Great Britain enjoyed a 'golden' night at the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich last night, despite the stormy weather that caused disruption to the schedule and potentially affected the eventual medallists in the decathlon. The timings were put back around 45 minutes due to heavy winds that risked the safety of athletes and spectators alike.
The men's 10000m final was predictably enough won by double Olympic and World Champion Mo Farah, who was just too quick in the final lap for his competitors. He was pushed hard by the ex Kenyan athletes, now running for Turkey, Arikan and Kaya.
However, it was his compatriot, Andy Vernon who ultimately came closest to catching Farah over a last lap under 55 seconds. Vernon has been a stalwart of British long distance running for many years, so his silver will have pleased many Athletics fans back home. Kaya ran a personal best to take bronze.
Britain's next golden moment came in the women's 100m hurdles, where American convert, Tiffany Porter was out fastest from the start and maintained form to hold off a spirited challenge from the French woman Billaud. Porter has tasted medal success before but this was her first gold in a major championships. Her modest time of 12.76 secs was just 3 hundredths ahead of silver, and 6 hundredths ahead of a fast finishing Roleder for Germany in third, but the gold was everything.
Usain Bolt had been flown in to talk to the crowd and he would have no doubt been an interested observer of the men's 100m final, where GB again struck gold. Favourite after the heats, Vicaut of France was ruled out before the semis with a recurring injury. This opened the door for James Dasaolu to storm to victory in 10.06 secs ahead of a slow starting Lemaitre of France, with Aikines-Aryeetey claiming bronze by 2 hundredths ahead of 36 year old compatriot Chambers.
Harry 'AA' as he is nicknamed was lucky to still be in the race after a faulty start where the reaction times suggested he was the culprit. The Portuguese athlete Nascimento thought he had been DQd and walked off the track only to realise his mistake and regain his start position just in time. It mattered not to Dasaolu who looks to finally be confirming his early talent and should go under 10 seconds again soon.
The event most impacted by the weather delay was no doubt the decathlon, where events were suspended part way through the pole vault discipline. Some athletes had finished the event, but others had to come back later to complete their heights with the consequent shortening of rest times before the javelin that followed. Event organisers tried valiantly to catch up the lost time in the programme overall, but one can't but help feel that the medals may have gone elsewhere without the weather interlude. After his brilliant high jump on day one, Krauchanka of Belarus held on over a weary 1500m final event to take gold with 8616 points ahead of Mayer of France, with Shkurenyov of Russian repeating his bronze from Helsinki.
The women's 100m was won by heptathlete Schippers from Holland, with Frenchwomen Soumare second and surprisingly, Nelson of Britain in third. The weather was appalling for sprinting with rain and a strong headwind, so the winning time of 11.12 secs was encouraging for the Dutch lady going forward, should she decide to focus on the short sprint in future. She goes for the double over 200m later in the week. Encouragingly for the home support, Kambundji made the final for the Swiss.
The men's 800m semis saw the favourite Bosse and three Polish athletes (Lewandowski, Kszczot and Kuciapski) progress to the final, with potential medallist English of Ireland a fastest loser. Women's and men's 400m semi finals were also decided, with the favoured athletes mainly making it through except for Kevin Borlee of Belgium. The men's 400m hurdles semis saw Magi of Estonia impressing along with Hussein of Switzerland, with Flannery of GB missing out.
