LONDON – Rising senior Julius Morris and former WKU Track and Field student-athletes Emmanuel Dasor, Gavin Smellie, Kyree King and Shadrack Kipchirchir have wrapped up competition at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships from the London Stadium. Action lasted from Aug. 4-13 and fans had the chance to watch the best athletes in the world - a record 2,038 athletes from 205 teams - participate from the British capital.
Morris, already a two-time NCAA All-American entering his senior season on The Hill, represented his homeland of Montserrat. Qualified for his third overall IAAF World Championships, Morris was unable to compete in the 200-meter race due to an injury sustained during training in London.
Recent Hilltopper graduate Dasor, sported the colors of Ghana in London just a year after competing at the Rio Olympic Games. Dasor, who was also qualified for his third IAAF World Championships, withdrew from competition in the 400-meter competition due to an injury.
The third Hilltopper competing at the IAAF World Championships was Gavin Smellie, a 2010 WKU graduate and 2012 Olympian. Smellie represented Canada at the event, running in both the 100-meter and 4x100-meter races. Smellie finished fifth in his 100-meter heat with a mark of 10.29. Additionally, the Canadian 4x100-meter relay unit placed fourth in the heats and earned a spot in the final by having one of the two best times outside the top-three marks in both heats (38.48). In the finals, Smellie lead off for the Canadian unit which ultimately claimed sixth place with a time of 38.59. This outing marked Smellie's fourth career IAAF World Championships appearance.
In his first IAAF World Championships appearance, former Hilltopper Kyree King placed second in his 200-meter dash heat with a time of 20.41 to qualify for the event's semifinals. King went on to run a 20.59 in the next race to place fifth in his semifinal while representing the United States.
Another former Hilltopper, Shadrack Kipchirchir, represented the Red, White and Blue in the 10,000 meters while posting a personal-best time of 27:07.55 for a ninth place finish among the world's best competitors. The outing marked Kipchirchir's second IAAF World Championships outing in addition to his appearance at the Rio Olympic Games last summer and the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in March 2017.
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