HIGHS OF THE CHAMPIONSHIPS... AND LOWS
SUPER MUM JESS
Winning World Championships heptathlon gold a year after giving birth is exceptional — inspirational is an overused epithet but Jessica Ennis-Hill is totally deserving of such praise.
BOLT DOES IT AGAIN
Usain Bolt was an underdog for the first time since his teenage years but comprehensively defeated drugs cheat Justin Gatlin three times in nine days to lift his sport out of the mire temporarily.
FARAH TRIPLE DOUBLE
Mo Farah has a genuine claim to being Britain’s best ever sportsman after winning 5,000m and 10,000m gold here. With five golds and a silver, he is now the most successful distance runner in World Championships history.
DINA’S TEENAGE DREAMS
A big-stage performer, the 19-year-old Dina Asher-Smith set three personal bests in one week and broke Kathy Cook’s 31year-old record to finish fifth in the fastest 200m final for 17 years. A bright future beckons.
DASAOLU BRAIN FADE
James Dasaolu committed sprinting’s cardinal sin of easing up too early. He looked over his shoulder to see two rivals come past him, and failed to reach the 100m semi-final, not good enough for a 9.96sec runner.
DOPING WOES
The sport is in such a miserable state that minutes after winning 200m gold Dafne Schippers was forced to explain her spotty skin to those who believed it was indicative of doping.
RELAY WARS
The British men’s 4x100m team have been disqualified from every major final since 2009. After witnessing the apparent disunity among the team and lack of faith in the coaching it’s not hard to see why.
JUSTIN GATLIN
The American should frankly be grateful just to be in Beijing given that he is a twice convicted drugs cheat but instead he threw his toys out of the pram when questioned about doping.