Britain and Spain celebrate golds at World Athletics Championships

BRITAIN’S heptathlon heroine Jessica Ennis-Hill celebrated a remarkable achievement on Sunday (August 23), winning the gold medal at the IAAF World Athletics Championships being held in Beijing, a little over a year since giving birth to her first child.

Ennis-Hill built a comfortable lead over the two days of competition, and after winning her 800 metre race in the last of the seven punishing events told the BBC that she and her coach had never talked about the possibility of taking the gold: “We spoke about the bronze medal and that it would be amazing for a silver medal, but we never spoke about gold. I kind of thought it was a little beyond me this year.”

Her stunning victory followed Mo Farah retaining his 10,000 metre crown on Saturday, in 27 minutes, 1.13 seconds. There were gasps as Farah stumbled on the last laugh, but the tough Brit dug deep to race away in the final 100 metres.

The Spanish squad was also celebrating on Sunday, when Miguel Ángel López became their first gold medal winner. The walker triumphed in the men’s 20 kilometre race walk winning in a time of one hour, 19 minutes and 14 seconds.

With a total of 39 competitors, male and female, the Spanish have high hopes that the oldest athlete at the games and men’s captain, Jesus Angel Garcia will also obtain walking gold in the forthcoming 50 kilometre event.