Makwala fails to take chance as Guliyev powers to shock win

A sensational finish from Ramil Guliyev (pictured above) earned him a shock gold, Turkey's first at this year's world athletics championships, and condemned prerace favorites Wayne van Niekerk of South Africa and Botswana's Isaac Makwala to second and sixth respectively.

The Azerbaijan-born sprinter was in the middle of a tightly-contested pack at the halfway point but streaked past Van Niekerk in the closing stages to pip the South African to the line in 20.09. In a photo finish for second, 400m winner Van Niekerk held off Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago by one thousandth of a second to grab silver.

Makwala, who earned a late reprieve after being blocked from competing in the 400m and, initially, the 200m event as a result of the norovirus, couldn't take his unexpected second chance and faded badly after a decent start to finish sixth.

Taylor completes Worlds hat trick

Triple-jump great Christian Taylor added another medal to his haul with a third world title, after a ding-dong battle with US teammate Will Claye.

Taylor's best mark of 17.68 metrers was enough to edge out Claye, who could only manage 17.63m. Nelson Evora of Portugal took the bronze with 17.19m.

The 27-year-old is already a double Olympic champion and Thursday's win means he's the first triple jumper to win three world titles.

More joy for the States

There was another 1-2 for the USA in the women's 400m as outsider Kori Carter took advantage of flagging compatriot Dalilah Muhammad on the home straight to claim gold.

Carter ran 53.07 seconds from the outside lane to claim a surprise win ahead of Muhammad, who won gold in the Rio Olympics last year. Jamaica's Ristananna Tracey ran a personal best of 53.74 seconds for bronze, while two-time defending champion Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic was fourth.

"I just had to run my race, go out and let them chase me," said Carter, 25. "I'm on top of the world right now, it's been such a long year."

All three German men advance to javelin final

Germany's Johannes Vetter confirmed his stunning current form on Thursday, producing a throw of 91.20 meters to power into Saturday's men's javelin final as the best qualifier.

His teammate and reigning Olympic champion, Thomas Röhler cut things a little closer, clearing the 83-meter benchmark by 87 centimeters to join him in the final as the eighth-best qualifier. 

The third German, Andreas Hoffmann was a little more comfortable, qualifying fifth-best with a toss of 85.62 meters. 

"I am dreaming of three medals for Germany," Röhler said afterwards

mp/pfd (Reuters, AP, dpa,)