President Vladimir Putin, it was revealed, did his bit to boost the Russian medal tally at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships by putting in a personal call to javelin thrower Dmitry Tarabin three hours before his final.

Tarabin said he had been with his wife Mariya Abakumova, who will defend her world title tomorrow, when the call came through.

"The President wished me good luck and said that he believed in me," said Tarabin, who moved into bronze medal position with a sixth and final throw of 86.23 metres in an event won by the Czech Republic's Viteslav Vesely with 87.17m.

"I was completely inspired by the call from the President, I couldn't believe it.

"When I was throwing I was thinking that maybe President Putin was sitting by a TV watching me."

Bolt had put two metres between himself and the field halfway down the finishing straight before appearing to ease off before crossing the line in 19.66sec - which was nevertheless the fastest time run in the world this year.

As the 6ft 5in Bolt stepped off the gas, the slight figure of fellow Jamaican Warren Weir was still firing on all cylinders four places to the champion's right in lane eight, and the 23-year-old took silver in a personal best of 19.79 before exchanging celebratory hand slaps with his taller compatriot.

Curtis Mitchell of the United States took bronze in 20.05, 0.01sec ahead of the third Jamaican in the field, Nickel Ashmeade, and Britain's 19-year-old Adam Gemili, who had improved his personal best to 19.98 in the semi-final but clocked 20.08 on this occasion.

Jamaica's Usain Bolt celebrates with teammate Warren Weir after the won the gold and silver medals respectively in the 200 metres at the World Championships in Moscow

Bolt said he felt he had the race won at the 150 metres mark.

"I looked to my right and saw Warren, but I could tell he was tired so I wasn't too worried about that. I looked to my left, and there was no one else there.

"Over the years I have learned that when you run really fast and start getting tired, that is when you can get injured.

"So over the last 15, 20 metres I thought to myself, 'You know what? Why not back off?'

"Because I've got a few more races to run this season.

"As everyone knows, the 200 is my favourite event and I am always slightly more nervous about it because it means so much to me.

"The 100m is just for the fans, everyone wants to see a show and the fastest man in the world. But for me it means a lot more to come out and defend my 200m title here."

Bolt confirmed that he would not be risking taking up long jumping in case he got injured.

"My main goal next season is not get injured, to be honest. I want to go to the [2016] Rio Olympics and become the first man to win the 100 and 200m three times.

"That's my goal - so we'll see what happens."

Russia's Svetlana Shkolina celebrates her victory in the high jump before her home crowd

Shkolina cleared a personal best of 2.03m in a high jump event where her compatriot, Olympic champion Anna Chicherova, finished joint bronze medallist with Spain's Ruth Beitia on 1.97.

Silver went to the US athlete with the 2013 best of 2.04.

Barrett made first time clearances all the way to 2.03, but stopped there.

Only Francena McCorory, the last leg runner here, remained from the United States' Olympic-winning women's 4x400m of the previous year, and Russia's quartet, with a wave of noise buoying them up, prevailed in 3min 20.19sec, the best time recorded this year.

The US team timed at 3:20.41, with Britain - who had individual champion Christine Ohuruogu on the last leg - taking bronze in 3:22.61.

Australia's Olympic champion Sally Pearson appeared to be peaking perfectly to retain her world title after a season undermined by hamstring injuries as she produced the fastest semi-final time of 12.50, a season's best.

But Brianna Rollins, of the US, holder of the 2013 best of 12.26, found something extra in the final to take gold in 12.44, despite making what she described as "a very awful start."

Pearson, who reproduced her time to get silver, commented: "After the season I had, I can't be disappointed with second place."

Britain's naturalised American Tiffany Porter was soon leaping with joy after the scoreboard confirmed she had won bronze in a personal best of 12.55.

Vesely, the Czech Republic's European javelin champion, took his first global gold with a first round effort of 87.17m.

Finland's 2007 world champion Tero Pitkamaki took silver with 87.07m.

Tarabin's last throw of 86.23m took him beyond Kenya's Julius Yego, who had to settle for a national record of 85.40m.

Ethiopia's 29-year-old Olympic champion Meseret Defar waited until the final bend to strike before regaining the world 5,000m title she first won in 2007 in a time of 14:50.19.

She overtook her 21-year-old compatriot Almaz Ayana with 150 metres to go before finishing eight metres clear, with Ayana settling eventually for bronze in 14:51.33 behind Kenya's Mercy Cherono.

Uganda's Stephen Kiprotich wins the marathon at the World Championships in Moscow

Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda, whose personal best of 2 hours 07min 20sec ranks him no better than 155th in the marathon all-tiime world listings, underlined his credentials as a championship performer as he added the world title to the Olympic gold he won in London last year, finishing in 2:09.51 in glaringly hot conditions.

Silver and bronze went respectively to Lelisa Desisa in 2:10:12 and Tadese Tola in 2:10:23 of Ethiopia, with team-mate Tsegay Kebede fourth in 2:10.47.

"We were the winners today compared to the Kenyans," said Tola.

After the controversy over thepoor performance of their female marathon runners - who have been asked to provide written explanations - the Ethiopian Athletics Federation will surely be satisfied with this performance.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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