The official IAAF position concerning the 2019, Doha, World Championships is that it has been successful. In the words of the IAAF vice-president X. Restrepo (1992 olympic bronze medalist) "the event was a complete success; the facilities for the athletes have been amazing and I think this championship was a big, big success". If we concentrate on the results that was definitely the case. And the facilities were OK. But the rest was really below par. The famous innovations announced with great pomp by the IAAF were limited to the ridiculous "crotch" camera. There was a real-time system giving the length of horizontal jumps: it functioned just two (or was it three) times. As soon as an athlete fouled (and the length of his jump was shown) it was decided to decommission the system. There were several mistakes in the announcement of results, too many for a world championship. But the worst of all was the empty stadium.
Only 50000 tickets were sold (half a million were sold for the 2017, London, World's). As a result the capacity of the stadium was reduced to 21000 and the rest was covered with banners. In the end the organisers decided to make the entry free for the last three days. This resulted into an overcrowded stadium to the point that some ticket holders could not obtain their seat. At least the stadium was full when it was time to celebrate Barshim's victory in high jump.
I am ill at ease having to start with the men's 100 m.
The same domination was exhibited by S-A. Fraser-Price in the women's event. She won with 10.71, with D. Asher-Smith second in 10.83 and M-J. TaLou third in 10.90. Olympic champion E. Thompson was 4th in 10.93. World indoor champion M. Ahouré was 5th with 11.02, while D. Schippers (double 200 m world champion) injured her adductor and had to withdraw from the final.
N. Lyles was the favourite of the 200 m and he did deliver. However his supremacy was far from absolute. Indeed at the 100 m mark he was in 4th position and it was thanks to a great finish that he managed to grab gold, with 19.83. To tell the truth I did appreciate him much more in the 4x100 m where it was only thanks to him that the US managed to finish first. DeGrasse was second with 19.95. Since the latter is an athlete that I appreciate enormously, I was very glad for his success in the championship. Coming back from a major injury that kept him far from the stadia for two years he managed to be in top shape for the competition that counted. Ecuadorian A. Quiñonez grabbed bronze with 19.98 thanks to a great finish, while A. Gemili, who was leading at the 100 m mark, was finally 4th. A minor disappointment was the elimination in the semis of trinidadian J. Richards who was bronze medalist two years ago (where he lost silver to W. VanNiekerk for one thousandth of a second).
The men's 800 m crowned the pre-race favourite, D. Brazier, who won with 1:42.34. The race was given a very fast pace by puerto-rican W. Vázquez who had previously won his semi leading from gun to tape. He tried to use the same tactic in the final only to run out of steam in the final stretch and fade to 5th position. Good finishers Tuka and Rotich were 2nd and 3rd, with 1:43.47 and 1:43.82 respectively. P-A. Bosse, the 2017 champion was never in contention, and went out in the semis.
L. Desisa won the men's marathon in 2:10:40 where roughly 25 % of participants did not complete the race. R. Chepngetich won the women's race with 2:32.43 but here 40 % of the participants did not finish. Moreover the victor's time in the women's race is some 11 % over the WR, while in the men's race the difference is close to 7 %. The explanation is simple. Women competed with a temperature of 32 °C and a relative humidity of 74 %. For the men's race the conditions were much more comfortable with a temperature of 29 °C and humidity of just 51 %. If people were worrying about the Marathon race in Doha they should start doing so for Tokyo. In August the conditions in Tokyo are much worse with higher temperatures and higher humidity. (In fact the IAAF shows signs of realising this and there is talk of moving these long events to Sapporo in the north of Japan, which would be a great idea).
The men's 110 m hurdles was an eventful race.
The men's 400 m hurdles was a unique occasion to see all four musketeers competing in the same race. (The "musketeers" refers to my article of last year where I was talking about the new blood in the 400 m hurdles). As in Dumas' "The Three Musketeers" the low-hurdles musketeers are in fact four: K. Warholm, R. Benjamin, A. Samba and K. McMaster. and the 2019 World's were the first occasion for all of them to run together. It turned out that it almost didn't happen when McMaster hit the first(!) hurdle and was initially disqualified. Fortunately he was reinstated on appeal. The final was thrilling. Warholm and Benjamin started very fast followed by McMaster. At the 8th hurdle Samba was 6th or 7th.
Both 4x400 m relays were won by the US team. The men won with 2:56.69 ahead of Jamaica 2:57.90. The bronze medal went to Belgium 2:58.78 (thanks also to a fantastic anchor by Kevin Borlée), while the 2017 champions, Trinidad and Tobago, were 5th. The women's classification was: US first (with the two hurdlers Muhammad and McLaughlin in the team) 3:18.92, Poland second 3:21.89 and Jamaica third 3:22.37.
The mixed relay was held for the first time in a World Championship. The US team won and established a new World record with 3:09.34. What was really interesting is that the US used two completely different teams in the semis and in the final. Jamaica was 2nd with 3:11.78 and Bahrain 3rd with 3:11.82. (And a little bit of gossip: all the bahraini athletes are in fact of nigerian origin. So, Nigeria should be proud for this medal). Most teams apply now what is the most sensible tactic, namely having a man at first and last relay with the two women in-between. In the final only Poland used a different arrangement with the two men first and second but I do not think that it was a good choice. (In the heats the japanese team used a configuration WMMW but I fail to see the interest of this).
Don't wait for a report on race-walking. It is as if, for me, this discipline did not exist.
The half-empty Khalifa stadium
Only 50000 tickets were sold (half a million were sold for the 2017, London, World's). As a result the capacity of the stadium was reduced to 21000 and the rest was covered with banners. In the end the organisers decided to make the entry free for the last three days. This resulted into an overcrowded stadium to the point that some ticket holders could not obtain their seat. At least the stadium was full when it was time to celebrate Barshim's victory in high jump.
I am ill at ease having to start with the men's 100 m.
Coleman winning the men's 100 m final
Coleman had been charged with three failures to properly file whereabouts information in a 12-month period, a potential anti-doping violation. But then, thanks to some legalese hocus-pocus, he was cleared and could participate in the World's winning the 100 m with 9.76 totally dominating a race which included the best sprinters in the world. We haven't seen such a domination since the Seoul, 1988, Olympics or the 2009 World's, where U. Bolt won with the current WR of 9.58.
The Seoul, 1988, 100 m final
Double doping offender J. Gatlin was second with 9.89, followed by A. De Grasse with 9.90. F. Tortu could participate in the first big final of his career, having one of the two best times for 4th place (just like Gatlin).The same domination was exhibited by S-A. Fraser-Price in the women's event. She won with 10.71, with D. Asher-Smith second in 10.83 and M-J. TaLou third in 10.90. Olympic champion E. Thompson was 4th in 10.93. World indoor champion M. Ahouré was 5th with 11.02, while D. Schippers (double 200 m world champion) injured her adductor and had to withdraw from the final.
The women's 100 m final
In the women's 200 m everything conspired for D. Asher-Smith to win the race. S. Miller-Uibo, the world leader this year with 21.74, opted for the 400 m. The 2017 world champion, D. Schippers withdrew due to injury. M-J. TaLou decided not to run feeling pain in her right knee. S-A. Fraser-Price scratched from the opening heats with soreness while E. Thompson withdrew after the heats due to an Achilles tendon problem. All these incidents opened the road for Asher-Smith who dominated the event with an excellent 21.88. B. Brown was second with 22.22 and M. Kambundji (who missed the 100 m final for those pesky thousands of second the IAAF persists in using even for athletes running in different series) obtained bronze with 22.51. I was very glad to see I. Lalova-Collio participate, at 35, in one more major final.N. Lyles was the favourite of the 200 m and he did deliver. However his supremacy was far from absolute. Indeed at the 100 m mark he was in 4th position and it was thanks to a great finish that he managed to grab gold, with 19.83. To tell the truth I did appreciate him much more in the 4x100 m where it was only thanks to him that the US managed to finish first. DeGrasse was second with 19.95. Since the latter is an athlete that I appreciate enormously, I was very glad for his success in the championship. Coming back from a major injury that kept him far from the stadia for two years he managed to be in top shape for the competition that counted. Ecuadorian A. Quiñonez grabbed bronze with 19.98 thanks to a great finish, while A. Gemili, who was leading at the 100 m mark, was finally 4th. A minor disappointment was the elimination in the semis of trinidadian J. Richards who was bronze medalist two years ago (where he lost silver to W. VanNiekerk for one thousandth of a second).
Gardiner en route for the 400 m victory
The pre-race favourite for the 400 m was M. Norman but he went out in the semis, most probably victim of a bad season planning. (One cannot be in top shape in April, win the Diamond League, qualify in the US trials for the World's and still excel in the latter). In fact I have the impression that, had Norman been in top shape, he would have had a great difficulty to beat S. Gardiner, who dominated the race with an excellent 43.48. Colombian A. Zambrano grabbed the silver medal, with 44.15, thanks to a devastating finish. I was happy to witness the come-back of olympic and world champion K. James. Fighting his thyroid problems he managed to be in good shape just in time, but unfortunately the repeated races took their toll on his stamina and he could only finish 5th in the final.
The arrival of the fabulous women's 400 m race
Everybody was expecting a duel in the women's 400 m but what happened surpassed every expectation. Usually S. Miller-Uibo starts very fast while S. Eid Naser is more prudent relying on her powerful finish. In Doha the situation was reversed. Naser started very, very fast and managed to repeal the attack of Miller over the last stretch going on to win 48.14 to 48.37, two incredible times. S. Jackson was a distant third with 49.47 while the 2017 champion, P. Francis, had to contend herself with a 5th place. Given the outcome of the race one can wonder whether the choice of Miller-Uibo was the right one. I am convinced that she could have won the 200 m but then we wouldn't have had the chance to witness one of the best 400 m races ever. At this point one can deplore the structure of the program which does not allow the athletes to compete over both 200 and 400 m. However I recall that at one time the program was adapted so as to make it possible for A. Felix to compete in, and possibly win, both distances in the Rio Olympics, equaling the feats of Brisco-Hooks and Perec. (But Felix failed to make the US team in the 200 m and then she lost the 400 m title to Miller). There were two americans, two poles and two jamaicans in the final. It is thus not astonishing that these three nations shared the medals of the 4x400 m relay.The men's 800 m crowned the pre-race favourite, D. Brazier, who won with 1:42.34. The race was given a very fast pace by puerto-rican W. Vázquez who had previously won his semi leading from gun to tape. He tried to use the same tactic in the final only to run out of steam in the final stretch and fade to 5th position. Good finishers Tuka and Rotich were 2nd and 3rd, with 1:43.47 and 1:43.82 respectively. P-A. Bosse, the 2017 champion was never in contention, and went out in the semis.
Nanyondo and Nakaayi celebrating
The women's 800 m was a most interesting race. Already in the semi-final one could not help but remark two practically unknown runners from Uganda: H. Nakaayi and W. Nanyondo, excellent finishers and, for the former, a touch of aggressiveness. It was clear that they were going to play a role in the final. Thus the pre-race favourite, A. Wilson, decided to impose a very fast pace hoping to blunt the ugandans's sprint. All she managed to do was to burn herself out. On the final stretch there was nothing stopping Nakaayi, who won with 1:58.04. Wilson even lost the silver medal to R. Rogers 1:58.84 to 1:58.18. Nanyondo was 4th with 1:59.18 but she celebrated together with Nakaayi full of joy as if she had won herself. It is really refreshing to see at last a 800 m devoid of the masculine looks of the DSD trio.
Hassan after her 1500 m victory
S. Hassan was the only athlete to win two individual gold medals. The one of the 1500 m was in fact her second. Leading before the first lap was over she imposed her rhythm winning in a new european record of 3:51.95. Behind her the first 8 finalists registered personal or season bests. She could not run the 5000 m since it was taking place the same day as the 1500 m. (This is another absurd decision and I may come back to this point in a future past of mine). So H. Obiri got to keep the title she had won in 2017, although, even in the absence of Hassan, the competition was fierce. Obiri won with a championships record of 14:26.72, in front of M. Kipkemboi 14:27.49 and K. Klosterhalfen 14:28.43. Of the 15 athletes of the final 11 registered a personal best in this race. Hassan kicked off the championship with a victory over 10000 m in 30:17.62 leaving the ethiopians and kenyans behind her. All 8 first registered personal records. To my eyes, it is a question of time before Hassan runs a below 30 min 10000 m (erasing thus the 17-year old record of Radcliffe).
Cheruiyot's victory lokked even easier that that of Bayi
T. Cheruiyot won the 1500 m in an unorthodox way. Usually championship races are slow ones where everything is decided at the sprint. Cheruiyot decide to do things differently. He led practically from the outset never bothering for the competition. (In some way he reminded me of the fabulous 1974 Commonwealth race of F. Bayi, where he established a new world record with 3:32.2. You can find the photo of the finish in my article on Bob Hayes). Cheruiyot's tactic paid off and he went on to win in 3:29.26. Behind him two fast finishers, 2012 olympic champion T. Makhloufi and european indoor champion M. Lewandowski were 2nd and 3rd with 3:31.38 and 3:31.46 respectively. A disappointed J. Ingebrigtsen was out-sprinted and finished 4th in 3:31.70. M. Centrowitz, the 2016 olympic champion could do no better than 8th despite a season's best. The men's 5000 m was dominated by the ethiopians who arrived 1st, 2nd and 4th. M. Edris was the winner in 12:58.85, in front of Barega, 12:59.70 and Ahmed of Canada 13:01.11. There were three Ingebrigtsen's in the race Jakob (initially disqualified but reinstated on appeal, quite justifiably), Filip and Henrik. Jakob tried to take the lead at 300 m from the tape but was out-sprinted by the two ethiopians and finally finished 5th. It was definitely not the best championship for this brilliant young runner.
Dabó helping Busby finish the race
There was an interesting incident during the heats of the 5000 m, which caused reactions (not all of them positive). J. Busby almost collapsed during the race and B. Dabó who did not have any hope of qualifying sustained him and helped him reach the finish line. Busby was, of course, later disqualified, but Dabó is candidate for the fair play award. I am convinced that Dabó acted without any ulterior motive when he offered his help to Busby, and I would be happy if he obtained the fair play award. Now, concerning criticisms that athletes who cannot complete a 5000 m should not compete in a World Championship my answer is simple: it's the rules, man. Every country can enter one athlete in order to be represented in the championships. When the athlete in question participates in the 100 m, nobody is shocked. The same attitude should be prevail for the remaining events as well.
Cheptegei victorious over men's 10000 m
Two years ago I wrote that I was going to keep an eye on the young ugandan J. Cheptegei who had finished 2nd in the 10000 m (and I did). Cheptegei matured as expected, went on to win the Commonwealth title over 5000 and 10000 m, then the world cross country title this year and crowned everything by a gold medal in the 10000 m of the world championship in 26:46.36 (a mere 0.5 second off the championship record). When Cheptegei launched his attack in the last lap there was nothing stopping him. Kejelcha and Kipruto could only follow securing the remaining medals in 26:49.34 and 26:50.32.L. Desisa won the men's marathon in 2:10:40 where roughly 25 % of participants did not complete the race. R. Chepngetich won the women's race with 2:32.43 but here 40 % of the participants did not finish. Moreover the victor's time in the women's race is some 11 % over the WR, while in the men's race the difference is close to 7 %. The explanation is simple. Women competed with a temperature of 32 °C and a relative humidity of 74 %. For the men's race the conditions were much more comfortable with a temperature of 29 °C and humidity of just 51 %. If people were worrying about the Marathon race in Doha they should start doing so for Tokyo. In August the conditions in Tokyo are much worse with higher temperatures and higher humidity. (In fact the IAAF shows signs of realising this and there is talk of moving these long events to Sapporo in the north of Japan, which would be a great idea).
The men's 110 m hurdles was an eventful race.
One can see clearly that McLeod is obstructing Ortega
McLeod had one of his technically bad races (he does this from time to time) and tried to catch Holloway who was slightly ahead of him using his main asset, his speed. He hit the 9th hurdle and fell on the 10th. Doing so he jostled Ortega who was on his right and was 3rd up to that point. The spaniards filed a protest and the final classification was: 1st Holloway 13.10, 2nd Shubenkov 13.15, 3rd P. Martinot-Lagarde 18 and O. Ortega 13.30. So Ortega finally got his bronze medal and Martinot-Lagarde go to keep his. I am sad for european indoor champion, M. Traikovic, who was one of the contenders for a medal up to the 5th hurdle. Unfortunately he hit the 6th one and the race was over for him.
The podium with the four medalists
There were four candidates for three medals in the women's 100 m hurdles race. And they would have been five if B. McNeal-Rollins had not been eliminated for a false start in the heats. In the end, it was world indoor champion N. Ali who prevailed, in 12.34, followed by world recordwoman K. Harrison, who won her first major medal in 12.46, and the 2015 champion D. Williams in 12.47. Commonwealth and African champion T. Amusan was 4th with 12.49. The only european present in the final was N. Visser, confirming thus her success at the Indoor Europeans this winter. Costa Rican A. Vargas, 5th in 12.64, is also a name to watch in the future.
The arrival of the unforgetable women's 400 m hurdles race
Just as in the 400 m the women's 400 m hurdles was a duel between the two best hurdlers of all time: D. Muhammad and S. McLaughlin. And this resulted into a breathtaking race. Both started very fast, Muhammad got a small lead, and while McLaughlin covered part of it, it was Muhammad who crossed the line first, in a new world record of 52.16 with McLaughlin becoming the second performer of all time with 52.23. R. Clayton was 3rdμ way, way back in 53.74 (a PB for her). The men's 400 m hurdles was a unique occasion to see all four musketeers competing in the same race. (The "musketeers" refers to my article of last year where I was talking about the new blood in the 400 m hurdles). As in Dumas' "The Three Musketeers" the low-hurdles musketeers are in fact four: K. Warholm, R. Benjamin, A. Samba and K. McMaster. and the 2019 World's were the first occasion for all of them to run together. It turned out that it almost didn't happen when McMaster hit the first(!) hurdle and was initially disqualified. Fortunately he was reinstated on appeal. The final was thrilling. Warholm and Benjamin started very fast followed by McMaster. At the 8th hurdle Samba was 6th or 7th.
Men's 400 m hurdles: at the 8th hurdle
However he has a great finish and while he did not manage to catch the first two he passed McMaster obtaining the bronze medal for Qatar. 
Men's 400 m hurdles: arrival
Hadn't he been injured earlier in the season the race would have been even more exciting. The final classification: Warholm 47.42, Benjamin (who runs now for the US) 47.66, Samba 48.03 and McMaster 48.10.
Chepkoech celebrating her victory
The two steeple races were totally different. While in the women's race Chepkoech took the control from the beginning, running ahead of the pack and was never threatened, in the men's race we had to wait for the photo-finish in order to know the winner. Chepkoech won with a championship record of 8:57.84, while E. Coburn, the 2017 champion, was this time second with 9:02.35 and Krause 3rd with a national record of 9:03.30. (The european record of Galkina is under direct threat here). I will keep an eye on the 20 year old W. Yavi who finished 4th with 9:05.68. C. Kipruto was far from being the favourite for the men's race, having been injured earlier this year. In the final stretch El Bakkali was out of the gold medal race (he finished 3rd with 8:03.76) but Girma had a comfortable lead on Kipruto. However the sprint of the latter allowed him to retain the title he had won in 2017. The verdict: Kipruto 8:01.35, Girma 8:01.36.
The photo-finish for the men's 3000 m steeple
The US won the men's 4x100 m amid a scandal. During the semi-final they botched an exchange and should have been disqualified. Despite two protests by the Canadian and the Italian teams the americans were not disqualified and went on to win the final in a NR of 37.10. Great Britain was second in a european record of 37.36 (and so A. Gemili did go home with a medal in his pocket). An impressive japanese team with flawless exchanges was 3rd with an asian record of 37.43. What was amazing was Jamaica going out in the semis. Sic transit gloria mundi.
The jamaican women's 4x100 m team
The jamaican women took revenge for the defeat of the men winning with 41.85 in front of Great Britain, 41.85, and the US, 42.10.Both 4x400 m relays were won by the US team. The men won with 2:56.69 ahead of Jamaica 2:57.90. The bronze medal went to Belgium 2:58.78 (thanks also to a fantastic anchor by Kevin Borlée), while the 2017 champions, Trinidad and Tobago, were 5th. The women's classification was: US first (with the two hurdlers Muhammad and McLaughlin in the team) 3:18.92, Poland second 3:21.89 and Jamaica third 3:22.37.
The mixed relay was held for the first time in a World Championship. The US team won and established a new World record with 3:09.34. What was really interesting is that the US used two completely different teams in the semis and in the final. Jamaica was 2nd with 3:11.78 and Bahrain 3rd with 3:11.82. (And a little bit of gossip: all the bahraini athletes are in fact of nigerian origin. So, Nigeria should be proud for this medal). Most teams apply now what is the most sensible tactic, namely having a man at first and last relay with the two women in-between. In the final only Poland used a different arrangement with the two men first and second but I do not think that it was a good choice. (In the heats the japanese team used a configuration WMMW but I fail to see the interest of this).
The US team winning the 4x400 m mixed relay
With the 4x400 women and the mixed relay gold A. Felix added two more medals in her collection. Don't wait for a report on race-walking. It is as if, for me, this discipline did not exist.
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