Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa won a scintillating men s 400m final in the Bird s Nest on Wednesday night, leading three men under 44 seconds the first time this has ever happened.

Zuzana Hejnova came to Beijing to defend her world title from Moscow two year, and after an injury-stricken 2014, in the final she had to deal with the whole new generation of fast and fierce ladies.

If anyone thought that Usain Bolt had already faced his toughest test of the championships, the 200m semi-finals suggested that his most difficult challenge is yet to come.

A fairly predictable first round of the women s 200m was saved at the last minute by Dina Asher-Smith.

A unique partnership between the IAAF s landmark social responsibility programme Athletes for a Better World (ABW) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was cemented on Wednesday (26).

When the gun fired for the men s 400m hurdles final in the Bird s Nest stadium on Tuesday night, Nicholas Bett knew exactly what he needed to do if he was to overcome the odds and accepted wisdom to claim Kenya s first ever global medal in the event.

The very nature of the men's 110m sprint hurdles makes it an event fraught with potential pitfalls and the opening round served up more drama than an episode of House of Cards.

It was far from a straightforward qualification round in the men s long jump.

In a surprisingly short qualification session for the women s pole vault and mercifully so given that was it was played out in the glare of the hot morning sun a decision was made to take the 14 women who had cleared 4.55m into Wednesday night s f...

We did not witness the same blistering times in the women s 400m heats on Monday as we saw in the opening round of yesterday s men s equivalent, but there was still enough to suggest that we should be set for a glorious crescendo in Thursday s final.