Oliver barrels over hurdles to win title at worlds

MOSCOW — Over 10 hurdles, David Oliver had no trouble.

Stepping past a tiny steel beam jutting from the floor inside Luzhniki Stadium soon after winning a gold medal? Now that proved more difficult.

His trouble began after his nearly flawless 110-meter hurdles Monday night at the world championships. Oliver tripped and tumbled to the ground but quickly picked himself up and rubbed his stinging knee. His comic touch, however, was still intact: At least, he said, his misstep happened after the race.

For years, injuries have halted Oliver in the hurdles. For years, he's struggled to find his rhythm. It all came together when he finished just ahead of teammate Ryan Wilson.

Had it not been for a trip over the final hurdle, defending champion Jason Richardson could have grabbed the last spot on the podium. But his stumble opened the door for Sergey Shubenkov of Russia to slip into the third spot — much to the delight of the Moscow crowd.

"This feels great, man, coming out here and finally performing well again," said Oliver, a former football player at Howard University. "I was tired of being injured. I was tired of failing. I was tired of running like a donkey. It's just not good when you're not winning."

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce wouldn't know anything about that, cruising to the women's 100-meter title. The two-time Olympic champion is just as dominant these days as Jamaican teammate Usain Bolt.

Fraser-Pryce took off out of the blocks and there was simply no catching her. She finished in a world-leading time of 10.71 seconds to beat Murielle Ahoure of the Ivory Coast. Defending champion Carmelita Jeter of the U.S. finished with the bronze.

Wearing pink shoes and matching hair extensions, Fraser-Pryce was hard to miss. And given all her wins, it's hard not to compare her to Bolt.

"I compare myself to nobody," Fraser-Pryce said. "What Usain has, he has. What I have is hard work."

Hard work has been Oliver's calling hard. A calm injury hampered him at Olympic trials last season and prevented him from making the U.S. squad for London.

Oliver decided to do things differently. No more weightlifting for the big and strong hurdler. No practicing on Wednesday, either. And, above all else, no more than four or five reps at anything he does on the track.

"I hit the reset button," Oliver explained. "With all those injuries, a lot of changes had to be made. Now, I can sit back and celebrate being a world champion."

Oliver's already off to a solid start in that department. He celebrated near the track with his mother, a former 400 hurdler who was an aspiring member of the U.S. track team in 1980 when the Americans boycotted the Moscow Olympics.

That made the moment all the more meaningful.

"Every race is always dedicated to my mom," said Oliver, who won Olympic bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games. "She taught me everything I know. For them not to compete in the '80 Games and she's here in the stadium? Nothing better. Love sharing those moments with her."

After lunging across the finish line, Oliver let out a loud scream. All those injuries and all those setbacks seemed gone. Wilson sauntered up to congratulate his teammate. Then Oliver suddenly noticed on the scoreboard that Wilson, not Richardson or Olympic gold medalist Aries Merritt, was on the podium with him.

"He goes, 'Oh, I didn't know it was you.' He was so excited," Wilson recounted. "I couldn't have lost to a better competitor."

In other finals Monday:

—Valerie Adams of New Zealand became the first woman to win four straight individual world titles.

—Christine Ohuruogu of Britain leaned at the line to finish off a great comeback in the 400 and beat defending champion Amantle Montsho of Botswana by .004 seconds.

—Raphael Holzdeppe of Germany captured the pole vault.

—Pawel Fajdek of Poland won the hammer throw.

Unlike Ohuruogu in the 400, there was little drama in the 100 given Fraser-Pryce's fast start. She opened quite a big lead, pumped her arms down the track and then pumped her fists after her finish.

"I was completely in that zone," Fraser-Pryce said. "I didn't let any distractions get in."

The Jamaicans are now 2-0 in the sprint rivalry against the Americans.

With three more medals Monday, the Americans increased their overall lead to six for the championships. It could have possibly been more, with Brad Walker (pole vault), Michelle Carter (shot put), English Gardner (100) and Richardson all finishing fourth.

"I was going so fast that that I turned on the boosters and the jet fuel," Richardson said. "I did whatever it took to try and get back in it. I made a great burst of speed, but my hurdle technique couldn't support it."

Oliver's technique is like this: He attacks hurdles like a football player would, trying to clear them and punish them at the same time. It works. The hurdles almost bow in fear when the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Oliver comes barreling by.

Steel beams? That's something he still has to work on.

Farah's triumphant revenge opens worlds in style

Gold medallist Mo Farah of Britian poses during the men's 10,000 metres victory ceremony at the IAAF World Athletics Championships at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow August 10, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Grigory Dukor

By Mitch Phillips

MOSCOW | Sat Aug 10, 2013 2:19pm EDT

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Mo Farah and Usain Bolt ignited the first day of the athletics world championships on Saturday but the event was blighted by dire crowds and yet another high-profile doping scandal for a leading sprinter.

Despite hot and humid conditions Bolt barely broke sweat in his 100 meters heat as he sauntered into Sunday's semi-finals in 10.07 seconds.

Organisers, whose claims to have sold 80 percent of seats for the August 10-18 championship look hopelessly optimistic, will hope a few more fans turn up for Sunday's showpiece final.

Only a few thousand were scattered around the vast 81,000-capacity Luzhniki Stadium even for Saturday's opening ceremony where Russian President Vladimir Putin officially opened the showpiece.

Those who were there were treated to a consummate performance by Briton's Olympic distance-double champion Farah in the 10,000 meters, while Kenya's Edna Kiplagat also produced a tactically astute run to retain the women's marathon.

Bolt starts as an unbackable favourite to add the 100m title to his Olympic double, partly due to the absence of fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell and American Tyson Gay, who have both failed drugs tests.

Leading Jamaican women sprinters Sherone Simpson and Veronica Campbell-Brown also tested positive in the lead-up to Moscow and on Saturday Kelly Anne Baptiste of Trinidad and Tobago, bronze medalist two years ago behind silver winner and former champion Campbell-Brown, joined them.

Trinidad officials confirmed that Baptiste and team mate Semoy Hackett had withdrawn from the championships, though news of her positive test came only from the Trinidad Express newspaper.

With every doping case that rocks the sport, Bolt's value increases, though there was little showboating on Saturday as the Jamaican went about his business with a serious look.

A false start in the lane next to him, sparking memories of his final disqualification two years ago, did not shake his concentration.

"I just wanted to get my reaction and start right," he said. "The false start didn't affect me - I made that mistake in Daegu and now I'm staying focused."

American duo Mike Rodgers and Justin Gatlin both dipped under 10 seconds to lead the qualifiers, with Peimeng Zhang also catching the eye with a Chinese record 10.04.

Two years ago Farah was agonizingly pipped on the line by Ethiopia's Ibrahim Jeilan in the world 10,000 final but he is a very different athlete now and though Jeilan pushed him all the way again on Saturday, the Somalia-born Briton always looked the winner.

Fully confident he could win any kind of race, he worked his way slowly through the field, survived one or two hairy stumbles as the elbows flew, before taking up the running 800 meters out.

FLYING FARAH

Having recently broken the European record over 1500, his finishing speed was never in doubt and though Jeilan hung on gamely, Farah's fearsome last lap brought him home in 27:21.71 ahead of Jeilan and Kenya's Paul Tanui.

"I thought 'not again,'" said Farah, whose bulging eyed stare of horror as Jeilan swept past him in 2011 has become an enduring image of the sport.

"I was just digging in, digging in. It was important to have something left as I did not want to lose again.

"I kept looking across and you could see in my eyes, just making sure they didn't come after me."

Farah will now bid to complete the double-double by retaining his 5,000 title next week.

The first medals of the day were decided in the women's marathon, where 33-year-old Kiplagat, who led a Kenyan sweep in 2011, started steadily then patiently tracked surprise front-runner Valeria Straneo until the 40km mark.

She then broke clear to triumph in 2:25:44, leaving 37-year-old Italian to take silver ahead of Japan's Kayoko Fukushi.

Straneo, who had her spleen and gall bladder removed three years ago, was delighted with her silver and performed a cartwheel on the track after crossing the line.

DECATHLON DRAMA

There was drama in the decathlon where double defending world champion Trey Hardee crashed out after no-heighting in the high jump.

Hardee, who triumphed in Berlin and Daegu and took Olympic silver last year, strained a hamstring and failed to clear 1.90.

Fellow American and Olympic champion Ashton Eaton's 47.02 seconds 400m was the fastest in 30 years of world championship decathlons and earned him a slender lead over 20-old compatriot Gunnar Nixon.

Britney Reese, Olympic long jump champion and winner of the last two world titles, cut it fine in qualifying as she scraped into the final in 12th and last place on countback with 6.57 meters, way down on her best of 7.25 set earlier this year.

The American will hope for a quick improvement when she returns for her final on Sunday, when the men's 100m showdown (1750 GMT) takes centre stage.

The decathlon is also decided and there are medals up for grabs in the women's 10,000 meters and women's discus.

(Editing by Justin Palmer)