IAAF World Championships Day 3: Indian mixed relay team finishes seventh

The Indian 4x400 metres mixed relay team had booked an Olympics berth with a season-best timing yesterday, and today it takes part in the final.

India's V.K Vismaya (extreme right) passes on the baton to Jisna Mathew during the 4x400 metres mixed relay heats on Saturday at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.

Hello and welcome to Sportstar's Live coverage of Day three of the IAAF World Championships in Doha.

The 4*400m mixed relay team, comprising the quartet of Muhammed Anas, V.K. Vismaya, Jisna Mathew and Noah Nirmal Tom finished third in Heat 2 yesterday and booked a 2020 Tokyo Olympics berth. Today the team, India's biggest medal hope, will participate in the final.

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That's it for today! Thanks for tuning in.

TIME FOR THE WOMEN'S 100M FINALS!!!

• Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce wins the gold! Dina Asher-Smith bags the silver and Maria-Josee Ta Lou claims the bronze.
• Fraser-Pryce finishes the race at an impressive timing of 10.71s.

- 4x400 METRES MIXED RELAY FINAL -

• Muhammed Anas to begin the race for India in Lane 7. Vismaya is next. Jisna Mathew has received the baton. Noah Nirmal completes the race for India.
• USA gets gold, Jamaica bags silver and Bahrain claims bronze.
• The United States team comprising of Wilbert London, Allyson Felix, Courtney Okolo and Michael Cherry has created a NEW WORLD RECORD!
• India registers a season-best timing. Bahrain breaks the Asian record.
• Poland came up with an interesting strategy as it was the only team to begin the race with two male athletes. However, the Polish team could only finish fifth.

And it's finally time for the first-ever mixed relay final in the IAAF World Championships history!

- WOMEN'S 100 METRES SEMIFINALS -

• Maria-Josee Ta Lou, Elaine Thompson, Taehna Daniels, Dina Asher-Smith, Jonielle Smith, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Murielle Ahoure and Dafne Schippers are the eight athletes who have qualified for the final.
• BREAKING: Reigning two-time 200m World Champion Dafne Schippers has withdrawn from the 100m final.

We are 20 minutes away from the 4*400m mixed relay final featuring the Indian team!

There are seven more days left in the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships and more Indians will be in action every single day from here on. You can find the full schedule, with the names of Indian athletes in action, in the link below.

FULL SCHEDULE| IAAF World Championships 2019: Complete schedule, events, timings in IST, Indians in action

- MEN'S 200 METRES HEATS -

• There were seven heats in total and Adam Gemili of Great Britain has done the best timing - 20.06s (Heat 1), which is a season-best for him.
• Zhenye Xie (China - Heat 2), Alex Quinonez (Ecuador -Heat 3), Kyle Greaux (Trinidad & Tobago - Heat 4), Aaron Brown (Canada - Heat 5), Miguel Francis (Great Britain - Heat 5), Andre De Grasse (Canada - Heat 6) are the others to finish with an under-20.2s timing.
• ICYMI: Newly crowned world 100m champion Christian Coleman has withdrawn from the 200m at the World Championships, the United States Track and Field Federation confirmed Sunday.

FULL REPORT| World champion Coleman withdraws from 200m

• Other favourites Ramil Guliyev (Turkey - Heat 1), Yohan Blake (Jamaica - Heat 3), Noah Lyles (USA - Heat 7) and Jereem Richards (Trinidad and Tobago - Heat 7) have also qualified for the semifinals.

 

DAY 2 REVIEW:

Despite a baton fumble just before the last lap, India recovered nicely and entered the 4x400m mixed relay final at the World Athletics Championships in Doha on Saturday night.

The all-Kerala quartet of Muhammed Anas, V.K. Vismaya, Jisna Mathew and Noah Nirmal Tom clocked a season-best 3:16.14s to finish third in the semifinal, edging out Belgium by two hundredths of a second.

The final entry also brought India a Tokyo Olympics berth given to the top eight finishers of the mixed relay.

But, there were a few anxious moments as there was a small delay in the final baton exchange between Mathew and Tom who ran the last lap.

- Jabir, Dutee crash out -

Meanwhile, M.P. Jabir finished fifth, with 49.71s, in the men's 400m hurdles semifinal and failed to qualify for the final.

The 23-year-old Asian bronze medallist, who ran in the last lane, finished 16th overall, an impressive finish on the big stage.

Norway's Karsten Warholm, the world's fastest hurdler this year, topped the semifinals with 48.28s.

- Christian Coleman blasts to 100m gold -

Christian Coleman stormed to victory in the 100 metres at the World Championships in Doha on Saturday, emphatically shrugging off the missed drug test controversy which had threatened to derail his career.

The 23-year-old American, who escaped a doping ban earlier this month on a technicality, swept over the finish line in a world-leading 9.76sec to claim his first major outdoor championship gold medal.

Defending champion Justin Gatlin took silver in 9.89sec while Canada's Andre De Grasse claimed bronze in 9.90sec.

It completed a flawless championship campaign for Coleman, who had been the only man to duck under 10 seconds in both Friday's opening rounds and Saturday's semifinals.