Video: Memorable World Championships Moments

May 5th, 2008

The previous edition of World Championships was back in 2007 Osaka Japan. The next one will be next year 2009, at Berlin Germany. The biennially event is organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) where its possibly smaller only than the Summer Olympic Games, but that doesn’t stop some of the top athletics moments ever seen here at the Championships. We recap …

Michael Johnson Men 400m – 43.18 seconds (Seville 1999)

Coming into the World Champ, he has done it all. An Olympic champion with the 200m record, world titles at 200 and 400 metres, Johnson is going for his last ultimate goal, the record in the 400m. Johnson started the race with his usual laid back approach, tense shoulder but quick turnover as ever

In the final part of his 400m race, he opened up a winning buffer margin of some 10 metres and finished in a new world record time of 43.18 seconds. He ereased Butch Reynolds old mark of 43.29 seconds

Eliud Kipchoge Men 5000m – 12:52.79 minutes (Paris 2003)

The World Champ in 2003 saw ‘Middle Distance King’ Hicham El Guerrouj winning the 1500 metres and Eithopia’s newest rising star Kenenisa Bekele who just won the 10000 metres. It was in the Men’s 5000m that pundits saw the win to tussle between these two running superstar but it wasn’t to be. It was a story of fairytale as the lesser known 18 year old Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya beat Hicham El Guerrouj by four hundredths of a second, by 12:52.79 and 12:52.83 in the last 50 metres

The second the gun went off in the race, Bekele made his intentions clear, within 30m he was at the front of the pack of starters and within 100m El Guerrouj was placed to the right of the Ethiopian’s shoulder. The 1st 400m, was covered in 60.53 seconds. At the 2km mark, it read 5:07.27, a blistering pace with Bekele still in the lead. The pace then dropped to around 64.12 per lap after that and at the 3km mark it was split at 7:45.44 (2:39 per km). It was a fast race and the race took its toll as Bekele was running out of steam. Hicham made his move, so did Eliud Kipchoge and it was history as the winner was the young lad from Kenya

Mike Powell Men Longjump – 8.95 meters (Tokyo 1991)

The crowd was rooting for the new 100m world record holder and popular Carl Lewis in the Men’s Longjump. He had a 10-year, 65 meet winning streak in the long jump with his arch-rival Mike Powell never beating him once

But that magical night, Powell fifth jump went into the history books, as he erased Bob Beamon’s 23-year-old longjump world record of 8.90m, a record many had thought was unbreakable and ended Carl Lewis’s 10-year unbeaten streak with a jump of 8.95m. Lewis came in second with 8.91m in his fourth jump. Between the two Americans would produce four of the seven longest jumps in history on that day

Tina Lillak Women Javelin – 70.82 meters (Helsinki 1983)

Javelin is the national sport in Finland. So when the World Championships was held in 1983 Helsinki, the hopes of a nation rested on Tina Lillak, who was then the world-record holder and Finland’s only chance of gold. Her competitor was 22 years old Fatima Whitbread from UK

Fatima threw 69.14 metres in the first round to take the lead and Finland best hope was trailing until her last throw where she produced a 70.82 meters throw to win gold in front of her home supporters. It was Finland’s first gold medal