Daegu - Day2

Is anybody following the IAAF World Championships? Here on the East Coast we have been focused on the hurricane Irene, but now that she is gone, it is time to see what is happening in the world of Track & Field.

The story today of course is Usain Bolt's disqualification (the picture is old) from the 100m final as the last victim IAAF's controversial (unnecessary, if you ask me) false-start rule. Years ago, only the person who jumped twice would be disqualified. IAAF claims this rule improves viewership by decreasing the number of restarts and thus boredom. Yet, every championship they lose a few stars this way and then... well, I will leave it to Ato Boldon. Bolt will be back for the 200 meters.

I don't like the sprints anyway. Too much hype for a 10 second race. Moving on.

On day 1 both women's 10000 m and marathon races were run. 2010 NYC Marathon winner Edna Kiplagat won the marathon in 2:28:34. She will be back in NYC in November.

Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya took the 10000 m race. She was the 5000 m winner in the previous championship and will try this distance again in a few days. Behind Cheuriyot were lesser known Sally Kipyego, Linet Masai, who won the Mini 10K here in NY a few months ago, as well as US stars Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher.

Men's 10000 m on day 2 brought some surprises and a phenomenal finish. The race was expected to be settled between Kenenisa Bekele and Mo Farah. Previous champion Bekele dropped out early in the race and essentially left Farah alone. Farah, fastest man this year, (he set a European record and won the NYC Half Marathon) seemed to have this one wrapped up too, entering the last lap. He started opening a gap, but Ibrahim Jeilan of Ethiopia was determined not to let him go. You always see some surge-counter-surge in these races, but what Jeilan did was something else. Watch the video embedded below and see how far behind he comes from to win the race. Truly remarkable.

In women's pole vault, the usual suspects Monika Pyrek, Svetlana Feofanova, Elena Isinbaeva and Fabiana Murer qualified fairly easily. The final is on day 4. Another one of my favorite athletes, Carolina Kluft of Sweden, who dominated the heptathlon for a long time before switching to long jump, came in 5th.

Day 3 will include men's Hammer Throw, Pole Vault and 110 m hurdles and women's shot put, 400m and 100m finals. Also, decathlon will come to a close. You can watch the races on Universal Sports website (for a day of streaming they charge $4, if you want the whole championship it is $15). Also, the IAAF website is pretty good, if you don't need video.