If a few clues were gleaned as to the potential medal outcome in the first round heats this morning, the semi-finals definitively answered a few more questions.

The men s 4x400m Relay heats in Moscow were uneventful as all the usual suspects got through to the final.

It wasn t so much of a surprise that Zuzana Hejnova won the 400m Hurdles final; it was more the margin of victory that was the biggest shock of the race.

Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi cemented his status at the greatest steeplechaser of his generation by emulating his countryman Moses Kiptanui and securing a hat-trick of World titles with yet another supreme competitive performance.

Seldom does a race, even a hurdles race, end with the first two men spread-eagled on the track.

The 15-metre barrier lives to see another day.