BEIJING -- IAAF World Championships history was made Sunday morning as USATF champion Tori Bowie ran the fastest first round time in the history of the World Championships in 10.88, and the men’s 400 meters saw 18 men run sub-45 in the first round. The action continues in Beijing with Sunday’s evening session and runs through Sunday, August 30.

Team USA cruises through women’s 100m

Tori Bowie (Sandhill, Mississippi) had a picture-perfect start and was never challenged in the first heat, winning easily in 10.88, the fastest first round time in meet history. Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce tied her time in a later round to share the distinction. Jasmine Todd (Chandler, Arizona) was careful out of the blocks in heat five and ran a conservative race to easily claim third in 11.29 to advance to the semifinal. English Gardner (Voorhees, New Jersey) placed second in the final heat in 11.16 and also advanced automatically.

Kovacs has best throw of qualifications to lead USA into men’s shot put final

Reese Hoffa (Augusta, Georgia) was the second thrower in Group A and his easy 20.75m/68-1 made him the first man to automatically advance to the final. Joe Kovacs (Nazareth, Pennsylvania) was the next to automatically qualify, throwing 21.36m/70-1 on his second attempt, the farthest throw of the qualifying rounds. Christian Cantwell (Eldon, Missouri) grabbed a spot in tonight’s final with a 20.63m/67-8.25 on his final attempt, just missing the auto mark but placing fifth overall. Jordan Clarke (Anchorage, Alaska) had a best of 19.89m/65-3.25 on his third attempt and finished one place out of qualifying for the final, taking 13th overall.

Newbies advance in women’s 400mH

Cassandra Tate (Loranger, Louisiana) was the leader most of the way in heat three, coming off the final bend with a slight advantage and hurdling safely down the stretch to win in 54.27, her second-fastest time ever. Kori Carter (Claremont, California) went out comfortably in heat four and was fourth heading into the final curve. She had a slight problem at the top of the curve but recovered well and made up ground down the final straight to take third in 56.22 and advance to the semifinal. Shamier Little (Chicago, Illinois) was out very quickly in the fifth and final heat and had the lead at the fifth barrier. Coming off the curve she was second and then had trouble at hurdle ten, but she held on to take the final auto qualifying spot in fourth in 56.47.

Fast times for the men’s 400m

David Verburg (Lynchburg, Virginia) ran with his hip number sticking to his neck for a lot of the first heat, but he didn’t seem to be bothered as he turned in a very impressive 44.43 to win and move on to the semifinal with a time just outside his lifetime best. His time is the second-fastest ever in the first round of the World Championships. LaShawn Merritt (Portsmouth, Virginia) controlled the third heat and was never in danger as he won in 44.51. Vernon Norwood (New Orleans, Louisiana) made up ground over the final 150m in heat five to finish third in 45.53 and move on to the next round. Bryshon Nellum (Los Angeles) ran a lifetime best 44.65 in the final heat to finish third and make it a perfect 4-4 for Team USA in advancing to the semifinal. 18 athletes ran sub-45 for the fastest first round in World Championships history.

Heptathlon continues on second day

Erica Bougard (Byhalia, Mississippi) turned in the best jump of the morning from the U.S. contingent, leaping 6.18m/20-3.50 for 905 points to move her up to 15th overall. Barbara Nwaba (Los Angeles) continued to compete in the women’s heptathlon despite her DNF in yesterday’s 100-meter hurdles, scoring 874 points with her mark of 6.08m/19-11.50. Sharon Day-Monroe (Costa Mesa, California) struggled a bit in the long jump, scoring 786 points with her jump of 5.79m/19-0 and falling to 20th overall.

In the heptathlon javelin, Nwaba turned in yet another personal best this meet, throwing 46.59m/152-10 for the farthest throw of her flight and 10th best throw of the morning. Her lifetime best was good for 794 points. Day-Monroe performed well in one of her stronger events to inch back up the leaderboard, utilizing her opening throw of 46.02m/151-0 to score 783 points and close out her scoring for the morning session in 15th place (5,305 points). Bougard’s best throw of the morning was 35.06m/115-0 for 573 points, trading places with Day-Monroe to finish the morning in 20th with 5,140 points. The trio will compete in the 800 meters at 7:40 p.m. local time for the final event of the heptathlon.

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Full results from the IAAF World Championships can be found here.

Team USA Medals

Bronze

Michelle Carter - Shot Put (19.76m/64-10)

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