Usain Bolt and his fellow members of Jamaica’s victorious men’s 4x100 meres relay team were presented with their medals here by Donna Prather Williams, granddaughter of the late and legendary four-times Olympic champion Jesse Owens.

The storm which had turned the track into a stream two hours before the final session of the 15th International Association of Athletics World Championships may have passed, but electricity remained in the Bird’s Nest stadium tonight as Chinese athletes, perhaps inspired by the unlikely silver earned by their men’s 4x100 metres sprinters the previous night, added two more of the same colour.

Sebastian Coe, President elect of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), once again defended his sport against charges of widespread doping here at the final press conference jointly held with Chinese organisers of the World Championships. 

On a night when Ashton Eaton of the United States beat his own world decathlon record with a score of 9,045 points, and Britain’s Mo Farah collected a seventh consecutive global title, Usain Bolt secured an 11th World Athletics Championships gold by anchoring Jamaica to victory in the men’s 4x100 metres relay.

Matej Toth, winner of the men’s 50 kilometres race walking world title here today in 3 hours 40min 32sec, said afterwards he will not compete at next year’s World Race Walking Cup in Cheboksary because of the doping scandal involving many Russian walkers coached by the now suspended Viktor Chegin.

On the day when Liu Hong duly delivered the host nation its first gold of the World Athletics Championships in today’s women’s 20 kilometres race walk, with team-mate Xiuzhi Lu adding silver, Dafne Schippers of The Netherlands became the first European winner of the world 200 metres title since 2003.

For the second time in four days, Usain Bolt held off the challenge of Justin Gatlin of the United States here to complete his world 100/200 metre double in 19.55sec, the fastest 200m time run this year, and conclude a rare night of athletics that had already been punctuated with a historic triple jump of 18.21m by Christian Taylor, the second best ever achieved.

Usain Bolt hinted strongly tonight after completing his sprint double over Justin Gatlin here over 200m that he might finish his career at the Rio 2016 Olympics rather than at the following year’s IAAF World Championships in London as he has previously said.

South Africa’s Wayde Van Niekerk had to be taken to hospital here last night after winning the world 400 metres title in 43.48sec, the fastest time run since 2007.

Two female Kenyan athletes - 400 metres runner Joyce Zakary and 400m hurdler Francisca Koki Manunga - have been suspended following positive doping tests here at the International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships.

London Marathon chief executive Nick Bitel will hold urgent talks in Beijing this week with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) following the reinstatement of self-confessed drugs cheat Liliya Shobukhova.

On a night when 18-year-old Jianan Wang wowed the Bird’s Nest Stadium by winning bronze in a global final contested, unprecedentedly, by three Chinese athletes, Britain’s Greg Rutherford fed off all the excitement and took gold with a season’s best of 8.41 metres to complete his set of Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European titles.

Just like her fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt on the previous night, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce returned to the Stadium where she had won her first global 100 metres gold at the Beijing 2008 Olympics and did it all over again.

Russia's Liliya Shobukhova, officially stripped of her three Chicago and two London Marathon titles earlier this month, is free to compete again after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) agreed to support a seven-month reduction in the length of her suspension.

Usain Bolt resisted the challenge of the world’s fastest man this year, Justin Gatlin, to retain his world 100 metres title here tonight in what he described as his “hardest race.”