A long-distance relationship

Farah barely lost the 10,000 at the last worlds two years ago in South Korea,but rebounded to win the 5,000. Then,running at home at the London Olympics,Farah won both distance events. Bekele is the only other man to have ever held both the Olympic and world 5,000 and 10,000 titles at the same time. The Ethiopian won his Olympic titles at Beijing 2008 and then repeated that feat at the 2009 Worlds in Berlin.

On Friday,Farah broke away from the pack with about 600 meters to go and fended off challenges from Isaiah Koech of Kenya and Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia in the home straight. He won in 13 minutes,26.98 seconds. Gebrhiwet ended up with the silver in 13:27.26,one-thousandth of a second ahead of Koech.

Shelly-Ann’s sprint double

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Usain Bolt still have three gold medals on their mind at the world championships. Fraser-Pryce blasted out of the blocks,heard Olympic champion Allyson Felix scream and fall to the track behind her with a torn right hamstring,and held off Murielle Ahoure of Ivory Coast and Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria to take her second gold by winning the 200 meters.

Now,the 100 and 200 champion has the 4×100 relay to go to get her first triple at a major event. Bolt already has three of those and easily qualified for Saturday’s 200 final.

The big clash between Fraser-Pryce and Felix never materialised. The American was slow out of the blocks and never made up ground before she started limping at high speed and falling to the track.

“I heard when she screamed out but I was really focused,” Fraser-Pryce said. “I decided I was running that corner and I didn’t care who you were,if you were Usain Bolt behind me,I couldn’t care less. I was running like my life depended on it.”

As Fraser-Pryce celebrated another major win for Jamaica,Felix had her face contorted in pain. Minutes later,when the Jamaican started dancing to Bob Marley’s ‘One Love’,Felix was carried off the Luzhniki Stadium track in the arms of her brother Wes.

Stumbling starting block

Bolt’s qualifying run in his favorite event was more complicated than it seemed at first. After he won the 100 on Sunday,he dropped a starting block on his foot during practice and said it was still tender.

With only two assured qualification spots from his heat,the 100 champion switched into a higher gear at the end of his race when,unexpectedly,Anaso Jobodwana appeared on his left shoulder. Bolt momentarily gritted his teeth but soon turned them into a grin as he held off the South African and took first place in his semifinal heat in 20.12 seconds. He never showed any unease about his right foot.

Curtis Mitchell was the top qualifier in 19.97 with a personal best time,but saw all his American teammates eliminated from the final. Isiah Young missed it by .03 seconds. Bolt was joined in the final by Jamaican teammates Nickel Ashmeade and Warren Weir.

If Bolt wins,he goes into the 4×100 relay seeking to win three golds at the worlds for the second time,matching his feat at the last two Olympics.

And after three silver medals on Thursday,the United States was ready to get in that golden mood again. But even if LaShawn Merritt added the 4×400 gold to the individual title by anchoring the relay team,the U.S. fell short in the men’s shot put and long jump.

Favorite Ryan Whiting,the season’s top performer,took silver with a toss of 21.57 meters,losing to David Storl of Germany,who retained his title with a throw of 21.73. And despite a big tradition in the long jump,the U.S. failed to medal. Aleksandr Menkov of Russia won,beating Ignisious Gaisah of the Netherlands with a world leading effort.

Russia got off to a great start when Olympic hammer throw champion Tatyana Lysenko (78.80 m) set a world championship record to retain her title,edging 2009 gold medalist Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland.