India ended its campaign at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships at the 58th spot in the medal tally which saw US finishing at the top.
While the 27-member Indian contingent was not expected to win any medals at the 10-day event which ended on Sunday, it produced three finalists in the mixed 4x400m relay, men’s 3,000m steeplechase and women’s javelin throw.
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Out of these, steeplechaser Avinash Sable and the mixed 4x400m team secured quotas for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Javelin thrower Annu Rani finished eighth and thus missed out on qualification.
24-year-old Avinash clocked 8:21:37 minutes in the final race of the men’s 3000m steeplechase event and finished at the 13th spot to secure the Olympic quota.
In the 4x400m relay event, the Indian quartet of Muhammed Anas, VK Vismaya, Jisna Mathew and Tom Nirmal Noah clocked 3 minutes 15.77 seconds in the final race to finish seventh in the field of eight countries. Before that, the Indian team had finished third in its heat and seventh overall to qualify for the finals, which had ensured them a berth for next year’s Tokyo Olympics berth.
US collected a total of 29 medals to reinforce its dominance of world athletics, with most of its 14 gold, 11 silver and four bronze medals coming from track events. US was followed by Kenya (5 golds), Jamaica (3 golds) and China (3 golds).
Speaking after the final evening session, IAAF President Sebastian Coe noted that six championship records had been set during the course of the event, 43 countries had won medals, and athletes from 68 different nations had achieved at least one top-eight placing.
“The world’s athletes have put on the best show in the history of the IAAF World Athletics Championships, according to the competition performance rankings which are used as an objective measure of the quality of international competition,” Coe was quoted as saying by IAAF.org.
“We are proud of the fact we reach more countries than any other sport,” added Coe.
“Just look at the breadth and depth – 43 countries on the medals table and 86 national records set. We want our athletes to experience different cultures and different conditions. It’s what makes our sport so accessible,” he said.
