This is part five of following 10 athletes who have made major impacts at The Armory as they compete at IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China. Those athletes are David Verburg, Erik Sowinski, Matthew Centrowitz, Evan Jager, Omar Craddock, Sharika Nelvis, Phyllis Francis, Brenda Martinez, Shannon Rowbury and Janeva Stevens. This is not to say we won’t be mentioning others, but those 10 will be the main focus in our recaps, which will be posted on August 23, 25, 27, 29 and 30.

By Elliot Denman // Photo by John Nepolitan

BEIJING – While the men’s 1500-meter medals upstairs at The Bird’s Nest Stadium were being presented to Asbel Kiprot (3:34.40) and Elijah Manangoi (3:34.43) of Kenya, and Abdalaati Iguider of Morocco (3:34.67), and the Kenyan flag raised for the seventh time at the 15th World Championships of Track and Field, down below, in the mixed zone, Matthew Centrowitz  was trying to explain his weariness.

“I’m tired right now; I’m exhausted, the last four days have really taken a toll,” said Armory favorite Centrowitz, his run of World Championships medals at an end.

With three Team USA qualifiers into the 12-man field for the final, for just the second time at the Worlds, the meet first staged in 1983, America’s hopes were lofty. Centro ran eighth in 3:36.13, but Leo Manzano (10th in 3:37.26) and Robby Andrews (11th in 3:38.29) could not race into contention, either.

It became an all-out stretch drive to decide the medals and Kiprop, the celebrated 26-year-old who’d won this race in 2013 in Moscow and 2011 in Daegu, after placing fourth at Berlin in 2009, did it again with the sprint the others couldn’t withstand.

Just 18/100ths of a second separated second place from fourth and the desperation, diving medal bid of Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria (3:34.76) fell just short. And hard on their heels in this wild finish were Kenya’s Silas Kiplagat (sixth at Worlds in 2013, second in 2011), fifth this time in 3:34.81, and New Zealand’s Nick Willis, another runner familiar to Armory fans, sixth in 3:35.46.

Centro had taken the Worlds 1500 silver in 2013 and the bronze in 2011, but this wasn’t his night to reach the podium a third time.

“These were the best runners in the world, as they should be. I wanted to be up there, it just wasn’t to be.”

A third hard 1500 in four days – first round was Thursday, semifinals Friday – had come at a cost.

“Plain and simple, today wasn’t our day,” said Manzano, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist. “We went out there, we fought well, but it didn’t happen. I think Matt acquitted himself well. Robby was tough and I tried to make a move up to the lead pack, but my body wasn’t up to it.”

Andrews considered the whole worlds experience a great buildup to the 2016 Olympic Trials and, all going well, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

“We’ve got a whole year to get ready for it,” said Andrews, another Armory veteran, out of Manalapan, N.J. High School and the University of Virginia.

“I was happy with my plan,” continued Andrews. “I was on the inside (lane one) the whole way. I don’t have any excuses. I gave it my best shot. Just making the final (of his first Worlds) was an achievement,”

Derek Drouin had been billed for a starring role at the 2014 Millrose Games at the Armory, but it didn’t happen. The Canadian high jumper, a former NCAA champion at Indiana, had to bail out with an injury.

But he’s obviously in perfect health now, shown his by stunning World Championships win last night, capping Canada’s best-ever showing at Worlds.

On a runway drenched by an earlier shower, Drouin mastered the conditions to claim the gold.  He and Ukraine’s Bohdan Bondarenko and China’s Guowel Zhang were deadlocked after all three cleared 2.33 meters (7-7 ¾), but missed three at 2.36 (7-8 ¾.) It now went to a jump-off and Drouin cleared 7-8 while the others missed.

Mare Dibaba gave Ethiopia its first-ever Worlds women’s marathon title with a down-to-the-wire, one-second victory over Kenya’s Helah Kiprop, 2:27:35 to 2:27:36.

Serena Burla of St. Louis was the first USA woman to complete the 26.2 miler, with its route past many of the city’s most iconic locations, placing 10th in the 67-runner field in 2:31:06.

Second American marathoner over the line was Esther Erb of Hopewell Township, N.J., an assistant coach on the Rider University track and field staff. Erb ran her season-best time of 2:38:15, good for 24th place.

Mare Dibaba, the marathon champion, is no relation of countrywoman Genzebe Dibaba, winner earlier here of the 1500 meters (4:08.09.)

Aiming for a double Sunday night, Genzebe Dibaba settled for third place in the 5000 meters at 14:44.14 as the gold went to countrywoman Almaz Ayana  (in the runaway meet-record time of 14:26.83.) But it wasn’t close to the 5000 world record of 14:11.15 owned by Tirunesh Dibabe, Genzebe’s big sister.

A world record would have meant a $100,000 bonus check – but just one was handed out at the 2015 Worlds, to decathlon champion Ashton Eaton for his 9,045-point total Friday and Saturday.

Englewood, N.J. resident Nicole Tully (who was Nicole Schappert in her starring days at Villanova) was the lone American 5000-meter finalist, and placed 13th in 15:27.43.

“I just couldn’t find that extra gear you need to compete with these great runners,” said Tully.

Team Jamaica was just too strong for Team USA, seeking its first Worlds women’s 4x100 relay title since 2009.  Anchored by Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price, Jamaica brought the baton around the track Saturday in the meet-record time of 41.07 seconds. USA’s English Gardner, Allyson Felix, Jenna Prandini and Jasmine Todd took the silver in 41.68, ahead of Trinidad and Tobago’s 42.03.

Said Gardner, the Voorhees, N.J. resident and former star at Eastern Regional High School and the University of Oregon, “the first leg is always a tough leg. You set the tone for the rest of the team. I basically just went out there and did the best I could and get as much as I could on the first let to set my team up for a medal. I think we all handled our job well.

“It (the silver medal) means a lot, this is my second one running with USA in the 4x1 and coming out here and getting a medal. You always want to go out there and do better. We have next year (the Rio Olympics) and I’m definitely excited for it.”

“We’re all going to work as hard as we can to be able to give the United States the best performance they deserve.”

More disappointment came Team USA’s way in the women’s 4x400 final Sunday night.

Veterans Natasha Hastings and Sanya Richards-Ross handled first and second-leg duty for the Americans but it still took third leg Allyson Felix, the Worlds 400 champion, to rally the American team from second to first, passing off to anchor Francena McCorory with the lead on anchor.

After a shaky baton pass, McCorory seemed to have the race under control, only to see Jamaica’s Novlene Williams-Mills rally to win it in the final 10 meters, 3:19:13 to 3:19.44.

But there was no beating the Team USA men in the 4x400, as LaShawn Merritt fought off Trinidad and Tobago’s Machel Cedeno on anchor to take the golds in 2:57.82.8.

His relay partners were David Verburg, Tony McQuay and Bryshon Nellum,

Queensite Lalonde Gordon, the 2012 Olympic 400 bronze medalist, ran second leg for T&T.  With both teams credited with 2:58:51 clockings, Great Britain nosed out Jamaica for the bronze.  It was the lone relay loss for Jamaica at the Worlds.

Find our previous World Championships recap here:

http://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45586&do=news&news_id=363668

Find live results here: 

http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/15th-iaaf-world-championships-4875/timetable/byday

Find viewing information here: 

http://worldchampionships.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=744&do=news&news_id=362146