Daegu - Final

I didn't get back to the Daegu races, because there wasn't much of notice (other than prominent stars losing, like Russia's Isinbaeva in Pole Vault, Croatia's Vlašić in High Jump and Norway's Thorkildsen in Javelin. Thorkildsen's main rival Finland's Pitkämäki didn't even make it to the final).

I caught most of the Men's Marathon on the last day. It was a weak field. Kenya and Ethiopia each had 5 sub 2:08 runners in their teams, while Japanese and Moroccan teams hovered around 2:10. The rest of the field was mostly 2:10+. After Ethiopia's Gebre Gebremariam, last year's NYC Marathon champion (and a fellow funny-name holder), dropped out of the race, Universal Sports announcers talked a bit about how marathoners prefer city races. If you have two shots a year, at best, you might as well make some money. Defending champion Abel Kirui broke away after 20 miles and won the race with an impressive 2:30 margin. He was 9th in NYC last year and dropped out in London this year. There haven't been any announcements regarding his Fall marathon plans. Hopefully, the Olympic Marathon will draw a stronger field.

US had the most medals, followed by Russia. Kenya came in 3rd, thanks to their dominance in distances over 5K. Two previous Olympic hosts China and Australia finished 7th and 8th, while next year's host Britain was 6th, with two gold medals (Mo Farah in 5000 and David Greene in 400m Hurdles). In other words, US and Russia are still the only countries that have a system to churn out Track & Field athletes in various fields. Others generally rely on an individual's talent or are limited to a field (I am looking at you Kenya).

Runner's World has a compilation of the results.