The attendance was definitely a problem. The embarrassingly empty stadium wasn't a good look, and the seats were only full later in the week after they started giving away free tickets and busing those people in. The heat was also as big of a problem as they anticipated, with the marathoners and race walkers (who didn't have the benefit of competing in the air-conditioned stadium) dropping like flies despite the midnight start.
But, for all its problems, Doha definitely had its moments. There was some scintillating competition and some new stars emerged over the last 10 days. And plenty of story lines were written as we now turn the page and look ahead to the Tokyo Olympics, which are less than 10 months away.
So, what were some of the best moments from Doha? Narrowing it down to 10, which wasn't easy. Because competition-wise, Doha delivered. This list is in no particular order. Also, honorable mention to those light shows before the sprint finals, which were simply awesome!
Mutaz Essa Barshim Delivers: Being the face of these Championships must not have been an easy assignment for Mutaz Essa Barshim. The defending champion in the men's high jump isn't just Qatari, he's actually from Doha! And on an electric Friday night, the hometown hero came through, clearing 7'9 1/4 on his first attempt to defend his title.
U.S. Men Dominate the Sprints: After a decade of being tormented by Usain Bolt, the U.S. male sprinters served notice that there's a new sheriff in town. Christian Coleman won the 100. Noah Lyles blew the field away in the 200. The U.S. won both relays. Other than the 400 and 400 hurdles, every race from 100 to 800 meters was won by an American. Eight medals (5 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) in the seven sprint races. Jamaica's total? One bronze, plus another in the mixed relay (and they didn't even make the final in the 4x1).
An EPIC Men's Shot Put Final: Simply put, this was the greatest men's shot put competition in history. FOUR men broke the previous championship record! In fourth place entering his final throw, Joe Kovacs uncorked a throw of 75'2 to move into the lead...by one centimeter! Ryan Crouser, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist, and defending champion Tomas Walsh had the same mark to finish second and third. Those were three of the seven best throws in history. Brazil's Darlan Romani threw 73'11, which was briefly the championship record and would've won every previous World Championship, but wasn't even enough to get on the podium.
Women's 400 Hurdles Showdown: When are people finally going to give Dalilah Muhammad her due? She's the Olympic gold medalist and world record holder, yet the only person NBC (and anybody else) ever talks about is Sydney McLaughlin. Their battle in the 400 hurdles was one of the most anticipated in the Championships. And they didn't disappoint. Muhammad broke her own world record to win gold, while McLaughlin ran the third-fastest time in history for silver. Then they both won gold as part of the USA's victorious 4x400 relay.
Sifan Hassan's Ridiculous Double: I'm gonna need someone to explain the scheduling of certain events to me. Because they made it virtually impossible to double! For example, the finals of the women's 1500 and 5000 weren't just on the same night, they were a half hour apart! So, after winning the 10,000, Sifan Hassan had to choose. She opted for the 1500, where she set a championship record to complete an absurd 1500-10,000 double!
DeAnna Price Hugging Everyone In Sight: DeAnna Price set the tone for the entire meet with her performance in the women's hammer throw on the opening weekend. Entering the meet, the U.S. had never won a medal in the women's hammer throw or a gold in any women's throwing event. Price checked off both of those boxes, launching the winning throw on her first attempt and watching as nobody was able to catch her. After which she was simply overcome with pure joy.
Pole Vault Duels: Heading into the meet, both pole vaults figured to be among the more competitive events on the program. And that proved to be exactly the case. In the women's event, Anzhelika Sidorova cleared 16'2-3/4 on the final jump of the competition to win gold and force Sandi Morris to settle for another silver. Then on the men's side, Sam Kendricks and Mondo Dulpantis matched each other jump for jump. They both cleared 19'7, but Kendricks had fewer misses, so he defended his World title.
Coming Out Parties: Donavan Brazier, all of 22, became the first American man to win a World Championship in the 800, setting a championship record in the process. Grant Holloway, who single-handedly won the NCAA indoor team title for Florida in March, took gold in the 110 hurdles at the ripe old age of 21. And 21-year-old Salwa Eid Naser ran the third-fastest time in history to win the
Mom Power: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took a break from the sport in 2017 to have a baby. She returned to the World Championships this year and won two gold medals (in the 100 and 4x100 relay), further cementing her place as the greatest female sprinter in history. Nia Ali has two kids. She won the 100 hurdles. And the great Allyson Felix, running in her eighth World Championships just 10 months after giving birth to her first child, won a pair of relay gold medals, giving her 14 career World Championship titles, the most in history.
New Event, New Records: One of Felix's gold medals came in the mixed 4x400 meter relay. At first, I was lukewarm about this new event, which will make its Olympic debut in Tokyo. But after seeing it in action, I'm a fan. It was cool to see men vs. women (or vice versa) and watch the different strategies play out. The U.S. set the world record in the heats, then changed the team completely and shattered that mark in the final. This event's gonna be around for a long time, and, in my opinion, it was a welcome addition to the program. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they changed it up and, instead of the traditional single-gender 4x4s, made this the final event of the meet...perhaps as early as Oregon 21.
And these moments didn't make my top 10, but still warrant mentioning: Germany's Nicklas Kaul had a ridiculous final three events to win the decathlon. Karsten Warholm edged Rai Benjamin in one of the fastest 400-meter hurdle races ever. Conseslus Kipruto won the men's steeplechase by .01 seconds (by comparison, Coleman won the 100 by .13 seconds and Lyles won the 200 by .12 seconds).
Finally, an act of ultimate sportsmanship, which came on the opening night of the Championships. In the heats of the men's 5000, Aruba's Johnathan Busby was struggling and on the verge of collapsing. Also trailing the field, Guinea-Bissau's Braima Dabo stopped and helped his competitor across the finish line. It's a moment that nobody who was watching will ever forget.
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