Yesterday saw me head back down to London for the third of my four days at this year’s IAAF World Championships. You can find accounts of my previous visits here: Day 1 and Day 2.

As luck would have it, I managed to avoid the torrential rain of Wednesday evening and arrive on what shaped-up to be a beautiful summer’s evening in London.

Hey there 😃 I'm James @kineticrev, a #running blogger from here in the UK. It’s so exciting to have the @IAAFWorldChamps taking place right now in London. @Skype have sent me along to give you all a taste of what’s happening here at the stadium! Watch this space as I’ll be posting my experience at the championships throughout this evening! You can stay up-to-date with all the latest athletics action via @Skype’s SPIKES bot  #SkypeTogether

A post shared by Skype (@skype) on Aug 10, 2017 at 9:52am PDT

The evening began with the Women’s 5000m heats, with the incredibly vocal crowd getting behind Laura Muir (see top photo) who qualified for the final on Sunday.

The Men’s Javelin was next to grab my attention. As I said on Facebook, it’s one thing seeing the distances these athletes throw the javelin, written on paper, but when you watch it live it’s incredible! To give some context; an athlete like Johannes Vetter can throw the javelin the equivalent to 23 Minis parked bumber-to-bumper… that’s what 94.44m looks like in real terms!

It's amazing to watch the javelin action unfold here at the @iaafworldchamps. These guys are so powerful 💪 Just to give some context; some of these athletes can throw a javelin the same distance as 23 Minis parked bumper-to-bumper. That's crazy! 🥇Check out @skype's SPIKES bot for more athletics insights 👍 #skypetogether

A post shared by Skype (@skype) on Aug 10, 2017 at 11:48am PDT

Later in the evening, I was lucky to catch the Men’s 200m final – I nearly missed it in the midst of the Instagram take-over I was doing for Skype!

Given the news coverage over recent days surrounding the bout of gastroenteritis that had hit some athletes, particularly the unique situation that Isaac Makwala found himself in, I really wanted to see how his story would play out. Having to run a solo time-trial to qualify, the Botswana sprinter really had the crowd behind him.

The race turned-out to be an incredibly close affair, with Ramil Guliyev taking the gold, and next-to nothing separating bronze and silver.

I’ll be back at the IAAF World Championships for the final day on Sunday, in partnership with Skype’s SPIKES bot – a great resource for up-to-date information and highlights from the championships.

Speak to you then!

Last updated on March 2nd, 2021.