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.”

Mo Farah won his sixth consecutive global title here tonight to lay claim to being Britain’s best ever championship performer.

Sergey Bubka, who lost out this week to Sebastian Coe in the race for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Presidency, has described his "deep disappointment" after being forced to miss the World Athletics Championships due to a family illness.

Thomas Bach held out hope to Allyson Felix today that she might yet be able to realise her ambition of challenging for both the 200 and 400m titles at next year’s Rio Olympics.

Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), recalled his days as an Olympic athlete representative with Sebastian Coe here today as he said he was “absolutely sure” that, under the Briton's impending Presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the two organisations would work “very, very closely together” to eradicate doping.

Usain Bolt has admitted he found the recent controversies about doping in the sport depressing - but has resisted the idea that he has sole responsibility for rescuing its reputation by winning clean in the Chinese capital against a field including the doubly sanctioned Justin Gatlin.