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US OPEN starts Today! Can Serena Williams finish her mission?

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The US Open starts today in New York. Serena Williams will look to complete the Calendar Slam, that is, winning all 4 Grand Slams in 1 Calendar year. This was last accomplished by Steffi Graf in 1988.

She has already completed her ‘Serena Slam’ after winning Wimbledon this year, by holding all 4 Grand Slam titles at once, since she won the US Open last year.

Serena is also chasing Steffi Graf’s 22 Grand Slam titles, the most in the Open era. She currently has 21. So this year, the US Open is a BIG DEAL to Serena.

Suga wishes her the best and will follow and update her progress in the tournament.

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The Closing Day Highlights from Beijing!

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Women’s Marathon

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Yesterday evening, Mare DiBaba, yes there is a 3rd, won the Women’s final for Ethiopia!

Women’s 5000m Final

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Ethiopia swept the 500m finals with Almaz Ayana winning Gold in a CR of 14:26.83 and Senbere Tefere, silver, both ahead of Genzebe Dibaba, World Record holder of the Women’s 1500m!

Women’s Javelin Throw Final

Germany’s Kathrina Molitor won Gold! China’s Lyo won silver making China even prouder.

Men’s High Jump Final

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Drama with the High Jump. The 4*400m Men’s relay should have been the last event but the High Jumpers were still going. China’s Guowei Zhang was put under a lot of pressure for Gold. The top 3 were all attempting a height of 2.36 but failed. So the bar was lowered to 2.34 to see who would prevail.The Canadian, Derek Drouin was the only one who made the jump, thus winning Gold. China’s Zhang and Ukraine’s Bondarenko shared Silver.

Women’s 4×400m Relay Final

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JAMAICA has beaten the USA for the first time in the Women’s4*400m Relay!!!!! GOLLLLLLLDDDD! What a run by the Jamaican girls! Experience in the end with Novlene. Kudos to the coach for that set up of Day to Jackson to McPherson to Williams-Mills. Perfect! Christine Day ran a super 1st leg, giving Jamaica the lead, handing off to Shericka Jackson to lengthen that lead to pressure USA’s Allyson Felix on the 3rd leg with McPherson who kept us in it, staying close behind her and Novlene Williams’ Mills did the rest with her experience. She ran her race to have enough left in the tank at the end to pass McCorory who was WL earlier this year, close to the line for Gold. This result moved Jamaica ahead of USA on the medal table. Wow!

Men’s 4×400m Final

USA won Gold in a WL 2:57.82. Trinidad & Tobago won Silver and Great Britain’s Rooney clipped Jamaica’s Javon ‘Donkey Man’ Francis at the line for Bronze. Thousandths of seconds apart. It was Matthews to Chambers to McDonald to Francis out from Lane 9. So it was a lot for Jamaica to do. However, Javon Francis started out too fast from 5th to pass USA in the 1st spot, then ran out of gas at the end. But did he really run out too fast? Based on his time, he ran his best 400m time ever, faster than that massive run in Moscow to take Jamaica from 5th to 2nd. So there is nothing more he could do. A better lane could have helped. Well done to the Men’s  4×400m relay team.

The Best moments from Beijing!

Bolt’s Treble, Mo Farah’s Triple Double,  Danielle Williams’s Gold in the 100m Hurdles, 400m Bartoletta’s Jump to upset Proctor in the Women’s Long Jump, Dafne Schipper’s brilliant 200m run, Jamaica denying the super US Quartet of Gold in the Women’s 4×400m relay and there was so much more! Certainly the most competitive World Championships by far. Every athlete had to come with their A game. The USA only managed to get 2 Gold medals from events on the track, Allyson Felix’s 400m Gold and the Men’s 4×400m Relay. Kenya finished 1st on the overall medal table with the same amount of Golds as little but tallawah, JAMAICA! Jamaica has finished for the first time ahead of rivals, the used to be mighty USA, with 7 Gold, 2 Silver and 3 Bronze medals. Quality over Quantity. The Jamaican athletes’ hard work, determination and confidence paid off. Props as well to their coaches. Brilliant, memorable performances and massive accomplishments to be written in history.

Suga’s favourite moments were Danielle Williams winning the 100m Hurdles, Usain Bolt beating Gatlin in the 100m then totally dismissing him in the 200m, VCB getting a Bronze in the 200m and the Jamaican ladies denying the US quartet in the 4 × 400m Relay!

Here is a list reminding you of Jamaica’s medal winning performances, Jaminate!

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Well done Jamaica and all other athletes and countries for putting on a great, competitive show in Beijing! Thanks for Reading! This is Suga signing off. 

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Saturday am Beijing! 2 more GOLD medals for Jamaica!

Women’s High Jump Final

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Mariya Kuchina of Russia wins Gold with a PB of 2.01. A favourite of ours, Blanka Vlasic managed to come back from injuries to win silver. She now has 4 medals in the World Championships. Chicherova, also from Russia won bronze.

Men’s 5000m Final

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Image: theguardian.com

Great Britain’s Mo Farah makes history with a ‘triple double’. He won the 5000m and 10000m in London Olympics 2012, again at Worlds 2013 and now again in Beijing! Well done Mo Farah!

Men’s Decathalon Final World Record!

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USA’s Ashton Eaton takes back his own World Record and now sets a World Record of 9045 points.Congratulations to him!

Men’s Discus Final

Dacres did well but could not reproduce the same distance that got him into the Final with a throw over 65. He finished 7th with a throw of 64.22. Poland’s Malachowski won Gold with 67.40. His PB is over 71! Harting of Germany won silver with 66.90 and another gentleman from Poland, Urbanek won bronze with 65.18.

Women’s 4×100m Relay Final

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JAMAICA wins Gold in the Women’s 4×100m in style with a Championship record of 41.07! Clean changes from VCB to Morrison to Thompson to Fraser-Pryce. USA was 2nd with 41.68 SB and the same team from the Heats and Trinidad & Tobago win Bronze with 42.03 NR.

Men’s 4×100m Relay Final

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The Jamaican men have done it! The US were to win on paper but clearly they cannot handle the pressure of Jamaica beside them. Their strategy of using the same team in the heats and finals did not work. They still had a major fumble from Tyson to Rogers, the 3rd to 4th leg. It was thought that Jamaica had to be perfect to win but we were not perfect either! Asafa had an outstretched hand that was waiting too long for Carter to hand over, then Asafa made up crazy ground on Gatlin and ran so fast that he ran in too close for the changeover to Ashmeade. Ashmeade has made up for his previous performances, running a hell of a leg with an almost perfect changeover to Bolt who blazed down the stretch for the 37.36WL win.

Mike Rogers was just out of the changeover position so the American quartet were disqualified. They had to fold up their flag during the celebration. Really unfortunate again for the US. So now CHINA wins silver and Canada bronze.

Jamaica now move ahead of USA into 2nd on the Medal table behind Kenya! Can they upset USA even further and maintain that lead with the 4×400m relays? Hard task but as we saw today, anything is possible.

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The Closing Weekend Schedule for Beijing!

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Look out for Jamaica in the Men’s Discus Throw tomorrow morning and the Relays! We are looking for a medal from Fedrick Dacres, possibly another Gold! With regards to the relays, the Women’s 4×400m Jamaica team has gone through to the Final with the 3rd fastest time behind Nigeria and the super USA team. The Men’s 4×400m team has also gone through to the Finals with the 3rd fastest time behind Trinidad & Tobago and the USA. Javon ‘Donkey Man’ Francis seemed injured after he anchored the relay and had to seek medical attention. He was holding his shoulder in pain from the impact of Hugo de Sousa of Brazil who collided into him and fell over when changing the baton. We hope he will be ok for the final!

The Jamaican ladies are through to the Women’s 4×100m Finals with a WL41.84! (Simpson to Morrison to Stewart to Fraser-Pryce).They were followed by Great Britain and Canada.

The USA ladies are also through to the 4×100m Relay Final with a time of 42. (English Gardner to Felix to Prandini to Todd)Trinidad & Tobago finished second and The Dutch, who had Schippers on the back stretch, finished third to qualify.

Germany and Russia are the fastest losers.

Men’s 4×100m Relay

One of Jamaica’s athletes, looked like Tracey who was to anchor, got injured during the warm up before the 4×100m relay. He hopped off the field with ice on his ankle/foot. He will be replaced by Ashmeade.

USA was way ahead in Heat 1 of the Men’s 4×100m with their star team, Brommell to Gatlin to Gay to Roger, perhaps to practice safe baton changes and they were clean. They had a time of 37.91. Great Britain 2nd. Germany 3rd.

Jamaica (Carter to Powell to Dwyer to Ashmeade) ran a good race for the second Heat with sensational changeovers finishing with 37.41 SB. France 2nd. China 3rd. Antigua & Barbuda and Canada from the same Heat go through as fastest losers.

Enjoy !!!

*Channels – TVJ/TVJSN

SATURDAY MORNING, AUGUST 29- Jamaica time

4:00am     Men’s Javelin Throw Decathalon Group A

4:35am     Women’s 400m Masters Final

4:45am     Men’s 800m Masters Final

5:20am     Men’s Javelin Throw Decathalon Group B

5:30am     Women’s High Jump Final

6:15am     Women’s 800m Final

6:30am     Men’s 5000m Final

6:50am     MEN’S DISCUS THROW FINAL

7:10am     Men’s 1500m Decathalon

7:50am     WOMEN’S 4×100m RELAY FINAL

8:10am     MEN’S 4×100M RELAY FINAL

SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 29- Jamaica time

6:30pm     Women’s Marathon Final

SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 30- Jamaica time

5:30am     Men’s High Jump Final

5:45am     Women’s Javelin Throw Final

6:15am     Women’s 5000m Final

6:45am     Men’s 1500m Final

7:05am     WOMEN’S 4×400M FINAL

7:25am     MEN’S 4×400M FINAL

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1 more GOLD for Jamaica, 2 Silvers and a Bronze! Am Update & Tonight’s Schedule!

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Friday am Highlights from Beijing!

Women’s 100m hurdles Semi Finals

Semi Final 1

Jamaica’s Champion, Danielle Williams held off World Leader, Sharika Nelvis from the USA with a PB of 12.58. The fastest Semi Final. Nelvis ran 12.59.

USA’s Dawn Harper-Nelson crashed and burned from about the 2nd or 3rd hurdle.

Semi Final 2

Drama. USA’s collegiate Champion, Kendra Harrison false started. She went way out of the blocks.They fantastic 4 are now down to 2.

GB’s Confident Tiffany Porter blazed through easily with a tine of 12.62 ahead of Cindy Roleder of Germany.

Jamaica’s Kimberly Laing was way behind so failed to qualify.

Semi Final 3

USA’s Defending Champion, Brianna Rollins won in 12.71 and Danielle’s sister, Shermaine had a bad start and was behind but persevered and powered through to come 2nd and qualify. Well done Shermaine.

WOMEN’S 200M FINALS! Suga called it!

Image: theguardian.com
Image: theguardian.com

What a cracker!

Dafne Schippers runs a Championship record of 21.63! She passed Elaine Thompson at the end. Elaine ran 21.66, her PB, also faster than the Championship record, making her the second fastest ever at World Champs! BUT you can never count out the veteran VCB! Veronica Campbell-Brown was ahead for most of the race. She ran the race of her life in a young A field finishing 3rd SUB 22 – 21.97.

Silver and Bronze for Jamaica!

USA’s McGrone came 4th and GB’s Dina Asher Smith 5th.

Our Sherone Simpson finished last but with her Season’s best.

WOMEN’S LONG JUMP FINAL

USA’s Bartoletta has made the right move to stop running. She has won Gold in the Women’s Long Jump final with a huge jump of 7.14, ahead of favourite GB’s Proctor who won silver with 7.07.

Men’s 110m Hurdles!

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The Russian wins! Oliver hit the first hurdle badly. Sergey Shubenkov won in 19.98! Hansle Parchment of Jamaica won silver after a horrible start but persevered and finished fast. USA’s Merritt won Bronze.

France’s Martinot-Lagarde and Bascou came 4th and 5th.

Ja’s McLeoud came 6th. Once he stops hitting hurdles he can win.

Women’s 100m Hurdles

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Image: The Jamaica Observer

DANIELLE WILLIAMS WINS GOLD FOR JAMAICA IN THE 100M HURDLES FINAL! WOW! 12.57 PB. What were the odds?! 12.5 for the win and 8.5 if she placed in top 3. Don’t you wish you had that tip. But after she beat USA’s WL Nelvis this am in the semi final she was in good standing.

The German, Roleder wins silver and Talay! from Belarus Bronze edging out GB and USA!

*Channels: TVJ/TVJSN

FRIDAY NIGHT, AUGUST 28 – Jamaica time

6:30pm     Men’s 50km Race Walk Final

8:00pm     Men’s 110m Hurdles Decathalon

9:05pm     Men’s Discus Throw Decathalon Group A

9:15pm     WOMEN’S 4*400M RELAY HEATS

9:40pm     MEN’S 4*400m RELAY HEATS

10:20pm   Men’s Discus Throw Decathalon Group B

11:00pm   WOMEN’S 4*100M RELAY HEATS

11:20pm   MEN’S 4*100M RELAY HEATS

12:15am    Men’s Pole Vault Decathalon

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CONGRATS Usain and Shericka! Thursday AM Update, Schedule for Friday’s Action!

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110M Hurdles Men

Shubenkov of Russia, Aries Merritt and Oliver of the USA and France’s Bascou all looking superb. France’s LaGarde should qualify as fastest loser and is one to watch.

Ja’s Parchment is looking good as well. He came second vs the Russian. McLeoud will be in the mix too. Hitting lots of hurdles finishing 2nd vs Aires.

Riley didn’t make the final.

200m Semi-Final

Semi Final 1

Elaine Thompson continues to look impressive easing up in about the last 50m with a time of 22.13.

McGrone of the USA was way behind in 2nd.

Semi Final 2

Dafne Schippers looking extremely good! She jogged 22.36. She looked side to side in the stretch. Suga thinks she will have a narrow edge over Elaine. She will have a massive finish.

Sherone qualified coming 3rd in 22.53.

Semi Final 3

VCB was way behind but still qualified for the final as Fastest loser. Look out for young Great Britain’s Dina Asha Smith will be in the mix, winning in 22.13. Continuing to improve her PB. USA’s Tarmoh qualified as well coming 2nd.

Men’s Triple Long Jump Final

USA gets their 2nd Gold medal of the Championship with Christian Taylor winning and Cuba’s Richardo won silver.

400m Women’s Final

Allyson Felix flew for the first 200m and led the whole way winning in 49.26 WL.

Shaunae Miller came from behind but didn’t have enough gas to catch Felix, winning silver in 49.67.

SHERICKA JACKSON won Bronze for Jamaica. The 21 yr old ran extremely well running her PB at 49.99.

Jamaica ran 3,4,5,6! Well done all of you! Day 4th, McPherson 5th out of lane 9 and Novlene 6th out of lane 1.

They were all on the floor after the line. What a race!

200m MEN’s FINAL!

USAIN BOLT finishes all arguments and ran a hell of a race finishing in 19.55! He said he had no doubt about the 200m and takes it more personal than the 100. Gatlin ran his PB earlier this year of 19.57, so with Bolt having more gas in the tank we can see why he was positive he would win. Gatlin was unlikely to reproduce that time or better after running the 100m and all those rounds. Gatlin dismissed!

Gatlin came off the curb well, close to Bolt and even went slightly ahead of Bolt early on the stretch. But Bolt stepped up his gear and won convincingly with time to watch the screen and celebrate before the line.

So Gatlin settles with silver at 19.74 and no surprise with SA’s Jobodwana 3rd with a NR of 19.87. Edward from Panama in 4th with a SB of 19.87. Hughes came fifth with a PB of 20.02.

Ashmeade was out of sight expectedly. Dead last. Not even up like 7.

USAIN BOLT < -> WORLD BOSS

BEIJING FRIDAY SCHEDULE !!! It’s RELAY TIME!

*Channels – TVJ/TVJSN

*Driving? – Hits 92FM

FRIDAY MORNING, AUGUST 28 – Jamaica time

3:15am    Men’s High Jump Decathalon

6:00am    Women’s Javelin Throw Qualification Group A

6:25am    WOMEN’S 100M HURDLES SEMI-FINAL

6:50am    Women’s Long Jump Final

6:55am    Men’s 1500m Semi-Final

7:20am    Men’s 400m Decathalon

7:25am    Women’s Javelin Throw Qualification Group B

8:00am    WOMEN’S 200M FINAL

8:20am    MEN’S 110M HURDLES FINAL

8:35am    WOMEN’S 100M HURDLES FINAL

FRIDAY NIGHT, AUGUST 28 – Jamaica time

6:30pm     Men’s 50km Race Walk Final

8:00pm     Men’s 110m Hurdles Decathalon

9:05pm     Men’s Discus Throw Decathalon Group A

9:15pm     WOMEN’S 4*400M RELAY HEATS

9:40pm     MEN’S 4*400m RELAY HEATS

10:20pm   Men’s Discus Throw Decathalon Group B

11:00pm   WOMEN’S 4*100M RELAY HEATS

11:20pm   MEN’S 4*100M RELAY HEATS

12:15am    Men’s Pole Vault Decathalon

Thursday’s Schedule for Beijing! Finals in the am!

*Channels – TVJ/TVJSN

*Driving? – Hits 92FM

THURSDAY MORNING, AUGUST 27 – Jamaica time

6:00am     Women’s Hammer Throw Final

6:05am     MEN’S 110M HURDLES SEMI-FINAL

6:10am     Men’s Triple Jump Final

6:35am     WOMEN’S 200M SEMI-FINAL

7:05am     Women’s 800m Semi-Final

7:40am     WOMEN’S 400M FINAL

7:55am     MEN’S 200M FINAL

THURSDAY NIGHT, AUGUST 27 – Jamaica time

7:30pm    Women’s 20km Race Walk Final

8:00pm    Men’s 100m Decathalon

8:45pm    Men’s High Jump Qualification

9:05pm    Men’s Long Jump Decathalon

10:55pm  Men’s Shot Put Decathalon

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What happened this am in Beijing?! -Bolt says he will NOT lose to Gatlin in the 200m Final, VCB runs out of her lane in the 200m and more!

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BEIJING WEDNESDAY AM UPDATE:

400m Hurdles Final

Hejnova of the Czech Republic wins Gold! Little from the USA came 2nd to upset teammate, Tate who won Bronze.

Jamaica’s Janieve Russell 5th and where was Kaliese Spencer?! At first I thought she disappointed but she apparently hit a hurdle which put off her whole race and sadly she finished last.

Men’s Javelin Final

Kenya’s Julius Yego won Gold! KENYA winning in Javelin! Finally. They have been killing animals that way for ages. Now it’s dinner time. He is now the 3rd man in history to throw 92.72m. Now WL.

200m Women’s Heats

All 3 Jamaican ladies through to the semis. Elaine and VCB won their heats impressively. BUT VCB was lucky to not get DQd, as she ran into the outside line on the curb and stayed in that athlete’s lane all the way to the finish line! Luckily it was not an athlete from the USA that would complain and the officials stated that VCB did not impede her because the other athlete was way behind.

Sherone came 2nd in her Heat.

Dafne Schippers is running the 200m! She looks even stronger than the 100m. She is strong and will finish fast. Look out Elaine and Tarmoh!

Okagbare dropped out before the heats were run.

200m Men Semis

Semi Final 1

Where was Weir?! Weir has not been on top of his form but we all expected better. Weir was in a packed semi final with GB’s Hughs, the Greek, Ashmeade, Martina and Lemaitre.

Weir normally has a fast finish. Instead, he ran out too fast and had nothing left for the final 80m or so. He finished way behind in 7th.

Hughs was 1st in 20.14.

Ashmeade surprisingly stepped it up to 2nd. Suga still does not expect anything impressive from him in the final. He is yet to prove himself when it counts.

Martina came 3rd in 20.20 SB

Lemaitre last.

Semi Final 2

Panama’s Edward, Gatlin, Qatar’s Ogunode and Forte

19.87 was the winning time for Gatlin. Edward was 2nd and Forte was way behind. He was running with men of a different class.

Semi Final 3

Usain took it easily in 19.95s followed closely by SA’s Jobodwana and Guliyev from Turkey in 3rd.

In an interview, Usain Bolt said he will NOT lose to Gatlin in the final. He will do whatever it takes!

See pic with all Qualifiers for the final!

Lane assignents of interest for the 200m Men’s final:

Lane 4 -Gatlin

Lane 5 – Hughes

Lane 6 – Bolt

Lane 7 – Jobodwana

Lane 8 – Ashmeade

Lane 9 – Edward

Men’s 400m Final

South Africa’s Van Niekerk ran out crazy fast and sustained his lead around the curb, then kicked up another gear to hold off USA’s LeShawn Merritt who won silver and Kerani James tried hard but finished 3rd.

Thursday’s Schedule for Beijing! Finals in the am!

*Channels – TVJ/TVJSN

*Driving? Hits 92FM

THURSDAY MORNING AUGUST 27 – Jamaica time

6:00am     Women’s Hammer Throw Final

6:05am     MEN’S 110M HURDLES SEMI-FINAL

6:10am     Men’s Triple Jump Final

6:35am     WOMEN’S 200M SEMI-FINAL

7:05am     Women’s 800m Semi-Final

7:40am     WOMEN’S 400M FINAL

7:55am     MEN’S 200M FINAL

THURSDAY NIGHT, AUGUST 27 – Jamaica time

7:30pm    Women’s 20km Racewalk Final

8:00pm    Men’s 100m Decathalon

8:45pm    Men’s High Jump Qualification

9:05pm    Men’s Long Jump Decathalon

10:55pm  Men’s Shot Put Decathalon