ATHLETICS

Photo Credit: AP

Defending Boston Marathon champion Evans Chebet wasn't focused on beating Eliud Kipchoge, the world record holder considered the greatest marathoner of all time.

Conquering the course was the goal.

Chebet won the world's oldest and most prestigious marathon on Monday for the second year in a row, leaving Kipchoge behind at Heartbreak Hill to spoil the two-time Olympic gold medalist's much-anticipated debut and win in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 54 seconds.

Photo Credit: The Associated Press

Russian 400-meter hurdler Natalya Antyukh will lose her gold medal from the 2012 London Games due to doping, putting American Lashinda Demus in position to be named the champion more than a decade after the race.

The Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees doping cases in track and field, announced Wednesday that Antyukh had not appealed a penalty handed down two months ago that included the stripping of her results from July 2012 through June 2013. The AIU said the IOC could now “proceed with the reallocation of medals and the update of the IOC database.”

Photo Credit:AFP

Tobi Amusan became the first Nigerian athlete to win a World Athletics Championship gold as she stormed to victory in the women's 100m hurdles in Oregon on Sunday.

Amusan, who had obliterated the world record in an astonishing semi-final where she clocked 12.12sec, powered over the line at Hayward Field in 12.06sec.

Photo Credit:AP

United States decathlon medal hopeful Garrett Scantling was ruled out of the World Championships on Thursday after accepting a provisional suspension for an anti-doping rule violation, the United States Anti-Doping Agency said.

Photo Credit: AFP

Here AFP Sport looks at some of the thrills and spills that have made the 109th edition of the world's most prestigious bike race such an enthralling spectacle.

Pogacar mountain meltdown 

There are no sure things in sport and Tadej Pogacar's fall from a position of force serves as a cautionary tale. The defending champion had attacked at every opportunity, saying: "Any time I can take a few seconds, why not?" Cumulative fatigue is one answer. When Jumbo-Visma and others launched a series of attacks on an Alpine mountain in stage 11 Pogacar suddenly looked human, losing 3min 1sec to Jonas Vingegaard, who ended the day in the yellow jersey.

Superman Pidcock

British rookie Tom Pidcock showed world-class skills as he won stage 12 on France's national holiday.

The Olympic mountain-bike gold medallist and the cyclo-cross world champion swooped down a mountain with such elegance and fearless speed that no one could keep up. "People did not want to risk chasing me," said the 22-year-old who went on to win on the famous Alpe d'Huez climb.