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Dibaba, Rudisha shine

August 25, 2015

Both world record holders stormed to victory in the fourth day of action in Beijing. Elsewhere, Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin are on course for another clash in the men's 200m final.

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China Beijing 2015 IAAF Weltmeisterschaft Genzebe Dibaba
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Suki

World record holder Genzebe Dibaba underlined her superiority this season, securing the 1500m title in Beijing at the World Championships.

Dibaba has been the front runner of track with a world record in the 1500m secured in Monaco earlier this year. Now she adds a world title on top of the world records she has already claimed - the indoor 1500, 3000 and 5000m events.

The peerless Ethiopian runner looked classy and unfazed by the pressure in the Bird's Nest Stadium in the Chinese capital as he turned up the speed on the second lap to pull clear.

Tracked closest by Faith Kipyegon and Dawit Seyaum, Dibaba turned up the pressure with about half of the race to go and she had enough time to enjoy the moment at the finish line. Dibaba finished with a time of 4min 08.09sec, while Kipyegon took silver with 4:09.96.

Genzebe has carried on the sporting success from her sister Tirunesh who was an Olympic champion. Now, Dibaba's focus is on making it a 1500-5000 double triumph.

Meanwhile, Kenyan runner David Rudisha snapped up gold in the men's 800m, showing the kind of form that helped him win the Olympic title in 2012.

Rudisha led from start-to-finish and timed in at 1min 45.84sec for the victory with Poland's Adam Kszczot claiming silver in 1:46.08.

But the 26-year-old has dealt with a plague of fitness problems since he smashed the world record for 800m at the London Olympic Games.

He looked a step closer to his old form at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last year, but his success in Beijing is his first World Championship gold in the 800m since 2011.

Rutherford jumps into record books

China Beijing 2015 IAAF Weltmeisterschaft Greg Rutherford
Greg Rutherford silenced his critics with another impressive win in BeijingImage: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler
It was also a special day for Britain's Greg Rutherford, who completed a full-house of major titles when he added world gold to his Olympic, Commonwealth and European long jump crowns. The 28-year-old dominated and won with a best effort of 8.41 meters in the fourth round. His task was made easier when American Jeff Henderson, who tops the 2015 world rankings, crashed out after three rounds having registered only one good jump and finished outside the top eight. Australia's Fabrice Lapierre took silver with a season's best of 8.24 ahead of China's Wang Jianan, who jumped 8.18.

Cuba's Denia Caballero landed a shock win in the world championship discus on Tuesday, her first round effort of 69.28 meters beating all her rivals including defending champion Sandra Perkovic of Croatia. Olympic champion Perkovic snatched the silver medal off Germany's Nadine Müller with her last throw (67.39).

Usain Bolt, champion and world record holder in the 100m, breezed through the first round of heats in the 200m, finishing in a time of 20.28 seconds.

Bolt beat Justin Gatlin by one hundredth of a second on Sunday in the 100m race and is now out to secure a double at the World Championships.

"It is good to win the first one. The 200m mean a lot to me. I am a little worried about my fitness. I'm tired and my legs are still sore," said Bolt whose coach described the 100m win as the 'toughest' of his career.

Gatlin also progressed into the next heat with a time of 20.19 seconds.

rd/jh (AFP, Reuters)