Seven gold medals were awarded Saturday on the next-to-last day of the World Athletics Championships in Germany.
Kenya took the gold medal in the first event Saturday, as Abel Kirui set a championship record time of two hours, 56 minutes and 54 seconds in men's marathon.
In the evening, Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk set a new world record of 77.96 meters on her way to claiming gold in the women's hammer throw.
But the evening session brought a mixture of triumph and disappointment for Team USA. In one of the highlights of the night, American Dwight Phillips captured the men's long jump gold with a leap of 8.54-meters. Phillips says he was thrilled to represent his country and honor the memory of U.S. Olympic legend Jessie Owens.
"For me I was just honored that I was able to come out here today and represent the USA and represent this JO (Jessie Owens) symbol that we're wearing on our uniform," he said.
The U.S women's four-by-400-meter relay team easily advanced to the final, after building such an extensive lead that anchor runner Sanya Richards practically trotted to the finish line. But despite their success, Richards says the team will be different in the final. "For the finals we intend to add LaShinda Demus and Allyson Felix. I'm not sure who will stay out of the three today for the fourth leg, but I think with the addition of those two ladies we'll have a very strong team," he said.
But not everything went so well for the American women, as they failed to qualify for the four-by-100-meter relay final. One night after the U.S. men were disqualified from the same event, Muna Lee tripped and fell during the third leg of the race and was unable to finish.
She was carried off the track on a gurney, but the extent of her injury is not yet known. With Team USA out of the running, Jamaica easily outpaced the Bahamas to win the gold in 42.06 seconds.
Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya passed Ethiopia's Meseret Defar in the last 25-meters to take the gold medal in the women's 5,000. Sylvia Jebiwott Kibet of Kenya also slipped by Defar to claim the silver medal.
In men's results, Usain Bolt got his third gold medal of the championships as part of Jamaica's winning four-by-100-meter team, setting a new championship mark of 37.31 seconds. And Australian Steven Hooker took home the gold in the men's pole vault with a leap of 5.90 meters.
