Robert Korzeniowski of Poland captured his third World Championship title in the 50-kilometer walk, completing the distance in a world best time of three hours, 36 minutes and three seconds.
His time is not considered an official world record because the event is not ratified by the IAAF. As a result, Korzeniowski will not receive the $100,000 prize paid to athletes who set new world records at these games.
The women's shot put gold went to Svetlana Krivelyova of Russia, with a throw of 20.63 meters. Perdita Felicien of Canada was a surprise winner in the women's 100-meter hurdles, breaking the tape in 12.53 seconds. American Miesha McKelvy picked up a bronze in the event.
No surprises in the men's 1,500 or the women's 400-meters. Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco took the 1,500 gold, completing the distance in three minutes, 31.77 seconds, while Ana Guevara of Mexico clocked a time of 48.89 seconds to win gold in the 400-.
The last event in the men's decathlon was also the final event of the night. Despite finishing the men's 1,500 meter decathlon event, 11th in the 12-man race, American Tom Pappas sealed the gold medal in the 10 discipline event with a total of 8,750 points, giving him the unofficial title of the best all-around athlete in the world. Roman Sebrele of the Czech Republic took silver with 8,634 points.
Pappas said he had a strategy heading into the final event. "I knew Roman was going to take it out and run fast, so I just wanted to run my own race and basically all I wanted to do was keep him in my sights and not let him get too far away. And I knew after the third lap at 1,200 meters I had it won," he said.
Just past the half-way point of the Championships, Russia leads the medals table with a total of 8, including 4 gold. The United States is currently second with 7 medals, 3 of them gold.