British athletes revel in World Championships success
Last Updated: 30/08/15 4:13pm
The World Championships in Beijing have come to an end with British athletics enjoying a largely successful nine days, which saw Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford create history.
With a total of seven medals, Great Britain finished fourth in the table behind Kenya, Jamaica and the United States, bringing home four golds, one silver and two bronze from the Bird's Nest.
The British team got off to a fantastic start with Farah claiming the first of his two gold medals in the men's 10,000m on day one.
Farah, who won distance doubles at the London Olympics in 2012 and the Worlds the following year, added to his gold tally on the penultimate day in China when he claimed victory in the men's 5000m.
It means he became the first athlete to win the long-distance double at three successive global championships.
Just 13 months after giving birth, and in her first major championship since winning gold at the Olympics in London in 2012, Jessica Ennis-Hill won heptathlon gold.
She comfortably beat off competition from runner-up Brianne Theisen-Eaton and bronze medallist Laura Ikauniece-Admidina to add to her World Championship gold from 2009.
Greg Rutherford was not to be outdone by his fellow 2012 Olympic 'Super Saturday' gold medallists, however, as he took top spot in the long jump to add to his Olympic, European and Commonwealth titles.
Rutherford joined Daley Thompson, Linford Christie, Sally Gunnell and Jonathan Edwards as the only Britons to have ever held all four titles at the same time.
A fourth-round jump of 8.41m saw him clinch gold ahead of Fabrice Lapierre and China's Jianan Wang.
There was also a silver medal in the long jump for Shara Proctor, with the Anguilla-born athlete becoming the first British woman to jump over seven metres.
Her third-round effort of 7.07m propelled her into the lead and would have secured gold was it not for Tianna Bartoletta managing a world-leading 7.14m at the last attempt.
On the final day Christine Ohuruogu, Anyika Onuora, Eilidh Child and Seren Bundy-Davies also claimed bronze medals in the women's 4x400m.
They produced a solid performance in the penultimate track event at the Bird's Nest, making it the fifth time the British women have finished third in the relay event.
The men's relay team also added another bronze on day nine following the women's success 20 minutes earlier, with Rabah Yousif, Delano Williams, Jarryd Dunn and Martyn Rooney taking third spot in the 4x400m.
Team captain Rooney anchored the team to bronze in the final event of the championships, as they beat Jamaica by just fourth thousandths of a second.
It was not all plain-sailing for the British team, however, with Katarina Johnson-Thompson describing the competition as "probably the worst week of my life".
Her heptathlon medal dream died after she failed to register a long jump distance and, to compound matters, she then failed to make it out of the individual long jump heats.
An error on the final-leg changeover also saw Great Britain's men fail to finish in the 4x100m relay as they chased a medal in Beijing.
