Bolt untroubled, Pistorius medals, Phillips gets fourth gold

By John Bagratuni Sep 2, 2011, 15:55 GMT

Daegu, South Korea - Usain Bolt stayed out of false-start trouble on Friday to make the 200 metres final at the world championships and double amputee runner Oscar Pistorius got a relay medal without having the chance to run.

Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica won the women's 200m gold, American Dwight Phillips got a fourth long jump title and Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya completed a rare long distance double.

Coming off a shock false-start disqualification in the 100m final on Sunday, Bolt took no risks in the morning heat and evening semi-final and still won easily on each occasion in 20.30 and 20.31 seconds, respectively.

Bolt, the 200m season leader on 19.86 seconds, had the crowd screaming in Beatlemania-like fashion on each occasion as he went through his pre-race antics, showing at least no visible sign of nervousness. He had the slowest reaction time in each of his races.

While not as sharp and in world record shape as in previous years, the 2008 Olympics and 2009 worlds triple gold medallist was the favourite for another treble in Daegu in his self-proclaimed bid to become a true legend by defending his world titles.

'Gold is the most important thing, not the time,' Bolt told a scrum of reporters. 'I was disappointed after the 100 but got a lot of support from fans around the world.

'The 200 is my favourite discipline. A false start in the 200 would have been much harder ... If I get a good start and execute there is no one who can beat me.'

Bolt was only the second-fastest man into the final as Frech European champion Christophe Lemaitre led the way with 20.17 seconds. American contender Walter Dix is also in the final and so is Jamaican youngster Nickel Ashmeade.

Even though he was dropped in favour of hurdles bronze medallist LJ van Zyl, the 'Blade runner' Pistorius got a silber medal in the 4x400m with help of his team-mates.

The US retained the title in 2:59.31 ahead of South Africa (2:59.87) and Jamaica (3:00.10), thanks to LaShawn Merritt's sprint down the home stretch past both rivals.

'I wasn't back too far, I believed I could swing it. I had more left and kicked at the right time,' said Merritt.

The US have won the last 10 relays on the track, but were stripped of the four titles 1997-2003 retroactively because of doping offences.

Pistorius, who qualified for his first able-bodied big event after being banned in the past, is eligible for a medal as runner in the heats. He did not hide his disappointment in various tweets during the day and it was unclear whether he was in the stadium for the race.

'Haven't been included in the final for the SA Mens 4x400m. Pretty gutted,' Pistorius said.

But team-mate Shayne Victor said: 'We decided before the heats that the slowest runner on the team in the prelims would not the run the final. The first leg would decide the other legs. Unfortunately, Oscar's leg was the slowest and we made a decision this morning.'

Campbell-Brown reversed her 100m defeat against Carmelita Jeter when she added the world title to 200m Olympic gold in 22.22 seconds.

Jeter had 22.37 and three-times reigning champion Allyson Felix had to settle for bronze in 22.42 seconds.

Cheruiyot was unstoppable in the 5,000m just as in the 10,000m on Saturday as she claimed back-to-back titles in the shorter race in 14 minutes 55.36 minutes. Compatriot Sylvia Kibet took silver in 14:56.21 and ex-champion Meseret Defar got bronze at least after missing out in the 10,000.

Kenya now have five golds, four silvers and three bronze and almost reached their best haul of 5-3-5 from Osaka 2007 with two days left in Daegu.

The evergreen Phillips three-peated in the long jump with 8.45m. Season leader Mitchell Watts got silver for Australia with 8.33m and Ngonidzashe Makusha of Zimbabwe took bronze with 8.29m.

'This means a lot to me. Tonight I follow great athletes like Carl Lewis or Bob Beamon. This medal is the most important of my four gold medals because I had injuries all year. Nobody believed I could do this,' said Phillips.

David Storl improved his personal best twice and claimed a first shot put gold for Germany in his final put of 21.78m and Russia's Maria Abakumova won javelin gold with 71.99m.

Elsewhere, the 2009 champion Caster Semenya, in her first big event since a gender controversy, dominated the 800m semi-finals.

The world championships continue on Saturday with the men's 200m, 1,500m, 60km walk, javelin throw, and the women's 100m hurdles, 4x400m relay and high jump.