it through. If you’re keeping an American count, Kate Grace’s 4:04 will still get her through to the semi-final.

11:35AM

First six in each heat plus next six fastest will advance to the semi-final. We have three heats of 14 women.

The first heat is underway and we have a fresh face in this race, the 800m runner Caster Semenya. That’s right she’s running a 1500m. There’s also Kate Grace and a British woman that the crowd is going nuts for, especially as she leads through this opening lap. The overall favorite is also in this heat: Genzebe Dibaba.

They go through 800m in 2:11.44, Jess Judd of Great Britain still leading. Dibaba following. Kate Grace making a move on the outside, and Semenya, who was at the back of the pack, is also slowly moving up. They hit the bell in 2:58, Judd still leading. Dibaba, Buckman, Grace, Semenya.

Our lone American in the race is starting to fade with 200m left. Jess Judd still leading, but as expected she falls off. Dibaba comes down through the last 100m and wins in 4:02.67, Semenya in 2nd. Kate Grace faded and finished in 7th. They ran rather fast, so hopefully she can make it through based on time.

11:29AM

Here’s the thing: I do enjoy field events, I just don’t know how to talk about them. So as I type, the mens discus and long jump qualifying rounds are getting underway. Technically, these are very impressive events. The discus is also a potentially lethal event, and since as Americans we have a bit of bloodlust in our sporting tastes, more people should enjoy watching it, among other field events.

100M Preliminary Rounds

11:25AM:

I think I’ve figured out why I like these prelims: tiny countries that rightfully shouldn’t be in the same race as Bolt & co. get a chance to run on the biggest stage. That’s a great thing.

Final heat to see who gets to run in the big boy heats and it looks like it’s going to be Ramon Gittens from Barbados in 10.25 seconds. I should have mentioned this earlier, but top three from each heat and next two fastest times will be moving on. So we’re taking 14 folks from these preliminary rounds. The others get to enjoy that revered London Hospitality for a while.

11:18AM

Jan Volko of Slovakia runs 10.15 and that’ll be a new National Record for the country. This is great stuff. Will he win a gold medal in London? No, not even close. But he came to the World Championships and broke a National Record, so that’s pretty cool. I imagine he just became a national hero.

11:11AM

Some people would say that these preliminary rounds are BORING, or TOO SLOW. To you I say this is what real track and field is about–it’s just racin’! Take the clock away from the little corner of the screen and these guys running 10.5 basically look like they’re running sub-10. Plus it gives these athletes a chance to run on a hug stage, despite having what we consider sub-par speed. I find it somewhat inspiring. That was a rather hamfisted explanation of why I like it. Hopefully you get my point.

ANYWAY. Second heat was won by Emre Barnes of Turkey in 10.22.

11:04AM

A dual citizen of the United States and Liberia, Emmanuel Matadi, takes the first preliminary round in 10.28. The commentary from the folks in the booth is “he is a massive man.” I took a look at him on the screen, and it’s true. He is very huge.

10:47AM

Holy crow! I’m back! It’s me Ryan Sterner. You may remember me from other live blogs like the USATF Championships. I’m currently watching a livestream from a cubicle somewhere in Los Angeles, because tickets to London are very expensive. Right now the Duke of York, Seb Coe, and the Mayor of London are giving some opening remarks. I’m sure it’s all very important but my livestream just froze. Anyway. The 100m dash preliminary rounds start in about ten minutes. This should be fun! I hope!