Track and Field World Championships Day 9 Open Thread

We're finally here at the last day of the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, upon the conclusion of which we will all get a well-deserved long night of sleep. The competition has been one of individual greatness more so than national or team dominance. Usain Bolt, Mo Farah, Genzebe Dibaba, Ashton Eaton. Those are the names we will remember from this competition. Sure, Kenya getting gold in the men's javelin and men's 400m hurdles is a fun occurrence, but the Kenyan dominance wasn't quite as widespread and infectious as that of those four individuals.

It has been entertaining to watch their competitors try--and ultimately fail--to deal with the significant gap in talent presented by their transcendence. Tactics have ranged from running painfully slow to attempting to run painfully fast; from tripping Mo Farah to giving Usain Bolt the lead with a botched handoff. Their victories have come in all shapes and sizes, but they have been victories all the same. Today Genzebe Dibaba, perhaps the most dominant of those four, will try to cap off a great week of individual transcendence.

The morning of day one featured the men's marathon and, fittingly, the morning of day nine will be devoted to the women's marathon. It's silly to even make predictions about this race after we saw how the Beijing heat and humidity affected the men's race on day 1. The odd-on favorites in that race were never really competitive once the pace quickened. Possibly contributing to that was the lack of an appearance fee or monetary reward for a high finish as many of the Kenyans and Ethiopians dropped out once the going got tough. Those factors both--weather and purse--are at play in this women's race.

If you have access to Universal Sports, the women's marathon will be your last chance to utilize it.

The afternoon features 4 finals on the track. First up is the women's 5000m. Genzebe Dibaba will win gold barring disqualification, but the race behind her should prove interesting. Alma Ayana will be the favorite for silver and she has actually run faster than Dibaba in the 5000m this season. But, seriously, is anyone actually thinking she has a shot a gold? Also looking to challenge Ayana for a medal will be Senbere Teferi, Mercy Cherono, and Viola Kibiwot who have all run between 14:34 and 14:37 this season.

Following that will be the men's 1500m final. The Americans were fortunate to advance all three of their runners with Robby Andrews as a bit of a surprise to make the final. I'm sitting here looking at the start list and can talk myself into anyone medalling in this race. Some of more likely than others, of course. I wouldn't bet against Kiprop or Makhloufi, but really, anything can happen in this final.

The United States will enter as the favorites in both the men's and women's 4x400m relay, but if we've learned anything from the previous 8 days of running, it is that Americans are never the favorites, even when they are. There are handoffs, starting blocks, and all manner of other obstacles standing between the United States and relay gold. They still should win both of these, but it seems inevitable that Jamaica will actually take gold.

Television coverage is provided by means of your favorite stream.

We'll see you here. Follow along with us on the last day of an exciting--and disappointing from an American perspective--world championships. We can verbally celebrate Genzebe Dibaba.