Flexibility, determination, perseverance at the Athletics World Championships … but Oh, those hurtful hurdles!

Schippers shows the virtues of flexibility, Merritt battles a kidney disorder, Kiprop praises perseverance, Eaton leads the decatheletes and Shubenkov takes the pain on the hurdles on day seven of the Beijing Athletics World Championships.  

Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands (R) crosses the finish line first to win the women's 200m final Seiko/Handout via Reuters

• It’s good to change

Mamma mia! How the life lessons flow during a major championships! The latest reminder

of the need for flexibility comes from Dafne Schippers. The 23-year-old from the Netherlands was not doing at all badly in the heptathlon. She won bronze in the event at the Moscow championships two years ago but she decided there was no point trying to be an uberathlete queen à la Jessica Ennis-Hill because she kept injuring her knee during the high jump discipline in the heptathlon. So, au revoir the heptathlon, bonjour silver in the 100 metres and gold in the 200 metres. On day seven Schippers became the first European to claim the 200 metres since the Russian Anastasiya Kapachinskaya edged the American Torri Edwards to the crown Paris in 2003.

• Life lesson two: determination

Aries Merritt will undergo a kidney transplant early in September. He’s been competing at the championships despite suffering from a rare disorder which means his kidneys have only been working at 20 per cent of their potential. It translates into not being able to eat as many proteins as before. He’s not able to process potassium – so no orange juice, no bananas – essentially a complete lifestyle change for the athlete. He’s also lost weight. “It’s been a struggle,” said the 30-year-old. “It’s been very tough for me these last couple of years. Just to be at these championships shows that I’m mentally tough. I feel like my bronze medal is a gold medal.”

• Life lesson three: perseverance

The 1500 metres defending champion Asbel Kiprop told the review that the key thing for budding athletes is hard work. The Kenyan said this in response to questions over the doping shame that descended on the Kenya team earlier this week when two athletes were suspended after a failed drugs test at the team hotel just before the championships. Kiprop, who runs in the 1500 metres final on day nine - the final day of the championships - said the two who were banned were minor athletes who had tried to take short cuts. That approach can’t be said about the long jumper Tianna Bartoletta. The American won her first world championship in Helsinki in 2005. But on day seven – in the bronze medal position – she leapt 7.14m with her last jump to go into the gold medal position. She then had to wait a few more minutes for the jumps of the Serbian Ivana Spanovic and the Briton Shara Proctor before being able to celebrate her second championship. She’s only the second athlete to regain a title after a gap as long as a decade, the only other one also being a long jumper, the German Heike Dreschler, who won in 1983 and again in 1993.

• Time to remember a legend

No, not the self-anointed living legend Usain Bolt but the British TV sports commentator David Coleman. He worked for the BBC when its only competition was ITV. That was before the explosion of cable channels. Coleman was wont to remind viewers that the decathlon was the competition to determine the world’s best all-round athlete. Simple but effective. And memorable. After their first day of labours, Ashton Eaton led the decathletes. The American had 4,703 points following the 100 metres, the long jump, shot put, high jump and 400 metres. Damian Warner from Canada was in the silver medal position and Rico Freimuth from Germany was third with 4,406. Just the 110 metres hurdles, the discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500 metres to go on day eight. Come on lads, don’t slouch.

• Well done, Sergey Shubenkov

The Russian won bronze in the 110 metres hurdles in front of his home crowds at the 2013 Moscow world championships. On day seven in Beijing he set a Russian national record to win the title in 12.97 seconds. We feel a little churlish thinking that he got his timing a tad wrong. The Jamaican Hansle Parchment underlined his growing promise by taking silver and as we have mentioned Aries Merritt claimed the bronze. Utter respect to all the athletes in the event because this is the one which we often watch with one eye closed. The hurdles seem to be on top of each other and the runners always seem to be bashing into them. We know it’s about things we love: speed, technique and focus. But oh, the pain.